Bookshelves full of books spark joy...

[DieAntword]

So I’m reading Marie Kondo. Not going to get around to it until I own at least one outfit I actually like because I don’t want to throw away all my clothes and be confined to the house. But looking ahead to books.... to me a bookshelf should be full of books. We have two and they are not completely full. Am I ok to keep all the books even ones (looking at you AppleScript manual...) that don’t “spark joy” if the decorative effect of full bookshelves itself does?

I assume you like buying new books...I treated my book konmari as making space for new books, if that makes sense. I also love the look of full bookshelves but I filled the spaces in the shelves with a few decorative pieces which had been sitting on end tables and stuff. And after a while...my bookshelves filled up again, with books I did want to read/keep rather than the old ones I hadn't been touching.

I did kondo. Loved it and it changed my life. But my one regret is giving away books. Keep them

Get rid and full your book shelf over time with things you love. I emptied a cd storage thing, readjusted the shelves, and any new books go in there. It's half empty but I'm happy to no longer have the things I wanted to get rid of.

Marie Kondo has some funny ideas!?
Keep your books!

I get rid of books often. I hate the feeling of living surrounded by ideas I have outgrown/don’t feel comfortable with.

What a find ironic is the Marie Kondo wrote a book about getting rid of books.

Now that’s one that won’t be getting a place on my book shelves.

If you like Marie Kondo’s ideas, her book has a place on your bookshelf. Other books whose ideas you do not like have no place on your bookshelves.

Marie Kondo does not tell you to get rid of books. If they bring you joy, keep them all. She’s not going to come round and check you’ve done it “right”.

I've no idea what Marie Kondo is but if you like buying books, then you need space for them, and your current arrangement (half-empty) seems rational. I don't know how other people arrange theirs but I have it by subject, so each shelf must have some empty space for the new ones to come. I don't just ram everything together for a "full bookcase" effect because otherwise I won;t find anything.
I love throwing stuff away (ok, charity shops), but it rarely happens with books. A book has to be really bad to be rid of. Or fiction I won't read again

The thing that really makes me anxious is she says to give up on the idea I won’t read books I haven’t read yet. It may be true that I will never actually get round to reading say The Stripping of the Altars By Eamon Duffy but I am not ready to give up the fantasy that I might.

I gave up on her book after this chapter to be honest. Apart from anything else I live in a house with the rest of my family. Even if I got rid of loads of my own books I couldn't do it to DH/older kids!

Similarly folding clothes. It's all very well doing my own clothes but there is no way I'm putting everyone else's stuff away and I can't force them to fold and arrange them a certain way.

It only works for people that live alone!

She wrote the first book at least before children.

I look forward to reading her revised methods after she has lived with children for a decade or more.

Don’t clothes crease when they are folded like this?

My husband is totally on board with trying to become more minimalist and I kind of feel we need to get on it before the kids are old enough to fight back against the idea (currently 2 and nearly 8 months) but there’s minimalism generally and then there’s books and ...that’s a different matter.

I have been watching some YouTube videos that people record in their studies with great bookshelves in view. It has kind of undermined the whole book decluttering idea. I've always enjoyed pulling a useful book of the shelf and I feel it is better for my thinking than reading off a screen.

I think I am going to invest in more but better bookshelves.. while keeping on getting books from the library and really only buying considered purchases. And trying to fillet out the unecessary.

Getting rid of books you've outgrown seems a good idea however I did get rid of one autobiography when I became disillusioned with the subject. Now though I wish I'd kept it because on occasion I have wanted to refresh in my mind some passages that now strike me as significant.

I don't think Marie Kondo is really about minimalism; it's about everything in your home bringing joy so if the books spark joy keep them. However, for me I did find it useful what she says about letting go of things and ideas. I had a lot of books that either I thought I 'should' read or were something I'd been interested in once and now wasn't and I was able to let go of these. I like having space on the bookshelf; as a pp said it sometimes means you can move some other bits onto there which frees up other areas/surfaces.

For me personally, I kind of felt like the books I thought I'd read but never would in reality were kind of taunting me on the shelf if that makes sense.

I have huge packed bookcases that tbh no longer bring me joy because there are a) books I feel tied to including signed ones b) books I feel guilty about not having read c) books I would probably enjoy if I got more time to read.

I have stopped buying charity shop books and am cluttering my kindle instead. At least they are not getting worse!

I did get rid of books that were making me feel guilty that I hadn't read.
This included some worthy reads that are meant to be really important but they were modern and I've decided I really don't like the current mainstream and I'm happier now they are gone.
The ones left are the ones I'm excited about reading one day.

Get your kids to pick which books to keep and which to get rid of - just for the laugh!
"This is my favourite mummy we have to keep it "
" But it's a book about sewage systems of Wales. That can go"*
"But Mummeeeee. It's my favourite book ever in the whole whole world"
(puppy eyes, tears, wobbly bottom lip)
OK. Maybe not.
*possibly not a real book

It all falls down for me with the kids.

Not sewage systems but I have a book called “practical coal mining”. I’m sure I’ll never read it and a ceirtainly don’t need it but I do like having it. One day there may be a complete collapse of civilisation and books like that could prove useful to my descendants :p

Although the most likely cause of such a collapse is probably fossil fuels so lol, the irony.

Nothing could make me part with my lovely books, though what really sparks joy is not the full bookshelf (though it looks great) but scanning the titles and either thinking about the wonderful things I read in there or the wonderful things I imagine are in there. I love going to beautiful books shops and I do pick up things I plan to read in the future. And I do read them too! Eventually. I resent the fact that she thinks people won’t do that.

Keep your books and replace them one by one until you love them all. Books are like old friends. You wouldn’t chuck them just for appearances.

I keep books I haven't read because I like having the option to read them. I don't find reading a chore or that I need to motivate myself to do it so the idea doesn't work for me. But for people who do feel guilty about not having read a book, it probably makes sense.