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08 January 2017

DISPOSAL OF BOOKS... yes or no?

BOOKS FOR CHARITY



The charity I choose to support is St Giles Hospice where my Joe received such excellent care and attention. I am sure he would be happy that some of his precious books were used to raise much needed funds for St Giles.

Some of Joe’s books are/were brilliant. Not for him the romances or murder mysteries, his preference was for history, geography, trains or sport. Most of the bigger and more interesting books were delivered to the local branch of St Giles, some to be sold in the shop, others to be auctioned on line.

Here’s a list of what’s left: those that the charity wouldn’t want and those I am reluctant to destroy but know not what to do other than leave them on the shelf.


Some are huge and weighty volumes, like the Roger Penrose book entitled The Road to Reality. Along with two others I can hardly lift it. I don’t think Joe ever actually read it – he did like to possess books though, read or unread.

Here’s a few more books I can’t decide what to do with:

Handbooks on Accountancy
Practical Auditing
The Rights and Duties of Liquidators, Trustees and Receivers (first published in 1886, this copy dated 1960)
Manual of Auditing
Executorship Law and Accounts
Rome, Then and Now
History of 20th Century in 100 Maps
Everest Adventure
Elements of English Law
How to do Anything on a Computer (if he read this it didn’t help!)
And finally, a paperback entitled Stalin’s Ghost by Martin Cruz Smith

What would you do with these old books? Leave them where they are or chuck them out as waste paper? Some day they must be disposed of but I guess I have a while yet.

Hmm! Just had a thought, why don’t I ask Luke, the odd job boy, to carry the books to the charity shop? I suppose it’s worth a try – he can only say No!

12 comments:

  1. Wow Valerie, reading the list of Joe's books that are left made me see how diverse his interest in topics were. The one on Stalin's Ghost sounds very interesting!

    I really like your idea about asking Luke to carry the books to the charity shop. This way the shop will raise funds for their particular charity though Joe's books. I think that's something Joe would have loved.

    The thing I like about books is that they can be recycled, going from one person to the next, as they are shared. Last year I cleaned out many of books by placing them in an area in my apartment building where other tenants could take them if they wished; read them, then pass them on.

    Hope you're having a lovely Sunday, dear friend!

    X

    P.S Say Hi to Charlie for me....meow!

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  2. Ron, I like your book nook idea and I bet the other residents do, too. I am pretty sure Luke wouldn't mind helping out, at least he would enjoy the payment for doing it. I will give your message to Charlie as soon as he wakes. He is worn out through chasing, or trying to chase some rather large gulls. Silly cat!

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  3. That's quite an assortment of books! There are a few craft ideas using books, but I think that's such a waste. My husband used to get a lot of good books for me to read at the Loaves and Fishes.

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  4. When we moved here I was very brutal with some books. Many went to the Salvation Army shop and Goodwill. We has several OLD out of date...inexpensive encyclopedia sets. we looked through them, Goodwill was actually not interested in them so I recycled them in my blue recycle bin, and felt very bad about it, as if I was burning books.

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  5. Katie, it would break my heart to destroy books. I would have to give the job to someone else if it was the only thing left to fo.

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  6. That all seems to be serious heavy reading. I guess I would donate hoping that someone out there will pick them up and value them. We have a place that picks up clothes and books and it isn't so hard to let some of them going knowing that someone may pick it up for a couple of bucks. They do still have value if someone reads it.

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  7. SJQ, you should have seen the assortment before I started to remove Joe's books. One of them was seized by a charity shop so they could auction it. More money was collected doing it that way.

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  8. Katie, I think I would be too upset to shred the books, even if I could. I never thought books would pose such problems.

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  9. Larry, Joe valued his books but that's not to say he read them all. Most are for reference purpose. I guess they will have to be recycled in the end.

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  10. Some people actually decorate with books. I like # 9, making a frame out of one. http://www.housebeautiful.com/room-decorating/a2924/creative-ways-decorate-with-books/

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  11. Kden, wow, how about that for ideas. You have given me food for thought. I haven't got room for a major display but I might dream something up. Thank you.

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  12. Perhaps you could donate them to a university library. Or advertise them free to a good home?

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