Book Unhaul Challenge | Allison Does...
9:51 AM
One of my favorite Booktubers, booksandlala, has been killing it lately. She recently uploaded a video called Book Unhaul Challenge, in which she -- you guessed it -- challenged herself to unhaul books according to a list of certain criteria. Unhauling, if you don't know, is basically culling a certain amount of books off of your shelves to clear up space and make yourself feel terribly guilty about all of the money you spent on things you have never read or didn't like (okay, it doesn't make everyone feel guilty, that's just a me thing). "Allison," I said to myself, "you should do this. You need to make room and you know there are books in your room you are never going to read."
Let's set the scene. I have two five-shelf bookcases and one three-shelf bookcase currently in my room (along with a few cube storage units that hold some of my ultimate favorite books but, for the purposes of this challenge, those aren't important). These bookcases are stocked full, shelves bending under the weight of tome upon tome. My newer acquisitions have to rest precariously atop the rows. It's pretty much a mess and I love it, I do, but it needs help. The entertainment center in my living room holds no electronics so, instead, it has become the home for all of my previously unhauled books. There is also a full tote of even more previously unhauled books in my hallway. Yes, I know, I need to donate them ASAP. I'll get there. The point is this: I have a lot of books and no room to put the books that I no longer want in my room because I need to put other books in their places.
Enter the Book Unhaul Challenge: 10 attributes on a list and a whole lot of decisions to make. I ended up unhauling books for every item on the list except one (we'll get to that) and, in total, I pulled 52 books off of my bookcases. Fifty-two books! I'm not going to touch on every single one but I will include them all in photos if you are so inclined to know each title. I didn't interpret every category the same that Lala did and I will explain my reasoning where necessary.
1. A Book You Rated Low
The Leaf Reader, Call the Midwife, The Gilded Cage, 172 Hours on the Moon, Suicide Notes From Beautiful Girls, A Madness So Discreet, The Martian
Easy. These are all books I rated 2- or 1-star. There may be a theme here in that three of these are books I received in different book subscription boxes (I only get these boxes now if I know what the book is or the theme sounds like I can't miss it). I'm definitely in the minority on disliking The Martian but oh well!
2. A Book You Changed Your Mind About
Wool, The Weight of Silence, Summer of Night
These books fit into this category for two different reasons. One of them I only realized I had already read after I picked it up from a sale (The Weight of Silence) and never really cared about it after I got it. The other two I just don't care about reading anymore after feeling very strongly about them when I ordered them.
3. A Series You Won't Be CompletingThe Montmaray Journals, The Gold Seer Trilogy, Graceling Realm, Broken Hearts & Revenge, The Bone Season, The Naturals, The Fixer
Pretty self-explanatory. Discount book sites leading to me purchasing full series that I don't really care about. Or me reading book one and getting really excited but by the time book two comes around, I really am just over it.
4. A Book You DNF'd (Did Not Finish)
This Savage Song, Kathy Griffin's Celebrity Run-Ins, American Girls, Abroad, Yours Truly
Another easy one. I don't have a lot of DNFs on my actual, physical shelves, but these are all of them but one (I think).
5. A Book You Own Multiple Copies Of
This is the empty category. I own multiple copies of books, yes, but that is for a reason. I own two copies of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe because I wanted one solely for annotating and making my own. I own two sets of the Grisha trilogy because I really wanted the new covers that came out last year but the original covers are also beautiful (although I am thinking long and hard about this one because I have two paperbacks and one hardcover in the original set and it's really bothering me). Same with the Harry Potter series: I have two full sets because one is the hardcover originals and one is a paperback boxed set. I also have a third copy of the first book because it's a Ravenclaw 20th anniversary edition. I own two copies of Strange the Dreamer because one is the beautiful UK edition with blue-sprayed pages and one has a signed bookplate. I love all of these copies for different reasons. I can't part with them.
6. A Book You'll Never Actually Get ToLittle Star, Let the Right One In, Meant to Be, The Nanny Diaries, Lock In, Sekret, Lexicon, A Tragic Kind of Wonderful, Dust, The Unnaturalists
I found myself just throwing books into this pile. Again with the buying anything that looks remotely interesting at a discount and letting them pile up without ever actually reading them. Good riddance.
7. A Book You Bought Because of the Hype
S., The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet, Did You Ever Have a Family?, Reunited, Rebel Belle
This is the one that I had the most trouble with. A lot of times, if I buy something because of the hype, I will read it right away and the majority of those that I've hype-bought, I enjoyed and am keeping. These are books that I bought because of self-hype, because I've heard good things about them but won't be reading them, or because I was a little too late on the hype train and by the time I got them, I just didn't care anymore.
8. A Book You Bought Because of the CoverThe Invention of Hugo Cabret, Gemini, Tell Me Three Things, Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars
I don't think I've ever bought a book only because of the cover; it has to sound the least bit interesting, too. On the flip side, there are two books that I'm keeping because of the covers and how they look on my shelf, despite not really like either of them. Hey, you can't expect me to completely change in one blog post, right!?
9. A Book You Don't Know Anything AboutThe Girl You Left Behind, Close My Eyes, Little Bee, Frostblood
If anything, I know at least the genre of every book I have. These are books that I actively looked into (kind of) at one point but now have the tiniest idea of what they are about. Like, the Jojo Moyes... Okay, I really don't know anything about that one.
10. A Book You Didn't Buy
The Apple Tart of Hope, Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe
I used to enter a lot of Goodreads giveaways. These are two books that I won from those. I don't care about them now. I won't read them.
So. What am I taking away from this experience? Stop buying books that I'm not certain I'm going to read? Maybe. These pictures do give me retroactive financial anxiety but I do take comfort in the fact that the majority of them were purchased for less than cover price, either at library book sales or through discount websites such as Book Outlet. I also take comfort in knowing that I haven't ordered from Book Outlet in a very long time and I also have stopped buying every book that looks remotely interesting at book sales. Now, I order books that I know I am going to read. I love collecting books and I think I always will; however, it can get out of control. This challenge definitely helped to make more space on my shelves for future books that I am so highly anticipating and know I will pick up.
Now, how do I get all of these out of my house?
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