How do you decide which books to get rid of?

[LostInThePages]

I need to unhaul some books. I'm going to be moving in this next year, possibly sooner and likely a few hundred miles and I want to start now.

I have probably 500 or so books and I want to cut it down to at least 200. I've had some of them for years but still haven't picked them up yet I keep thinking that one day I will.

So if you have to get rid of books, how do you decide which to keep and which will go? I know that the idea of getting rid of books is practically blasphemous to some but I really need to cut down so any tips would be appreciated.

TIA

If you read the life changing magic of tidying by Marie Kondo you'll find out! I can't remember exactly but I ditched a lot of books. Realised I was using them as a status symbol.

Do you love it and will def read again? Keep
If you don't love it OR it's the type of thing you can easily get another copy of - get rid
Are you going to read this in the next year? Keep, but return to this pile in a year
Are you probably only going to read this during the apocalypse after you've read many others be honest now - get rid
This is how I culled my library.

I ditch the ones I disliked, I keep my favourites and still to read. I love being surrounded by books so I’m no use to you!

I have way more books than you and only get rid of the books I hate and the trashy page turners. The older I get the more I want to revisit books, I can't imagine cutting my books down to just 200, I've got just under 100 on my TBR shelf.

I give away ones that i haven't utterly loved.

Ones that i have utterly loved i usually pass on to friends, they sometimes come back.

I keep books with sentimental value/reference books/books i still intend to read. Some books i have loved.

I got rid of more than 1000 when I moved. I now have about 200 non fiction books, about 100 "favourite " books which I reread and 100 by the side of my bed which are to read. I ruthlessly send all read books now to the charity shop or pass on to friends.

If I don't rate them that much I charity shop them as I go . Beyond that I will sometimes look at books a couple of years after reading them and think Nah , never going to read them again.

I try to keep ones I think DD will read but I've got that wrong in the past as DD has had to rebuy books I once owned.

I keep a lot from the 90s for daft nostalgia reasons.

I charity shop mine soon as I'm done reading. Only keep my favourites.

How many of those have you read? How many are still to read?

I give books to charity or family once I've read it, if I think I'm unlikely to read it again. Which doesn't mean I didn't like it, just that I won't re-read it.

I wouldn't buy more books if I had > 5 or 6 on TBR pile.
I only keep books I can imagine reading again or I want DC to read.
I have no patience for reading tedious stuff nowadays, so I wouldn't try to keep a book I can't finish, either.

I suppose if you've had a book > 2 years & haven't read it yet, release it back to wild for someone else who might actually read it.

I suppose if you've had a book > 2 years & haven't read it yet, release it back to wild for someone else who might actually read it.

War and Peace was on my TBR pile for over 20 years. I am very glad I waited till my 40s to read it, I would not have appreciated it in my 20s. There are books I have got rid of without reading in that time.