The Unread Bookshelf Challenge: step one






My reading buddy and cousin/sister-mom Sarah sends me text simply saying, "I'm thinking about this." And I open The Unread Shelf blog and meet Whitney, a fellow book lover and blogger who writes about reading what you have. She challenges people to stop buying books and start reading what is on their shelf. Stop buying books? This is such a crazy idea for me on so many levels. 



First: Sarah and I literally travel the country visiting bookstores. It's our jam. The thrill of the hunt. The wonder of discovery. The joy of finding something new or something old. How would someone go about not buying or obtaining books? This is an overwhelming idea because I spend a great amount of time looking for books. 



I keep reading Whitney's blog. Step one: Bring all your books into one location and count them. Seems easy enough. Later that day: here a box, there a box, everywhere a box-box. My first step to supporting "in the home: theme 2020" was to scour the house from top to bottom and bring all the books into one location: the basement laundry room. 
I then sorted them into the following categories: 
Books I have not read
Books that I have read but can't part with
Books I use for reference 
Books that I have double copies of or could give away
Books that I don't want any more 
Books I've borrowed and need to return


Here is the Unread Shelf Inventory: 
14 kindle books
11 audio books 
151 hard/soft cover books
176 total unread books 
-26 gave to Goodwill right away

= 150 unread books in my home 

As I started to unfold this project, I realized a couple of things. I have not addressed the massive unread children book collection I own. And how does this stack of 150 books get read? So I started with the children's books. I discovered five 18 gallon tubs of children's books. Let the unpacking begin. 

356 children’s books
- 36 children's books donated

=320 unread children's books in my home

Done? Wrong! What joy it was discovering a secret drawer of books that my littlest one squirreled away in her dresser. "What is this?" I ask. Little Meg says, "It's my library."

What did I learn: I like the feeling of organizing the clutter. I have a boho/gypsy/hippie style so I'm ok with clutter. In fact I like to call it "collections". When I got all the books moved into one location, there was a feeling of satisfaction. The hidden boxes being unpacked; the reality of the collection being in one place was liberating.

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