Well, it’s the first post of the year and, unbelievably, it’s already February!! I’m already a month behind, what I thought would be a new period filled with lots of spare time! Ha ha.
So what is this post all about? With vinyl undergoing a big revival, I thought I’d recommission my old Hi-Fi stereo system (the actual equipment setup is for another post), which we haven’t had running for fifteen/twenty years.
As with many things in life, one thing leads to another, and of course the first question is: where does it go? Large floor speakers take up space, and stereo units from the 80s/90s are far too big to slip under a small table! Yes, it really is that old.
Why don’t we buy a new system? No way — I like a challenge!
So, back to finding a location for the stereo. Let’s put it on top of the nice big Welsh dresser we have. But what about all the stuff already on top of that? Well, we could move it into the nice tall, glass-fronted “Billy” cupboards we have… but wait a minute — they’re already full of books. And then…
We arrive at the point of letting go!!!
I’ve collected books for most of my life, particularly coffee-table books, which for me have always served as reference books on various subjects. Such as…
So the time has come to make some space and decide what to keep and what to let go! I’ve looked at some of the “buy my books” websites, but most of the offers are pretty paltry — in one case around £4.50 for ten books!!
I’ve also tried eBay a few times in the past, but when you see the wide array of prices for the same book — anything from £52.00 to £9.99 — it does make you wonder whether any of them actually sell.
So some will be going to a local secondary school library, where I know the good reference books will be put to use, and the rest to a recent find: a local Oxfam bookshop, where I’m sure someone will enjoy their contents.
Before I disposed of them, I wanted a way to catalogue all the books I have dotted around the house, and I finally settled on Handy Library. What a great app. It’s very easy to use: it can scan book ISBNs and add them to your own created ‘shelves’, you can manually add books, or even search for them on the web and import the information from there. It has full editing capabilities, tagging, and — most importantly — it backs up the content (in my case to Google Drive). Not only that, but it will also export your lists to Excel! What more could you ask for?
Anyway, that one room done, only four more to go!!
Beasley's Place 