August 16, 2019

No, No Kondo

In her best-selling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Marie Kondo recommends maintaining a personal library of JUST 30 BOOKS! No way that would bring me any joy. That being said, I spent several days this week purging my personal library — something I do every five years, each time letting go of approximately 200 books. In the past, I’ve donated those books to the local library. This year, I am donating them to the local elementary school PTA Labor Day Book Sale.

Ten boxes, 212 books.

I thought I was doing well until I read about the personal library of a writer I respect who prides herself on maintaining a library of 500 books. That’s how many books of poetry I own!

Poetry, bookshelf #1, poet Kim Addonizio through half of Mary Oliver.
Poetry, bookshelf #2, rest of Mary Oliver through Rachel Zucker, then special poetry collections and essays, etc. about poetry.

And then there’s memoir — I did manage to let go of 16 of those . . .

Memoir, from J.R. Ackerly to Stephen Zanichkowsky.

And now — please note that I’m whispering — my 50+ collection of books on the Holocaust, cleverly disguised behind happy things!

Holocaust books with clever, well-placed distractions.

My entire book collection now totals nearly 1,500 books, and yo, Kondo — they bring me joy.

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