Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Falling Leaves

I always think that the new year should start in September.  Here in Westhampton, the summer ends with a bang on Labor Day and everything changes.  Suddenly there are places to park at Waldbaums, school lunches to pack, fewer customers to serve and a completely different feel to the world.  Even when the warm weather lingers on, a sea change has come and you can feel it.

So I have been thinking of some autumn resolutions to take into this new season.  I have great plans for innovations and promotions at The Open Book, but I am making resolutions of a more personal nature.  I am making resolutions about books.

You see, I am up to my ears in books.  I have books everywhere in my life.  Of course, the store is filled with books.  But my car is also filled with books, as is my house. So this year I am going to do what librarians do and "weed" my library.  Here are the questions that I am going to ask myself when deciding whether to keep a book.

1. Do you love it? (This is the easy one.....if you really truly love it, it must stay)
2. Is it autographed and do you like the author enough to care?
3. Has time, dust or the bunny rabbit caused damage to this book?
4. Are you really going to get around to reading it someday or are you fooling yourself?
5. Does it belong to someone else? (If so....it is going to its rightful home.  I will no longer be a book thief)
6. Did it make you laugh or cry?  (If it can evoke emotion, it is probably a keeper)
7. Would someone else be really happy to read it? (Give it away....sharing books is a joy)

I am sure there are more questions I should ask.  But if I spend anymore time making lists of questions, the books will never be culled and you will someday find me lying beneath piles of books, looking  like the Wicked Witch of the East under Dorothy's house, without the cute shoes.....