Ways to be a minimalist with books

I've mentioned before that I am a big reader. I read or listened to 90 books in 2018, which doesn't include the many children's books I also read to my kids. However, I limit the number of books I actually OWN (besides children's books, which I'll talk about in a minute) to just one small shelf.

I know Marie Kondo fans are up in arms about her recommendation to get rid of books, but I agree with her and have been donating unwanted books for years. Here are a few reasons:

• I have such a huge to-read list that I rarely read books more than once
• I don't have any built-ins in my home (though they're on my wish list), and I don't like buying bookshelves
• Books are HEAVY to move around, and I don't want to have to pack them up if we move

I get that books are sentimental for many people, and some people use them for decorating (I'm looking at you, Joanna Gaines and A Beautiful Mess team). However, I'd much rather fill my home with photos and other items that bring me joy than shelves and shelves of books I will never read or even touch.

If you want to start minimizing your book collection, here are a few tips:

• Only buy books you know you'll read more than once. The biggest way I keep my book collection slim is being REALLY picky about the books I own. I generally only buy books after I've checked them out from the library or borrowed them from someone else. If I decide I loved the book, I usually check eBay or a thrift store for a used copy first before buying it brand-new. I occasionally buy children's books that I haven't read beforehand, but I'll read reviews online or use the "search inside" feature on Amazon to get a feel for whether I'll like it.
• Don't keep books just because you loved them at one point in your life. I used to love the Baby-Sitters Club books and had quite the collection as a tween. While I sometimes feel nostalgia for those books, I also know that I'm past that stage of life and probably won't make time to track down one and read it. If you think your kids will love a series you liked as a kid, keep only your very favorite books (maybe like the top five) and donate or sell the rest. By the way, I just discovered that Scholastic has reprinted several BSC books, so you can probably find them at the library.
• Give books to schools or shelters. When I'm attached to books or series I know I'm not going to read again, I feel better giving them to shelters or schools where other people might enjoy them. Children's books are harder for me to donate, so getting them in kids' hands is especially rewarding.
• Invest in hardcover children's books. I used to get so excited when my kids brought home book orders from preschool, until I realized that most of the books are paperback versions. I will gladly buy paperback novels for myself, especially secondhand, but I also know how to be gentle with my books. Henry and Norah have ripped way too many pages or bent covers while flipping through books in their room. If they love the book, I then have to try to repair it or replace it. The other thing that bugs me about paperback picture books is that the binding is stapled and there is no title on the spine. This makes it impossible for me to find on their shelves. Hardcover books are a better option for kids, in my opinion. Although they can be more expensive, I often find gently used hardcover books on eBay (and sometimes in thrift stores or at yard sales) for about the same price as a brand-new paperback copy. Investing in hardcovers means you'll have to replace fewer books, and they'll look nicer on your shelves.
• Make a goal to only fill a certain space with books. The bedrooms in our home are really small, so space is at a premium. I've surrounded my kids with books since they were babies, because I think it's important for them to love reading and find stories they love, but I also don't want to cram their rooms with bookshelves. Instead, we bought simple four-cubby storage units from IKEA for each of their rooms. One cubby holds a bin with stuffed animals, and the other cubbies are for books. If I can't fit the books in the cubbies (fortunately this hasn't happened yet), I know it's time to weed through the books and donate the ones they don't look at anymore. I also know I have to get rid of a book if I can't fit it on my single shelf in the office.

Really, my main solution for being a minimalist with books is going to the library more often and, in particular, using the library's Libby app religiously. I've posted about ways to read more in the past, but I think I'll do a separate post about the Libby app and how I get new releases quickly WITHOUT having to buy them.

Stay tuned for that, and let me know if you have more questions or suggestions about paring down your book collection!

Let's go fly a kite

Are you familiar with Goodreads? If not, I highly recommend it. It's a cool website where you mark books you've read and want to read, which is excellent for me, because I can't remember books I've read years and years ago. And, like Facebook, you can add friends and see what they're reading and get ideas on your next favorite book. It really is an awesome place to keep track of books, write and read reviews and see what the latest and greatest books are.

Anyway, I've had The Kite Runner on my list of to-reads for months, and I finally picked up a used copy at D.I. a little while ago. I had absolutely no idea what it was about, only that it was supposed to be amazing and had been on The New York Times' bestseller list forever. So I started it one night and then brought it into work with me the next day so I could read it at lunch.

Almost every day since then, someone has seen me with that book and looked at it with the same longing look as a kid window shopping at a toy store. And, inevitably, complete strangers will hop on the elevator, take one look at my hands and say, "That's an amazing book," or "I absolutely loved that book." People would even come up to me in the break room while I was reading it and comment on how much they liked it. It was like being part of a cool club where everyone is suddenly getting the same haircut and looking fabulous with it -- you just wanted to have that same feeling.

