I thought I was detail-oriented in my getting rid of books, but White Lotus White Russian has a sophisticated methodology for getting rid of books before a cross-country move. Here are her five categories:

"1) The books I have never and probably will never read (Our Mutual Friend).
2) The books I might want to read “someday” but keep putting off because of lack of real interest (Middlemarch).
3) The books I like or that are useful but that I have no emotional connection to (all cookbooks and travel guides, Jane Eyre, Valley of the Dolls).
4) The books I love but could probably part with if I absolutely had to (To Kill a Mockingbird, Anna Karenina, I Am the Messenger).
5) The books I’ll re-read at least twice a decade until I’m 90 (This Side of Paradise, Disgrace, The Secret History)."

A key contributor to my bloated shelves has been that I've been living in the same place for the longest amount of time since 2002. I probably parted with 70 books when I graduated from college, which was my last major cull.

Her categories make me think I should be sorting my unread books by more than "area of my room where they happen to live."The only category I would add would be books someone had given me which I would feel bad about leaving behind unread.

I was tickled to notice that she brought up a book I just wrote about recently, NICK AND NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST.