I have been trying to go through some boxes in the basement. Most of them are full of books. Some of them are mine, but most of them are old books that were passed down through the years on my dad's side of the family. Most of them are signed on the inside... Sam Rea 1870- my great grandfather, Lydia Ward 1907 a great great aunt, Mrs A.L. Ward 1899 great great grandmother... On and on and on. I have tons of these books with names like Albert, Cora, DeForrest, and yes, Charlotte.
The last time we moved, my poor brother in law had to carry all of these boxes in. He asked me if It was my lifelong dream to open a public library. I have too many books.
I have no problem giving away my paper backs, but these... It tears my heart out to think of getting rid of them. This is a slim connection to these people I never met. But I think I have to let them go. Number one, we just don't have the space, number two I have been carting these books around in the same boxes for 10 years since my grandmother passed away. Some of them longer than that. And third, some of them are in super bad shape.
Ok, so I keep some of them, but how do I choose? How do I choose between a great grandfather I have never met and a great grandmother I never met?
At the back of one volume is a quote from some biblical work, I think. "My mother looked upon my heart and found it brave and sweet- willing for the day's work and harboring no shameful hope." How do I not pick that one? It's like every one of the books is a piece of some mystery of my make up...why I like the things I like, why I think like I do...and if I read them all and find margin notes or underlined passages or special inscriptions, maybe it will tell me something. Something like
My mother looked upon my heart and found it brave and sweet, willing for the day's work and harboring no shameful hope.
Aw! I'll help you move as many of your books as you want at least one more time.
ReplyDeleteAww! Thanks! We're moving again in the spring...see you then! Or you could help me open a library...that might be easier!
DeleteI know what you mean about hearing those words coming out of your ancestors that sound exactly like words you could've written. It's haunting, isn't it? And it makes you feel like you completely belong somewhere in the world. It would be hard for me to get rid of those books, too.
ReplyDeleteSomeday you're going to have a house that you know for sure is "your house," and it'll have a place for your books. Hold on to them.
But don't tell Dave I said that.
I am totally telling Dave.
DeleteI don't have as many family books as you do, but I know the feeling you get when you open them and see your ancestors' signatures and quotes written inside. I have a book of Shakespeare in which my great-grandfather underlined his favorite passages (which of course I find to be my favorite now too!) and numerous others. My advice? Don't get rid of them if you don't have to!
ReplyDeleteI resisted for sooo many years...but I have 10 volumes of Ibsen (who in the world needs that much Ibsen??), 15 volumes of Kipling, probably 4 or 5 sets of "pocket" books of all authors, a full set of Shakespeare...then I also have some poetry books, a couple of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations from the 1800s, McGuffy's readers blah blee blah....I need a Beauty and the Beast library!
DeleteHahaha, do they all have writing in them?
ReplyDelete