I finished the book today, and I now understand why people I would probably never have a reason to talk to otherwise were looking at the cover so longingly. It was an incredible history of Afghanistan over about a 40-year period, but even more than that, it was a heartbreaking story about friendship, integrity, bigotry, heritage and honor. I swear I'm not trying to sound like a reviewer, but that's how wonderful this book was. At one point, I stayed up until 1 a.m. to get through a particularly intense part and ended the chapter nearly sobbing. The emotions in this book are raw, and you get swept up into the lives of the characters easily. I also loved how straightforward and simple the prose is -- Khaled Hosseini tells his story with vivid and powerful descriptions, but he lets the story take the forefront. You feel like you're reading his very private journal and, at the same time, looking through a scrapbook of his life.

Obviously, I recommend this book wholeheartedly, but it has also inspired me to focus more on my dreams as a writer, musician and photographer. I want to write something that makes perfect strangers stop each other in elevators to talk about how much they loved the book someone has in hand. I want to record a CD that makes people happy and that they'll listen to in their car when they need to unwind and feel content again. And I want to take more pictures that instantly tell stories and capture whimsy and emotion.

Here's to dreams and making them come true. What books have inspired you? I'm now on the hunt for the next Kite Runner.

Not another teen...book

OK, for those of you who don't already know this, my mom is an elementary school librarian, which explains why I continue to read books meant for kids — because we discuss books all the time at my house, and she brings them home for us to check out before her students read them.

I've read a lot of great books since I was a kid: the Beverly Cleary books, the Great Brain series, Roald Dahl's stuff, Anne of Green Gables and the Trixie Belden series, just to name a few. These are books I can still pick up, even now, and find myself laughing out loud. They're CLEAN — there are no swear words, no mature scenes, no video game violence. But they all have one more thing in common: they're at least thirty years old.

For some reason, I've noticed a frightening trend in the transition between kids' books and teen books. There's WAY too much violence, too much sex, too much filthy language and too much boozing and drugs to fit in a 200-page novel (because, let's face it, most teens don't want to read anymore, so the books are getting smaller and smaller). And there aren't many contemporary books I would recommend to any of my sister's 17-year-old friends.

People argue that the world is changing, that teens are growing up faster and so they need heavier books to "help them deal." In some ways, this is true, but it's also true that teens are growing up faster because there are way too many books and magazines that suggest that they're "doing it wrong" if they aren't dressing more maturely, dating, trying drugs and hanging out with people that are older than them.

My sister brought home a book from the library and, curious to read another teen book, I started reading it and couldn't put it down. I'm really not sure why. In some ways, I identified with the main character, who was a perfectionist with a boyfriend that expected her to be perfect. I got the author's point: be who you are and stop worrying about being flawless, because you're never going to be. But the main character's way of dealing with her mom's expectation was to go out drinking with her friends and to break her mom's rules, which sends the wrong kind of message to girls.

You know what? It's OK to be the girl that just hangs out with her family on the weekends while everyone else gets drunk. It's OK to want to get good grades and to have goals. It's OK if you don't get married or have a serious relationship before you hit 25.

I guess I'm just tired of reading another teen book where the heroine who has high standards "finds herself" by losing her morals. And I think I just figured out what I'm about to do — write the kind of teen book that I would like to read, one that's not preachy or out to prove something, but one that I think most teens would identify with, because there are way too many books out there that tell them they're never good enough. It's time for a change.

anne

I recently read an article in Newsweek about how the book Anne of Green Gables is turning 100 years old this year. That's incredible for a book about a spunky redheaded orphan who has a talent for getting into trouble.

Have you read this book and the seven that come after it? If not, you really need to. I received the first three books in the series for Christmas one year, and I have to admit, I wasn't thrilled. My mom told me how much she had liked reading them when she was younger, but the books were one of those gifts that you just "grow into."

Boy am I glad that I grew into them. These books are laugh-out-loud funny, sometimes sad, but most of all, real. I love Anne's character. She is a real girl, someone that boys and girls can identify with. The situations she gets herself into are hilarious, but never over the top. She can be mean, like everyone, and she can be kind, too. I love that she changes throughout the books and does truly become a woman, not just another character that the author has tried to grow up too quickly.

While I'm not so hard-core that I'm about to buy a red yarn wig and dress up in pinafores and bonnets, I definitely have a soft spot in my heart for the character in the books that I never seem to get tired. Happy 100th, Anne. A character like you is bound to last a century.