The Big Book Clean-Out!

My college son is not just a book lover, he is also a book hoarder. He loves each book dearly and hates to part with any of them. Yes, a boy after my own heart! Since he went off to college a few years ago, his room here at home gradually filled up - yes, partly with class notes, clothes, and discarded dorm room stuff, but mostly with BOOKS. A visitor to our house looked in his room and said, "He should open a bookstore!" The books were stacked everywhere - on every available surface, triple stacked on the bookcases, and yes, stacked on the floor, too.

Yesterday, before he headed back to campus for a new school year, he and I took the plunge and cleaned up his room. It was a day filled with, "How about this one? Keep or give away?" and both of us fondly remembering the books we both read and loved!

I should have taken some Before pictures, but you'll just have to imagine that part. Here are some of our After pics, though, with his beloved collection now sorted, dusted, and organized. There are still more books than fit nicely on the shelves, but it's a whole lot better. His little kid bookcase (which he outgrew over a decade ago!) is now filled with some of his most beloved series, all in order and together. We cleaned out the closet, and used one of its built-in shelves for more books (I wanted to avoid double rows, but alas, it was not to be).

Then, we moved a bunch of old collections (non-book) into the closet to make room for more books in this stacked plastic unit. Once again, I tried to avoid double layers, but it filled up so quickly. Of course, the solution is that he needs more and bigger bookcases!

On the shelves behind his bed are three of his most beloved middle-grade series: Deltora Quest, Warriors, and Pendragon (those last two we both loved! I read the first in each series to write a review and ended up reading the entire series!).

Finally, we filled two huge boxes to overflowing with books to give away. Many of them we earmarked for younger cousins - we both love passing books along to friends and family!

Despite our best efforts, we still ended up with some stacks on the floor - all of the books he hasn't read yet - 3 tall TBR piles! But at least they are tucked away in a corner and all together. Now, if only he had more time to read during the school year...

Now, he is off to college again, and I still need to sort through the giveaway boxes and divide them into those for cousins, those to sell on half.com, and those for donation to the library book sale.

I said to him, "Isn't it nice to have such a clean room, with everything looking so good?" He sighed and said, "But we gave away so many books..." He needs time to grieve.