Keeping books

[frogger]

So I'm cleaning out my library. I have a bunch of books that my children have outgrown. Most I will get rid of but there are some that I think to myself, "Grandchildren will definitely enjoy these."  Things that all my children enjoyed and we will really want to share with the next generation. I would think out of four children I should manage to have one grandchild at least, right? Though you never know.  Most are being reprinted and so will be cheap to replace but I also currently have room. It would be less to clean and easier to organize with even less stuff though. I plan to down size when they all move out and then if they don't want them in their house yet, too bad, they are going but I'm wondering if it is worth keeping them even now. My shelves will definitely have room to grow once I get rid of the 70% or so that aren't particularly special. 

 

Has anyone successfully passed things on or does the next generation tend to prefer newer stuff? Have you regretted getting rid of good books  years down the road and wished you could help your children starting out raising children?

 

Would love to hear from some empty nesters.  I know I received a lot of homeschooling books from my step mom that I didn't want. A) We didn't have the same taste and B) they were stored in a shed and were all musty. That wouldn't be the case if I stored my books. If the only place I had to store them was a damp shed I would give them away so someone could make use of them. Also, I wouldn't dump them at somebodies house even if that someone was my child. It would be more like, "Pick out what you want next time you visit because Dad and I are preparing the house to sell. " :) 

[Loowit]

My mom kept books from when my siblings and I were kids, and I really appreciated it.  I loved sharing them with my kids.  I am planning to keep some of them plus some my own children have gotten over the years.  I have no idea if I will ever have grandchildren, though I hope so, and it would be fun to share these books either in my own home when they visit or give them to my kids if they want them.

[HomeAgain]

I have books from my childhood that I'm glad to have in my possession.  They're either out of print or have a personal connection to me.

 

Currently I have what I dubbed the "preschool box".  It's a large, clear tote with outgrown books and toys.  I have some that my oldest requested I keep, and some I know were special to the youngest.  Anything that wasn't loved didn't go in the box.  Later on I'll cull, keeping the harder to find and special editions (like an anniversary copy of Ferdinand), but really I just want to keep one small box for each age grouping so when I do have grandchildren there is always something to play with at G'ma's house.

[mumto2]

One of my kids favourite things was reading my books that my mom had saved. I still have those plus their favourite books that we bought. No regrets. Not sure yet how much they will be used but happy that the option will be there.

[MEmama]

My mom only saved a few of my childhood books, thank goodness. None were special hits here and I could have easily gotten them from the library. Most were so out of date he didn't care about them at all, and the German ones he didn't have any connection to. I definitely wish she hadn't bothered. Someone could have enjoyed them while they were more relevant.

 

I'll only save books if DS wants to keep them. Not only do I not make assumptions about future grandchildren, I can't imagine keeping clutter just in case.

[klmama]

I tried culling books only to have my oldest ask where one had gone. Turned out it was a favorite. Since then my system for culling is to pull all the ones I think should go and have the dc ok them for donation. They usually want to keep one or two, but I can donate or sell the rest. Even so, I will still have a sizeable library for any grandkids.

 

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[Guest]

I have gotten rid of most of the paperback books that I was saving for Later because the glue won't hold.  I did keep some of them because they are hard to get a hold of at the library and so on. But like KLMama said, just above, the kid also has a say.  He surprises me by what he keeps and what he does not...he is far less sentimental than I am (which is saying a lot).  He didn't want to keep any of some books he was very attached to as a child (Roald Dahl) so I am going to just sell the whole collection.  But I was very surprised!  

 

My mom kept for me a few books, but the hardcovers were the only ones that really made it.  All the paperback ones fell apart even as we read them.

[My4arrows]

My mom kept a few of my books that were favorites and I love sharing these with my kids. My mil has many of dhs books and toys from childhood along with his siblings that she's kept at her house for the grandchildren to play with when they are there. My kids love that! She's also began to hand some of those things down since mine are the youngest.

I'll do a combination of the same. There are some books that are just favorites I want to keep for future grandchildren. Those will most likely stay at my home for when they come over. We have the space to store them properly. If there are others my children personally love, I'll hold on to them for them until they are ready.

[Guest]

My mother recently sold her house and sent me boxes and boxes of books, some from my childhood and others that were favourites of hers as an adult.

 

I had to donate a lot of new and shiny to the library to make room for them but it was a total no brainer. Having my books back again and being able to relive so many wonderful memories was beyond priceless.

 

I did have to sell some books for food money and then rebought them for ds9. I still look for my mother's childhood signature on the cover page of the Raggedy Anns and startle when it isn't there because these aren't OUR Raggedy Anns, they are somebody else's.

 

I don't think Charlotte's Web will go out of print so I could always buy another copy or download it from Amazon Kindle Store or the Pirate Bay.

 

I can't buy another copy with my muddy seven year old footprint from the time Mom called, "Have you cleaned up your room yet?" and I ran to the door to keep her from opening it and finding out I'd been reading the whole time and was going to start as soon as I finished this chapter....or the next one....

 

I can't buy another copy with flowers from the back yard I will never see again falling out from between the pages.

 

I am not keeping these books because I expect them to find a cure for menopause or because I expect my older kids to wake up one morning and give up their careers or because I expect to live long enough to meet the caboose baby's kids. I am keeping them for me. Because they make me happy. Because I look forward to rereading them, even the paperbacks with the broken spines and the pages that you have to be careful not to lose.

 

My father emailed me today about voluntarily giving up driving. He is 82 and it was time. He says it would be a real bummer if he didn't like books so much.

Edited June 28, 2017 by Guest

[Guest]

My mom saved 10-15 favorites for me, which I appreciate. That is a manageable number to keep per child, even if one has half a dozen kids ;)

[marbel]

We have a few boxes of favorite books. Every couple of years we go through them to see if any can go.  Maybe one or two  (books, not boxes) have been discarded, but my kids want to keep most of them. We only keep books in good condition, and no cheap paperbacks.   If they ever start to smell mildewy, they will have to go, though.  My MIL used to send us old kids' books and they were always in poor condition and stunk of mildew so we had to throw them out.  I have no books from my childhood.  

[lllll]

nm

Edited July 11, 2017 by tentwelve