I took a few minutes this morning to deal with another section of bookshelving - this was hard because it wasn't old paperback fiction I know I'll never read again... no, this was my beloved cookbooks. I've been out of adequate space for awhile, so I haven't bought any new ones this year (though Michael gifted me with a wonderful artisan chocolate making book for Valentine's Day), but I am not kidding when I say that these are among my very favorite possessions. I refer to them often even if I - like everyone - tend to grab recipes from online. I read them for pleasure. Every single one of them has at least one go-to recipe I come back to time and again.
So, while sorting and tidying them was easy enough - I determined to cull them down to three shelves worth. I didn't quite make it, as you can see - I got to three and a half...and already I'm thinking, Ok, that gives me a little room for growth. But not really, because when Michael and I blend households, I will get my hands on
his collection - not as many as I have, but some good ones and not repeats of mine.
The stacks of cookbooks for the yard sale seems small by comparison - and I need to quickly get these stowed away out of sight - there were a couple there I wavered on, and if I keep looking at them, I know I'm going to snag them back. How funny is it that I keep hearing the people from Clean House urging me to include some good things for the yard sale and to let it go...
The hardest part is yet to come - I have a large (LARGE) collection of Gourmet, Bon Appetit, and Cooking Light magazines. I haven't decided if I should bundle them to include in the sale or not . I really would love to keep them - but they do take up a lot of space and it feels like it's probably time to pass them on. Argh, hard choices!
Like you, I read cookbooks for pleasure.
ReplyDeleteCulling cookbooks is something I have never managed to do. All other things, yes, but cookbooks, NO, No! I once reached the stage of getting 1 book to the charity shop bag, but relented at the last minute, and have never regretted removing it, so no hope for me.
I'm in the process of culling other stuff, and buying a new bookshelf v similar to yours for my cookbooks.
Don't tell anyone, but I think it will have room for some new ones too!!
hehehe - I made my daughter take the box of the ones that are going downstairs to the basement and to not tell me where it was. Doesn't mean I won't snatch some back when it's sell-time, but i have to at least try!
ReplyDeleteCulling magazines is a lot easier these days since most of the publications archive their recipes on their websites. Cookbooks are another story. You can't always find those recipes online.
ReplyDelete