Pence wrote:

I think she only had 3 novels published before she died. There is a collection of her short stories on line - Janet Kagan - Her Real Domain.
Hellspark is her real masterpiece. Mirabile is one of my comfort reads. I'm a bit of a sucker for SF that does good biology.

Found Hellspark on kindle and the sample on offer was enough to drag me into buying it immediately.  I might have to finish this ahead of the McAuley.

 

Surtac wrote:

Kokipy wrote:

I did that some years back, Star. It’s a horrible thing to have to do- deaccessioning I mean. But think how much fun you will have unpacking and finding old treasures in those you have boxed up. (Did you note the donations at librarything? I never did that).
‘what exactly is the timing of your move? Concerned friends need to know….

Star, may I ask what criteria you applied when deciding which books to re-home? It's a topic I'm dreading but it is becoming more and more pressing and imminent as SWMBO pursues her agenda of decluttering the house, something which is sorely needed here at Chateau Dysfunction, but which when it involves my books is upping my anxiety levels to something approximating existential dread.  How did you manage it?
 

Sorry for the delay, ‘tac. My life has been crazy, swept into searching for a new house in another area while trying to pack this one up. It looks like our deal to buy the new one (it’s fantastic!) is happening, and the present house goes on the market next week. All my time has been consumed in searching, packing, negotiating, signing, paying, fixing. But I am really really excited!

Anyway, back to your question. The primary criterion was this: “Were I to read this book, would I read this particular volume?” Many of the older books were in less than appealing condition. It was clear to me that I was holding on to those without a good reason. I could get a more recent fresh edition, or the ebook. Others left the house because they no longer appealed. Then there were books I collected for collecting’s sake. I no longer participate in that. I’m moving in a more minimalist direction. Finally, there were lovely hardback editions of books I disliked. Why keep those around? Good examples were The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch; In the After by Demetria Lunetta; Robopocalypse by Daniel H Wilson; Feed by Mira Grant; The Blade Itself  by Joe Abercrombie


At the risk of offending, I will include very brief reviews that make the point:

The Blade Itself: An ugly book.  Unlikable, sadistic characters; gratuitous violence; overly long.  I resist populating my precious reading realm -- and time -- with the unpleasant people in this bitter world.

Feed: Embarrassingly bad.  Execrable writing, Shameful that this book won awards.  Caution in reading reviews of subsequent books in the series: they were probably written by people who liked the first book well enough to continue.  You will find no such review from me.

I hope that is helpful 😉 

Surtac wrote:

starexplorer wrote:

Surtac wrote:

Star, may I ask what criteria you applied when deciding which books to re-home? It's a topic I'm dreading but it is becoming more and more pressing and imminent as SWMBO pursues her agenda of decluttering the house, something which is sorely needed here at Chateau Dysfunction, but which when it involves my books is upping my anxiety levels to something approximating existential dread.  How did you manage it?
 

Sorry for the delay, ‘tac. My life has been crazy, swept into searching for a new house in another area while trying to pack this one up. It looks like our deal to buy the new one (it’s fantastic!) is happening, and the present house goes on the market next week. All my time has been consumed in searching, packing, negotiating, signing, paying, fixing. But I am really really excited!

Anyway, back to your question. The primary criterion was this: “Were I to read this book, would I read this particular volume?” Many of the older books were in less than appealing condition. It was clear to me that I was holding on to those without a good reason. I could get a more recent fresh edition, or the ebook. Others left the house because they no longer appealed. Then there were books I collected for collecting’s sake. I no longer participate in that. I’m moving in a more minimalist direction. Finally, there were lovely hardback editions of books I disliked. Why keep those around? Good examples were The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch; In the After by Demetria Lunetta; Robopocalypse by Daniel H Wilson; Feed by Mira Grant; The Blade Itself  by Joe Abercrombie


At the risk of offending, I will include very brief reviews that make the point:

The Blade Itself: An ugly book.  Unlikable, sadistic characters; gratuitous violence; overly long.  I resist populating my precious reading realm -- and time -- with the unpleasant people in this bitter world.

