The sweet sorrow of parting with books

It has been a long, sometimes painful process, but over the years, I’ve learned to separate from my books. Years ago, each one was a little gem that I wanted sitting on my bookshelf even if I had no intention of reading it again. If I lent one to a friend, it was with great hesitation, with my name prominently scrawled inside the cover and after a few months I would start dropping gentle reminders. Only when it became clear that, as was all too often the case, the friend was one of those for whom books were considered disposable currency, would I give up. I can trace my letting-go process to our move to London in 1994. My husband and I looked at our thousands of books and knew some had to stay on this side of the Atlantic. We sold and gave away hundreds and felt purified. Read how to part with your treasured books at The New York Times website.