The Books That Muffy Forgot - One

I have too much crap. I'm a pack rat. I get attached to my stuff and it's physically painful to remove it.

I've decided to do a junk-purge, and to make it more palatable I'm going to give my junk away for free. Rather than leave it outside, though, I'm going to take it to work so my coworkers can pick it over. Then, if they don't like it, I'll go out and either sell it or throw it away.

I'm starting with books. I collect books faster than I collect dust bunnies, but I'm out of shelf-space and it's REALLY ANNOYING to move books around.

To qualify for purging, the book must be one I've already read but can't see myself ever referencing or re-reading. Here's the first batch:

• Alexandr I. Solzhenitsyn, "The Gulag Archipelago" (Volumes I-III). Disturbing and informative, but too scattered to be a good reference and WAY too uneven to be "a good second read."
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "In Evil Hour," "Love in the Time of Cholera," "The General in His Labyrinth." I'm keeping some of his wonderful books in my collection, but these three just didn't do it for me.
• Stephen King, "Four Past Midnight," "The Dark Tower." I am so sick of King's garbage.
• J. M. Roberts, "The Pelican History of the World." I have a ton of these "history of the world" books, and I've never managed to finish any of them. They simply aren't effective ways to learn about history and Wikipedia gives a much better gloss these days.
• William Golding, "Lord of the Flies." Sure it's a good book, but I'll never read it again.
• "The Bhagavad Gita." Only useful on the shelf if you want to look smart.

I can't believe that, in my purge-frenzy, I almost swept up some Raymond Carver. I mustn't throw the baby out with the bathwater!