Using KonMari to Reduce Dad's Books 2015

As you may know from earlier posts, I had kept about 26 boxes of my dad's books after he passed away. After 4 years, I had still reduced or read very few of them. I had tried just looking through them, getting a friend to help (hi Ash!), and finally doing one author letter at a time. The last strategy was going a little better... but still really slow.

Enter Kondo. In three days, the books I chose to keep are in three bookshelves, and hundreds of books that I would not have ever read were donated. I was shocked how much clarity I had in the book selection after 4 years of being totally confused. When I look at the bookshelves they spark joy! I want to read the books, and the arrangement reminds me of being at home and visiting my dad.

Suddenly I have clarity on my dad's books! Donate! Donate!

 

Less than half the number I started with, but still, admittedly, a lot.

Okay, we still have a lot of books. We probably always will. But when I look at them they make me happy now in a way they did not before. They don't stress me or make me feel guilty. They make me look forward to pulling the next adventure off the shelf.

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A middle school coming of age story about a girl struggling with religion, female puberty, and preteen/teen gossip. Well worth the read even as an adult. Extremely realistic depiction of middle school.

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Declutter your Home Now! by Sophia Grace

Declutter your Home Now 2nd Edition! The simple guide to tips and tricks for simplifying your home and maximizing your space by Sophia Grace
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I got all excited after I started to Konmari and I thought it would be interesting to find more tips, but this isn't very helpful. I would recommend The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondō instead.

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The Heart of Grief: Death and the Search for Lasting Love by Thomas Attig

The Heart of Grief: Death and the Search for Lasting Love by Thomas Attig
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Actually it took me nearly five years to decide to stop reading it. It was pretty painful every time I read it. I'm not sure if it helped, but my ability to read some of it at a time was an interesting measure of the progress of my grief. Over five years, I mostly came to the same conclusions as the author, so I do agree with him.

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Shane by Jack Schaefer

Shane by Jack Schaefer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My first Western. It was required reading in my Sophomore English class. I don't remember much besides that I enjoyed it and there's a young boy's heartbreak at the end.

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Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis

Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a collection of 5 essays Michael Lewis wrote after the financial meltdown in 2007-2008. Each essay is a comic look at the disaster of the financial crisis in each of 5 countries: Iceland, Greece, Ireland, Germany, and America (specifically at a state and local level in California).

It's very interesting as an examination of how many people in the financial marketplace had no idea what they were doing, and it's also pretty entertaining and humorous. On the other hand, it's unnecessarily racist against the peoples it examines, with the exception of Americans who somewhat get a pass because supposedly the American culture and abundance itself exceeds what the human mind is designed to cope with. That presentation of huge groups of people, their motivations, and their histories undermines Lewis's expertise of financial players and events.

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The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondō

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Clothing/Bedroom
So I finished the book on March 17th, and I finished eliminating and organizing my clothing, purses, and jewelry before that, on March 16th. I also cleared out my bedroom of nonsense, and cleared off my desk in there, and the bedroom and desk are both a pleasure now. We were gone on vacation from March 17-22.

Books
I did my books pretty quickly when I got back because I was so excited to pick up where I left off. I got my nonfiction down to 45 + 3 borrowed books, and my fiction to 70 + 2 borrowed books. I broke the konmari rules a little and kept a bunch of books I have not yet read, and could probably still weed them down a little, but I'm happy with how little space they take up currently.

The only problem is that I have hundreds of my dad's books from when he passed away, so even though I made a lot more progress on those than in the last 4 years of slowing sorting them, they are a big project and they are kind of a cross between books and mementos.

Next up paper...
I suspect that most people do their clothes and then get stuck, based on the plethora of youtube videos about konmari and clothing items. But I'm resolved to through all the categories and all the rooms in my home.


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A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This one often looks beautiful when you see it performed because of the woods and the fairies, but the plot is so messy I have trouble concentrating. Poor Hernia and Helena, the play does torture those women in the name of comedy.

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Here Is New York by E.B. White

Here Is New York by E.B. White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's interesting how similar New York still is- in the generalities if not in the specifics. Beautiful essay.

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The Rediscovery of the Unique by H.G. Wells

The Rediscovery of the Unique by H.G. Wells
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Everything is different and unique. Words for nouns and adjectives are just imprecise generalizations. So far, so good.

Then he extends this as an analogy to claim that individual atoms are also different and therefore atomic theory can't be valid. Um? And then he also throws in that morality is also an over-generalization. Such a short essay on such weighty topics fails to persuade.

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