December Unbookening

Received for Christmas: 14 books
Checked out of the library: 4 books
Bought 4 books (2 Kindle, plus THE ROTTERS' CLUB and BREAKDOWN)
22 in

Returned to library: 9 books (none out as of the end of the year)
Gave away: 3
Donated: 18
30 out 

Meg Hourihan's Makeit.do blog, as featured in a January unbookening post, hasn't been updated since August, but in the meantime she made a dress out of a duvet, took advantage of the NY Public Library app (wait, I need this toy!) and stopped herself from buying a new computer just to post more often. I can relate. I could have used that magic computer this week as responsibility whumped me too hard to put coherent thoughts together.

Want to play the unbookening game? Two easy ways to get started that don't involve sacrifices (YET):

1. Decide that for January, whenever you get a book you will write it down. Buy, borrow, find... steal... This will give you a baseline into where all your books are coming from. 

2. Pick a bookshelf in your home -- just one shelf -- and go through each of the books on it to see if you want to keep it in your permanent collection. Did you love it when you read it, but have no desire to go back to it? Did you buy it because you wanted to read it someday, but the original reason for your wanting to read it has evaporated? These are prime candidates to be donated because they come with the weight of obligation. Obligating yourself to read things is a fine practice, but it shouldn't feel like a 100% drag.