Feed: Embarrassingly bad.  Execrable writing, Shameful that this book won awards.  Caution in reading reviews of subsequent books in the series: they were probably written by people who liked the first book well enough to continue.  You will find no such review from me.

I hope that is helpful 😉 

Thank you Star for your considered answer.  That is indeed helpful.

I do like your primary criterion question and I'm sure I'll be using a version of it in future.  I'm already using a version of it in reverse, if you will.  Almost all of my reading for pleasure these days is via ebooks, to the point where the flow of physical books into Chateau Dysfunction has slowed to an absolute trickle.  In fact, physical books come in now either as a gift from family or friends, or I have decided a physical copy is justified for reference purposes after reading the ebook version, ie it has to prove itself to be shelf-worthy. There can be very rare exceptions for books unavailable in ebook form but this unlikely in this day and age.

Physical books get added to my LibraryThing collection, but I have found myself to be notoriously bad at adding ebooks to that platform.  Such is life.

I have started de-shelving books and authors I am unlikely to re-read anytime soon, and these are going into plastic storage boxes to be housed outside the house until future decisions about retention or disposal are required. This is allowing some reclamation of shelf space and redistribution of books, but this is going to be a very slow process.

I also note your point about not keeping books you actively dislike and that also makes sense to me. I had to smile to myself when I saw your list of examples.  I've read three of those five books and agree completely with your assessment of two of them.  The third one raises another question in my mind which I might spin out tomorrow into a separate thread, before I derail this thread any further by asking it here.

I'll get back to you later.

Interesting. I’m glad to hear some improvements are afoot. Two addenda. First, I proactively included the phrase “at the risk of offending” because I believe I recall your having reacted differently to The Blade Itself. It is of course expected that different readers will react differently to some books. I didn’t want to offend, although I did have a strong reaction to that one. Secondly, I have also reduced the influx of fiction into the house, but I buy my nonfiction in physical form. I find I haven’t yet adapted to the tables, charts, pictures, etc of nonfiction in eform, and I also continue to get a kick out of shelving and examining my nonfiction by subject.
 

Surtac wrote:

Oh, I most certainly wasn't in the least offended, Star.  As you note different readers will react differently - I think I would be horrified if everyone reacted the same way to any individual artistic work.  I'm more curious as to why that particular book, or whether it's the author or their body of work, or whether perhaps it might be the whole grimdark sub-genre as was emerging at the time.  That's the question that's rattling around in my head. 

And yes, Chateau Dysfunction has also changed its incoming physical book mix from mostly fiction to now mostly non-fiction, whether it be my history and reference texts or SWMBOs dietetics tomes.  Playing with and re-arranging bookshelf content is a useful form of therapy, right?

 

Yes, I’ve looked for the quote forever, but Borges had a line I read once about every book placed on a shelf being a decision about how you think about your books….a classification decision. I do find it very engrossing and therapeutic to decide what book goes where. And with the new house, there will be thousands of those decisions. Unless I decide to do what you have done and not put them all out. Like museums do with their overflow items…🙂

As to why that book, it’s hard to answer. I had a visceral aversive reaction to that one. Maybe I failed to find what may have been redeeming, and was left just with the ugliness and sadism. Or maybe I didn’t read closely enough. It just remains in my memory as a book I really did not like. I doubt I read thoroughly in the genre you named…
 

Surtac wrote:

Ah yes, Borges. If you ever find that quote, Star, please let me know the source.  I just went through my copy of his Dreamtigers but couldn't find it in there.  I didn't expect to really - that book is pretty much all fiction snippets and fragments: micro-stories in vignette form, if you will.

I also just went looking for an ebook of Labyrinths to check that one too (I last read that many years ago from the library iirc and don't have a physical copy) but there doesn't to be an e-version available. However, Amazon Oz will sell me the Penguin paperback edition and have it here in two days for less than AUD13.  So another physical book is incoming ... sigh.

 

I did go through Labyrinths casually in search of the quote - I thought it might be in the story “The Library of Babel”, but I didn’t find it. After, I decided that wasn’t the place I’d originally seen it after all. But it may be somewhere else in that volume. I hope you find it!