For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By Pete L
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1895442
Doing a bit of houseclearing - I have to eventually clear Viv's stuff but the least painful step is to put my own house in order to make some space for a guest bedroom.

Just wondered what the older forumites have been doing with 40 years worth of books? Looking at some of the TV interviews some people still have miles of bookshelves.
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By PeteSpencer
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#1895444
Sad times

We were pretty brutal and sent box upon box of books to charity shops. We have downsized after all but took the view that only reference books would be retained as well as sentimental stuff like school prizes etc .

Books that were in boxes since previous move 40 years ago including mum and dads stuff all went too .

Along with boxes of VHS tapes and audio cassettes . Kept all the vinyl albums though.

Take it very slowly and come away and shut the door regularly .

Good luck
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#1895480
I’ve always considered throwing books away to be sinful. But last move we got rid of most of the paperbacks. Couldn’t part with some stuff though; “leatherbound” collection of Neville Shute that my Dad bought and I read as a teen, IBM manuals from the 80s - PL/1 or JCL, anyone? Handful of bios of female aviators. They are still in boxes due to covid but I still hope to read Shute agan, when I have time and space.
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#1895482
Flyingfemme wrote:I still hope to read Shute agan, when I have time and space.


I reread some of his books not very long ago. On the Beach, and A Town Like Alice inspired trips to parts of Australia from the first time of reading, like you, as a teenager.

Take the time, FF. They were just as enjoyable a read second time around.
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By Cessna571
#1895500
I have a friend who reveres any book.
Will never fold a page or put a mug on it.

Personally my belief is that some books are special, some are special to me and some are what is in them rather than the paper/pages.

I keep any that are special, or special to me, the others I have always passed on throughout my life.

They are leant/given as I go.
If I lend a book, I rarely want it back.

I have a close friend who’s wife died recently, (not that recently now).

He says he just does things when he feels ready to. There is no rush.

One of the most important people in my life died 25 years ago last Friday. We still talk about him constantly, we said it’d be important to never forget him, both sad and joyful are ok.

I have some of his books. I can see them from where I sit in my office.

I helped clear a lot out that went to a charity shop, that were stories that someone else could then read.
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By Pete L
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1895547
Looking like time to buy some new bookcases. The thrillers and the average sci-fi will go to charity. It'll be hours of fun sorting them into their new location.

My 2nd edition of Coulson and Richardson Volume I (published three years before I was born and still in use in 20 years later) is going nowhere.

PS I envy The Dealer - PL/I and Neville Shute :D

Thanks folks.
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By OCB
#1895554
@Pete L For the stuff you won't keep - in various places they have little "book sharing boxes" dotted around - an honour based system where folks drop in books they don't want any more, and people come around and swap in/out as they wish. Maybe also be an option?

I admire your courage - both in getting through things, and also with choosing then assembling/placing the book cases!
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By TheKentishFledgling
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1895606
As posted previously, we lost pretty much every material possession last summer following a house fire. Thankfully now back home, and gradually re-buying "stuff".

It's the loss of books that has "upset" me (and Mrs tKF) probably more so than other physical "thing". We didn't realise just how many we had on the shelves that we would refer to frequently, or that you knew was there should you want it: a decent charity shop find, birthday present or whatever. Of course books handed down through generations are particularly missed, or as gifts from friends now gone (dear old Keef, for example, gave me a load when I was a PPL stude that I still referred to often). And of course the annotations added to textbooks, cookery books etc.

We've made a pact not to pass a charity shop without going in and seeing what's there book-wise fore the foreseeable, or until the bookshelves look full again.
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By OCB
#1895611
Yeah....I was brought up a relatively strict Catholic in a poor family. Idolatry was/is just a tad "frowned upon", unless said book was The Book.

Not sure where this reverence to books comes from on my side, outside of that, but I completely understand.

As an engineer and qualified observer - I reckon it's that we, as hormone-laced meat sacks - have an attachment to certain physical objects that have previously triggered a strong emotional bond.

(bond, not Bond - please pay attention)....

Books, if they are well written, are the long version epitome of emotion-enducing media (poetry being the highly challenging condensed version), and music the la-la but repetitive and more easily recollected version.

A good book grabs the reader in; engulfs them in the plot, the characters, the arc and the end. When it ends - they have genuine remorse that the story ended.

We, as 'uman beens, have been telling campfire stories since "before Adam was a baby".

Didnt' mean this to sound like a rant - it's not. I just don't think that most "Western" minds remember how important "stories" are these days - and why I completely understand why folks don't want to give up books
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#1895692
Pete L wrote:
PS I envy The Dealer - PL/I and Neville Shute :D .

:lol: :lol: He has no idea what PL/1 is. His literary taste runs more to WW2 history. But we do share our toys, so we get twice as many.
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By Dave W
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1895700
Flyingfemme wrote:His literary taste runs more to WW2 history.

Slight tangent: Does he listen to podcasts?

Al Murray (comedian bloke) and James Holland (historian bloke) do an excellent and prolific WW2 one called We Have Ways of Making You Talk, and they have also made freely available a few book readings (more for subscribers).