WEEK 12. SO MANY BOOKS, SO LITTLE TIME

Thanksgiving covers from last week's blog
about magazines.

At one time I collected vintage Christmas books, such as The Twelve Days of Christmas by Miles & John Hadfield, published in 1961with beautiful illustrations. I bought it in Mona Mia's Antiques at 1200 Decatur Street in New Orleans in 1990 for five dollars. I know because I use the receipt as a bookmark. I stopped collecting Christmas books when I realized I had too many to display properly during the festive season. But how can I discard these books that still give me pleasure?

I also have more than 125 cookbooks. This does not count books about food, like the memoir, French Fried: The Culinary Capers of an American in Paris by Harriet Welty Rochefort. Just holding any of these books not only makes me happy, but makes me want to open it up and start reading. Not the best thing to do while trying to simplify your life.

In The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, the author recognizes that books are one of three hardest things to let go. She describes asking a client to “Please start by removing every book from your shelves and putting them all on the floor.” The client argues that it'd be easier if they were kept on the shelf so the titles could be read. But Marie insists each book must be held so the owner can decide if there is a spark of joy.

She devotes ten pages to books, explaining why they are difficult to discard but why they can be discarded. In my case, I hope I can discard some but I know it will be hard. Yvonne, a good friend, once gave me a beautiful, purple tote bag featuring a quotation from Thomas Jefferson that she said described me, “I cannot live without books.” Using e-readers, I-pads, computers, and phones to read books is very efficient and easy. And as I stated on Day 1, I first read Marie Kondo's book on my phone, but eventually had to buy a paper copy. I think most bookaphiles (bibliophiles) love to hold a real book in their hands. You can smell the paper and ink on them. You can flip back if you forgot someone's name, or need to know what town are they in now. You also can turn to the back cover to answer the question, who on earth wrote this? All much easier with paper than electronically. But real books do take up room.

A friend who retired to a much smaller apartment in a retirement community, showed off her only bookcase. I felt like crying for her, although she seemed pleased with the fact that she would have room for less than thirty books. For me, that's one shelf.

I do have paperback mysteries and other fiction that I should be able to discard easily. But I'm not always sure I've already read the book and I'd hate to discard something I haven't read yet. Because my memory (for minor details!) is not too great, I've started to write in each book where and when I bought it and how much I paid for it or who gave it to me. Then when I read it, I also add the date I finish reading it. If you need help, I recommend it. It refreshes your memory. I do it in pencil so if I do give the book away, I can erase this information.

For this project I can't possibly detail all that I'll have to go through.  I'll just focus on my collection of mysteries and start by piling them all together as the author suggests.

Well, I tried.  I am a failure. Each time I pick up a book, if I don't feel a spark of joy, I feel a very strong desire to sit down and start reading it as the only way to determine if I can discard it.  I can't work on this project right now.

If you are reading this, I'm sorry if I let you down as to this section of the project. Books are going to have to wait until I have gone through every other category. The next one, after papers and books, is komono which in Japanese refers to miscellaneous items. Marie Kondo points out too many people live surrounded by things they don't need, 'just because.' She lists the groups under this heading on page 106. Kitchen goods/food supplies is down at number nine on her list of ten. But since Thanksgiving is next week and I only have time to do one item, I will work on that one to get ready for the biggest food holiday of the year. Since I do enjoy cooking, it will be interesting to see what I discard. I have opened up some cupboards by discarding many magazines last week. The picture that accompanies this post are of food magazine covers that featured Thanksgiving turkeys. I kept all of them.  

WEEK 11. MAGAZINE JUNKIE

I am a magazine junkie. My undergraduate major in journalism school was magazines—other options at the time were newspapers, TV, or advertising. I still love these periodicals. They are useful, easy to flip through, and have beautiful pictures. A picture of food (or beautiful sunset) on Facebook or your cell phone can't compete with a richly colored double page spread in a physical paper product.

Although I'm supposed to be ready to tidy up my books—after postponing that category for papers—I decided it would be best to clear out my saved magazines. I thought if I cleared out some room by discarding them, it would open up more space for the books I wanted to keep. My magazine library focuses on three major subjects: food/entertaining, decorating, and travel. These subjects and these publications still bring joy even though most of them are hidden away in cupboards that I only open when I'm cleaning.

My really secret vice—well not so secret anymore—is that I have the first twelve years of Traditional Home magazine. And I have moved them from large suburban home to post children condo to retirement home, and from Illinois to Wisconsin to California. But I did promise my husband that our cross country move would be the last time I moved them. I also have lots of old Gourmet issues and now that it's defunct, who knows, my collection may be valuable. [See previous blog comment about paper maps. I sometimes live in a dream world.]

I discarded very few magazines, but I did a great job of reorganizing them so I could fit other things in the family room cupboards. I did discard twenty copies of the New Yorker from 2003. I was never going to sit down and read the interesting and well written but very, very long articles. I was saving them to while away a rainy afternoon, but it never rains in southern California. The cartoons were still funny, but after a few laughs they had to go.

My saved food magazines include Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Cooking Light, and Cook's Illustrated. Every year about this time, I bring out their November issues and put them on an easily accessible shelf so I can thumb through them for Thanksgiving ideas. When our children were young, I always hosted the family TG dinner and sometimes had twenty-one family and friends at a series of tables that extended from the dining room into the living room. Now I'm lucky to have six to help eat the turkey.

I also set out all the December or Holiday issues of the food magazines, and those of Traditional Home, New Mexico, and Phoenix Home and Garden. Not only do they inspire me with pictures of others' decorations, but these issues expand my own experience of the happy season.

have not been the best tidy-upper according to Marie Kondo's expectations. Some of us are not able to let go of everything and live a minimal life. But I do think my life and its objects are coming under better control.

One problem she does not address in her book, is seasonal gifts. I have started collecting presents I want to give family and friends for Christmas. They are now spilling out all over my office, which I had just cleaned of unhappy papers. Eventually, I will set aside a time to wrap and mail them but in the meantime, they are taking up space.

Next week I hope to start on books. I know I won't finish them in one attempt. And I'm afraid they are going to be like my magazines. It will be hard to find any that don't bring me joy.