time for a little house cleaning

I have too many books

     I never thought I would say that.
     Jackie and I love to read.  Julia and Emily love to read.  We have spent a lifetime reading and buying books.
     And it shows.
      Books like "Reading the Landscape,"  big  in the environmental field about 60 years ago.  I had to read it for an outdoor education class at the Lorado Taft Field Campus of NIU.  There is also an updated version, "Reading the Landscape of America," published about 30 years ago. A lot of description of the Rock River area, islands in the Rock,  geology.  It was good reading then, and would still be good reading now.
     We sometimes collect books by a certain author.  We have a lot of books by Rex Stout, who wrote about a corpulent detective named Nero Wolfe.  Nero had an investigator named Archie Goodwin because Nero seldom left the house.  Nero loved orchids and eating, as his valet/butler chef Fritz would point out.  I think we have every Nero Wolfe mystery.  He was popular in the 30s, 40s, and 50s.....but the books are good mysteries.
     We have partial series of Janet Evanovich, Alexander McCall Smith, and my favorite  of the collected authors, Donna Leon, who has mysteries set in Venice.  I have some crazy funny works by Carl Hiassen.
    I have four books in Chinese.
    I found one book in French.
    I have some spellers from the 1920s....probably picked up on a field trip.
    Books on America by National Geographic.
     I have several great reads dealing with  WW II.
    And Studs Terkel.....a great writer  from Chicago who had a wonderful interviewing style.
     We have six bookshelves.  They were all crammed full at the old house.  But I have started going through books and eliminating.
     Hate to see Thomas Jefferson go, but I'm never going to read it again.  And the Harlan Cobdens and James Pattersons.....sorry fellas, no room at the inn.
     Mathematical Tables...you are gone.
     Rick Steves guide to Europe, 2002, a little outdated and gone.
     I did find an Audubon bird book from 1946....full of illustrations of ..... c'mon take a guess....Birds!!  That one I am keeping.  If I ever get motivated to sell things on E-Bay, that might be one to list.  Or I could rip it apart and frame the bird images and then sell them at a craft fair......never mind,  too much detailed work for a guy like me.
     I still have a few boxes to go through.  I did unpack and weed 9 boxes today.
    And I am down to three bookshelves, which is a good start.
     But I notice Barnes and Noble has a coupon for this weekend.  And Christoper Moore is coming out with a new book, so maybe I'll add one more.
     In the meantime, I'll box the unwanted ones and stack them until a garage sale, book sale, mini lending library movement....some time in the future.
    A few, like on my old friend WC Fields, I'll keep....because they are old friends and I just can't say good bye.  Yet.