If you were to walk into my house right now, the first thing you would notice is the books. There are stacks of books everywhere: on my printer, on the top of my desk, on the floor, and in a basket. You might wonder what the hell is going on. Maybe the four bookcases in my living room have a bad case of indigestion and the stacks are the result. Or maybe I’m in the middle of a huge cleaning project. The second reason is correct but barely.
It started this morning with my mom making my younger sisters clean their room from top to bottom. My twelve year-old sisters love saving their old schoolwork, backpacks, and even notebooks. Now there’s huge garbage bag filled with stuff, some of which will be taken to the local thrift store while the rest to the trash can. My kids are gone with their dad for the next few hours so I’ve joined in, straightening up my shelves and trying to figure out if there are any books I can donate to the public library.
I have a feeling that I will be in the middle of this mess for the next few hours. That’s okay since in the past twelve hours or so, I’ve read two amazing books. The first was the new comic series by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples called Saga. It’s the story of a couple from two very different worlds and the people are trying to kill them. The second book was the middle grade classic, A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck. Even though Banned Books Week is over, I still wanted to re-read this. Like Lois Lowry’s The Giver, it’s a short but powerful coming-of-age story.
Speaking of books, this is the last week to join Guys Lit Wire in filling the shelves of Bayou Sr. High School’s library. Schools across the country are being hit hard by budget cuts with some of the hardest hit being in D.C. The school has just over 5,800 students and slightly more than 1,500 books in the library. So the site is trying to help this school get as many books as possible. The school has a wish list at Powell’s Books filled with affordable books. With this being the last week, only 1/9th of the books on the wish list have been purchased. If you can help, please click on the link above for more information. The only thing better than reading a good book is giving one to a child.
I’m off to finish the disaster zone living room. If I can find the time, I’ll probably continue reading How Children Succeed by Paul Tough or Fed Up with Lunch: How One Anonymous Teacher Revealed the Truth about School Lunches – and How We Can Change Them by Sarah Wu.
What are your reading plans for the week?
Good for you! I’ve gotten rid of a few books lately but really need to do a good purge. It’s so difficult for me, though.
I recently got rid of a bunch of books- took them to Half-Price, where I got pennies on the dollar for them and used the money to buy myself a cookbook. That is the thing about getting rid of books- you rarely get a good deal for them…
I’m planning a purge after RIP..we’ll see if it actually happens! I’ve put Saga on hold at my library….
Oh, I have so much of that ahead of me! I have to call the library tomorrow and find out if I bring lots of boxes of books in, if I can please have the boxes back for packing. Also, Noah just read A Day No Pigs Would Die – I assigned it as one of his lit selections for 8th grade. He thought it was pretty good, but some of it bothered him – he has a very soft heart where animals are concerned.
Carrie, I understand. That part about Pinky along with the dog and the weasel. . . very sad.
Sounds like my spring book purge, where I went through everything and made a decision about each one and tried to get the overflow into alphabetical order on the shelves. It was a disaster at first, but it all ended well! I’m sure by next spring I’ll have to do it all again since my book collection tends toward total disorder. I really can’t leave it unattended…
I read A Day No Pigs Would Die in 8th grade and loved it. I swear, every time anybody brings up a banned book, it’s one of the ones I remember most fondly from when I was in school. My school reading would have been so unremarkable if these books hadn’t been in my school libraries!
My house used to be like yours, but not for a while. You’d still know that you’re in the home of a reader, but you’d have to look a bit further into the house now-a-days.
I was doing some cataloging and rearranging today too. Uh oh. Saga? Now I have new series to add to my list.
I have been avoiding my bookshelves for this very reason, haha. Seriously, though, I do need to clean them out a bit (again).
Saga sounds really good!
Sounds like what my house looks like most of the time, books everywhere!
For me, the problem of weeding is that INVARIABLY, whatever I get rid of turns out to be something I want again! That goes for clothes too, unless I’ve gotten rid of them because I would never fit in them again in a million years! :–)
Happy reading and re-organizing. I just finished taking ou tmy fall clothes now that theres a chill in the air. I grabbed a bag and donated stuff that I don’t wear anymore to Salvation Army.
Great selection of books you’re reading (and Wu’s title reminds me of the program Jaime Oliver made in the UK. And the US as well…?). I hope you’ll be able to reorganise your bookshelves and books.
We always donate our stuff whenever possible, but hardly books anymore
Second-hand books are usually found at second-hand bookstores and not at a thrift store. Unfortunately, the Dutch second-hand bookstores charge quite high prices for their books. I try to give away books in other ways though.
I loved A Day No Pigs Would Die when I read it a few years ago! I used to weed out books by giving them away on the blog but I’ve resigned myself to knowing that I just don’t want to part with too many and I refuse to make myself! (If we ever move into a smaller house I might have to chance this policy, LOL!)