Why I should (but don't) donate my books.

I have a full book shelf and a half filled with books of all shapes, sizes, topics, and genres, and I can’t seem to make myself do anything but let them sit there. Perhaps it is their lingering ephemeral attachment to the bookstore in which I got them, maybe it is the memories that I have shared with these books after so many years sitting on my shelf. I have read each and every one of the books on my shelf from front to back, most of them multiple times. Many of them carry more emotional weight than others do (you know who you are Harry Potter, Bartimaeus, and Maximum Ride) and some of them I read so fast that I barely remember the story behind their covers.

Regardless of whether I read them 6 times or whether I read them in a thunderstorm on the fourth of July while holding an umbrella in the other hand. I cannot force myself to make the critical decision to donate these books to any number of the local charities collecting books. I’ve gone over the pros over and over again in my head, I’d be sharing the memories that I had with others, I’d be bringing joy to those who don’t have books, I’d make the people running the charities feel really good about themselves, there are hundreds of reasons to donate your old books and I urge everybody to not fall into the same trap that I have. Donate your books, share your memories and the joy that comes with reading. Because really, are you ever going to read them book again? (maybe…)