In the end I decided that I would bring as much as would fit in the cd tower and the living room bookshelf (and also try to bring the bookshelf as well since it's one of those black IKEA Billies with the snowflakes. It's out of production, ugly as sin itself, and I love it to pieces.) Of course I will also have like a box of "this-and-that's" but as far as the voluminous stuff (books, comics...) goes, that's it.
There's a part of me that keeps telling me it's too early! Maybe it is, but my reasoning is that once things get hectic, I will be glad I already sorted out all my stuff. And besides I don't know when things will become hectic. It might be early, but I'd rather be prepared. I'd rather not forget or lose anything because I'm packing in a hurry.
Plus, it's giving me the once-in-a-lifetime chance to finally get rid of stuff. I have so much of it, and really not much of it really matters, it just takes up space. It's eye-opening to realize that I really don't need all the crap that fills my apartment. I like the idea of "travelling light" like this. It's very freeing.
Thankfully, I have a blessing. A young niece and an even younger nephew. All my childhood/teenage books will go to them. Sure, my nephew will grumble because it's all mostly girly stuff, but there's some fine YA horror in there so he'll be fine. It feels good to get rid of this stuff, knowing that with me, it would just be empty memories. With them, it will do what they're supposed to do - be with them as they grow and read and learn about the world.
(Curious kitten obviously not included)
Also, as I realized the other day while desperately looking for a book for my niece's birthday that didn't suck, a lot of this stuff is now out of print. I don't want my niece to grow up without reading The Bet is On, Lizzie Bingman! - that is just wrong.
ANYWAY. I have finally completed the job of sorting out the books and comics from the bookshelves, and have stacked them into the Snowflake (it needs a name now) to see if they fit.
They do.
(the entirety of my life)
It's almost magical. I didn't have to push and shove at all - everything fit. There's still a tiny little bit of space, which will be occupied by stuff that is currently out lent to friends (like my Dudesons boxset, or my JLI hardcovers). But it all fit like in the end, what I need to take with me really is just that.
It's a little sad, seeing a lifetime of reading (I started reading when I was three years old, and the oldest one in there is older than that) reduced to...that.
The first shelf hold all the English books. There's quite a bit of Rockfic books, as you can see, and my tiny, hard-fought collection of Pratchett. The second has all my books in Italian, including (there on the far left) my very first picture book. Immediately followed by the Hitchhiker's Guide series. I weeded these out a lot. I only took the books I actually liked, which helped a lot. I guess I'll give out or sell my embarrassingly large collection of Banana Yoshimoto pretentious bullshit.
The second section holds all my DVDs (including the music ones), my videogames, and a couple of old VHS. It also includes my action figures, mostly because I don't know where to put them at the moment. Some of the books have leaked here, mostly my Suomi textbooks and the latest stuff I've read because it was lying around the house. Thankfully most of my movies are in the two pink folders down there, so they don't take up too much space.
Manga on the fifth and sixth shelves. Sixth shelf also holds all my US comics which are just a couple dozen single issues, a few trades and a staggering number of Calvin&Hobbes books. I am not leaving those here. I know it looks like I have a lot of manga but trust me, this is a third of what I have. Some of the decisions were a little suffered there. I'm still debating what to do with the rest. Some of it can be donated to the shop or to my niece (my complete Sailor Moon and my beloved NY Komachi certainly will), but some really has no real value. I guess I'll give it out to whoever wants it. Or donate it to children services.
So there you have it. It was probably pretty boring, but it's kind of exciting for me. It feels like I'm sorting out my life, not just books. All that's left is clothes now, which I will be doing this afternoon I think. I foresee a big bag of donations coming out of it today.
Nähdään!
No comments:
Post a Comment