I have a hard time letting go of old books, which gets to be a problem when you live in a small, finite space for 30+ years. But after a while, they just blend in and become dusty wallpaper, or part of the furniture. They come and go, but the total volume remains the same, so you never really gain any shelf space back. I kept all of Amanda's picture books in boxes and was glad for it, because I just gave them back to her for Nova.It's interesting what the book hoarders hang on to longest. One day you glance up and see a tattered Latin text from your sophomore year in college. Dog-eared, scribbled up, the pages and spine yellow and soft as velvet from all the sweat and tears of hundreds of study dates. It's hard to let stuff like that go! But of course I'll never actually "use" that book again. If I study any language in the future, it has to be Spanish. Anyway, all I remember from frying my brain in Latin class is a pithy saying or two, such as my favorite: "De gustibus non est disputandum," which roughly translates to: "there is no accounting for taste." A handy little quote to have on the tip of your tongue for many occasions.
But back to books. Some folks worry they will go the way of the dinosaur, and something beautiful and wonderful will be lost forever. Maybe, but probably not in my lifetime...there are just too many book collectors out there. Here's an article from the 12/27 NYT, where six authors talk about what to cull and what to keep, if you DO decide to clean house in 2010:
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/books-you-can-live-without/?scp=1&sq=books%20you%20can%20live%20without&st=cse
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