A while back, oh I dunno *mumble* months ago. I pulled all the books of the bookshelves in my home office and my bedroom and piled them on the bed. I went through them all, sorting them and culling out books to get rid of.

It was kinda interesting to see what the top level categories are. In January when Pat and I went to DC, we saw an exhibit at the Library of Congress that recreated Thomas Jefferson’s library. It was fascinating to see how he organized his book into different sections, like philosophy, law, natural sceince, etc etc.

My sorting system was much less sophisticated and included these top level categories: Science Fiction. Other Fiction, Non-Fiction/Current Events, Self-Help, Business, Radio/Podcasting, Computer Science & Technology. Some categories were reshelved in the home office. But all the fiction books, which will live in the bedroom to be available for bedtime reading, have been sitting on the floor in plastic tubs. Beside them, was a huge tube of “Get Rid Of” books.

They been sitting there day after day, slowly accumulating gravitas as they weighed on my mind. Today I finally go the gumption to reshelve the fiction books. But more importantly, I schlepped the 60+ pounds of books over to the Chapel Hill library and left them on the loading dock. They let people donate books there and they are sold in their annual book sale to raise money to support the library. So I know that they are going for a good cause.

As I walked away from the loading dock, it felt good. I felt like my life had gotten sixty pounds lighter. Too bad we can’t pull up to the E.R. and drop off body fat for people who want to buy it!