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Thread: The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

  1. #31
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    Rosa, my Dad had a big stroke at 59 and the only thing he could do was watch tV. He couldn't even read anymore. He loved game shows and liked me to play them with him. WE lived next door so many afternoons I would go over and do that. The doctors didn't think he would live long however, he lived 14 long years. He went from being the nicest guy to quite unpleasant after the stroke and i think it was a good lesson for my kids that you don't abandon family when they become inconvenient. There were times that my Mom or I lost our patience and then we would feel guilty.

  2. #32
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    Teacher Terry,
    a quick note about your Dad's stroke affects: I'd read years ago of an older guy who had a stroke and in recovery he became the opposite of what he'd been before. He had been an alcoholic, a smoker, and a mean person. Afterwards he'd apparently forgotten that he drank, forgot that he smoked, and become a nice guy. His adult kids were thrilled with the change. In your work, have you seen this kind of thing happen before?

    and back on track with this topic, I found a Leonard Cohen quote:
    "My mind was always very cluttered, so I took great pains to simplify my environment, because if my environment were half as cluttered as my mind, I wouldn't be able to make it from room to room."

  3. #33
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bae View Post
    It is so very hard giving up all these memories of who we used to be, who we dreamed of being, and all the infinite possibilities books represent.

    But we use books so differently these days - I almost always get them on a Kindle to save space/effort, and to be able to find the darned things. It would perhaps have gone differently if we'd maintained the separate library building concept.
    I gave hundreds of books to the library last year, but I didn't give away some old college books--my big, heavy art history book and my linguistics books in particular. I haven't looked at them in decades, but they somehow tie me to a time when I was so excited to learn stuff on those topics. Fascinating: our identity spelled out on the spines of book jackets, but you are absolutely right.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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  4. #34
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    After a lifetime of not buying books (but for my art collection, children’s picture books) I am finding myself gathering books, well, just a few a year. The most recent one is a volume about Ikenobo, used as the textbook for my Ikenobo floral design class. My public library has a bery old book about that specific school of Ikebana, Ikenobo, but that library book osnt so clearly illustrated.

    Also picked up a cool florwe arranging book one of those DIY formats I lobe: how to i steuctions on one side of the page, finished project on the other. I have an Indian cookbook in that format.i like to see the entire project laid out in one visual swoop.

  5. #35
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    Locally, I have the hardest time getting rid of books. I know a year or two ago I tried to donate many of what I felt were an educational topic - not nonfiction - in the library; flat-out refused them. Goodwill only wanted paperbacks or cookbooks. I ended up secreting them around various sites that I thought would be populated by Persons of Interest in the subject matter. I know there are cameras everywhere but I hope that I was seen as a do-gooder and not someone who was doing something bad. When Mom passes and we face that task again I will be culling out thousands and thousands of books. She will not allow the downsizing to occur presently has she feels books are her friends.

  6. #36
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lainey View Post

    and back on track with this topic, I found a Leonard Cohen quote:
    "My mind was always very cluttered, so I took great pains to simplify my environment, because if my environment were half as cluttered as my mind, I wouldn't be able to make it from room to room."
    Love this quote. It's true...if I take my cluttered mind downstairs in the morning to a cluttered home or work space, it's overwhelming sensory overload.

    Interestingly, though, that's my decorating challenge--to seek out the zen to balance out the cacophony in my mind, rather than be pulled in by a lot of color and eclecticism.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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  7. #37
    Senior Member flowerseverywhere's Avatar
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    For old non fiction books our friends of the library has big book sales. Dealers are lined up with crates they stack at one end of the room and buy toms of books cheap. For an extensive collection calling a dealer might help. We sold a big box of books for $50 to a dealer who had an eBay store that he knew how to market. I would have been glad if he had made hundreds of dollars instead of them going in the trash heap. Another source is calling a local university and seeing if any professors or grad students want them. We also have a non fiction bookstore who will give you credit. I personally would not want the credit but just give anything to them. Small business people trying to make a living.

  8. #38
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Some years ago I cleaned out about 20 books, big illustrated books about art, architecture, and design. (I know I know, where did these come from if I dont buy book? Haha, well, I did buy a few over the years, and then some were gifts. Anyway.) I first looked up online sources to see if the titles were listed at prices of more than $5. If so, I then set them aside, and later dropped off that pile to an antiquarian bookseller. I didnt want any money for them.

    The rest of them I put in the trash.

    My library finally stopped taking in people’s books after years of money losing book sales. Dont get me started on that subject! While there ARE some libraries that make good profits from their book sales, mine never did, it was a loss from beginning to end.

  9. #39
    Senior Member rosarugosa's Avatar
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    Our library has an ongoing book sale. There is a room which also serves as a meeting/function room, but it has shelves of books for sale. Hardcovers are $1.00 and paperbacks are .50. They also have the small free rack in the lobby for books that seem unlikely to sell. I've been dropping off my issues of Horticulture on the free rack after I'm done reading them.

  10. #40
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    Lainey, no I have never seen that happen. However, I did not work with many stroke patients because they needed to have a reasonable expectation of returning to some type of work due to the program requirements. Many are retired by the time this happens.

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