Silva rerum (5) feat. discarded books and awesome presents

On By piotrekIn books, miscellaneous, Piotrek, silva rerum

I got this for my recent birthday (still young, but each year a little less so 😉 ):

Isn’t that wonderful? I’ll never be able to do anything similar, but I sure appreciate it a lot. I have to confess that an elfish warrior is my favourite RPG character. Not very original, I know, but I’m stable in my preferences. Never had such a great miniature though!

Apart from that, a few rather sad photos. I’ve been bragging about my physical library a lot and swearing I’ll be expanding it forever. I still do, although at diminishing speed – only 24 volumes this year so far, around 2/3 of what I had bought in the first quarter of 2018. I aim to limit my acquisitions to 50-60 books this year and it seems… still doable? Fingers crossed…

It means I will also need to accelerate my other, even newer plan, a plan to get rid of some of the books. I’ll be honest – there were times when I was ready to take just about everything, as long as it had two covers and some pages in-between. I’ve also kept (almost) every book I’ve read, even when I hadn’t liked and was sure I’ll never re-read nor recommend it to anybody.

Then there are school reference books, now obsolete in both content and form. I’m keeping a few favourites, the rest have to go.

Also – some duplicates, I really don’t need two editions of Sun Tzu 😉 And some II World War books of close-to-zero value, presenting outdated, politically motivated views on some very narrow topics.

Almost a hundred tomes, but not a very marketable bunch altogether. I was able to give away 1/4 to family and friends, some I’ve packed into a transparent bag and put next to the local trash bins. Some that I believed could find a new home more easily, ended in this sad box:

IMG_20190322_084230

It’s been almost a week and only about a third of the have been taken so far.

Several books that had potential I’ve saved for later, when I have time to put them on Allegro (Polish equivalent of eBay), but there are not many – I’m keeping the good books for myself. To put things in perspective – during the last few months I’ve discarded about 120 volumes, less than 5% of my library, and I kept buying new ones.

But the exponential growth of my library was unsustainable.

There are whole categories I’ve decimated, like communist propaganda (never a believer, but they are interesting, in a way), self-published IIWW memoirs, textbooks. A few examples of each – kept, the rest – gone.

Most of the adventure books I’ve loved in my pre-fantasy era will probably go to my cellar. Karol May and suchlike.

bookshelf

Don’t worry though, my living room will forever remain a library, walled with bookshelves on three sides! I’m not giving up 🙂

UPDATE

And now I’ve noticed someone started adding more books to my box… It’s nice to be inspiration, but I hope I won’t end up with more volumes than I had before 😉

34 thoughts on “Silva rerum (5) feat. discarded books and awesome presents”

  1. Dang, that elf is cool! I’ve always been a fan of paladins or straight up knights (I know you’re totally surprised at that!).

    Good job on not being a pat rack. We don’t need to see your house after 50 years being featured on some Hoarder episode 😀

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. piotrek

      Thanks, but I still feel like a traitor 😉

      I usually play elves, but I’ve been an Inquisitor in a great Warhammer campaign that lasted a few years… I have some disturbing memories 😉

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    1. piotrek

      Thanks 🙂 I’ve waited for years, and finally, when I had enough space, made it the center of my new home. After a couple of years, I’m out of shelf space again 😉

      Liked by 1 person

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  4. I do mini purges each year, so that I can fit more books I like into my shelves. I’m in the middle of a big move though, and I actually had to do a real purge… so many books I had to give away, but it was quite empowering when I was deciding which books to keep and which to let go of.

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  5. After a year of being relatively abstemious I’m accumulating again, (tsch tsch). Even trying to up reading library books has little effect: I confess, I’m a bibliorecidivist… 😁

    Still, what’s not to like about that warm cocoon-like embrace of a shelf-lined room? 🙂 Very impressive!

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    1. piotrek

      Well, thanks, the problem is – it’s not enough any more, I need to get smart about it… shelf-lined living room is acceptable, but books started to take up too much space elsewhere, and there’s just so much space in my flat 😦

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  6. Loves the statue! If I had money, I’d have a collection of those superhero statues that each cost 200$ + and that have incredible details. I usually go for rogue’ish stealthy fantasy heroes in my RPG games myself. 😛

    Also love your collection! And man… I dread the day I’ll have to purge my own collection… Yikes!

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    1. piotrek

      And it was hand-painted by a friend 🙂 a pearl in my small collection.

      Books.. well, thanks, I love my library, but it seems I have to start keeping it under control 😉

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    1. piotrek

      Thanks! Oh, great! Myself, a totally suck at painting, I tried with some Warzone miniatures long ago and the results were pretty pathetic. I’m lucky to have a friend who is good at it 🙂

      You play D&D? The latest edition? We tried with Pathfinder, Basic Role Playing, some Call of Cthulhu, but we always come back to Warhammer. I’ve bought Powder Mage recently, co-created by McClellan, I hope we’ll actually play it one day…

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      1. Did not know powder mage was a thing 😲

        Yea, we play 5th Edition D&D. I’m an author (and really good at voices) so the whole storytelling thing is easy as a DM. I’m hoping to get back into playing warhammer in the future.

        Games workshop have made painting fairly easy these days. They have a whole range of washes, technical paints and texture paints that turn below average painters (me) into half-decent ones 😂

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        1. piotrek

          I envy you! It’s sometimes is my turn to run a game, but I’m not a true storyteller. I listen, I discuss and review, but I’m not fully confident telling a story. Accidentally, the guy who painted the Elf is 😉

          It is, based on the Savage Worlds, and looks really nice. We created our characters, tested the rules, but haven’t yet a regular game.

          Warhammer is really popular in Poland, partially because it was the first system to be translated and readily available in mid-90ties, when the whole thing started here. D&D was a bit late.

          Painting… I could do it better, but not good, and so, with an artist nearby, I’ll concentrate on other things 😉

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  9. Belated happy birthday – and what a great present! Makes me want to get out my half-painted (not very well) Dark Elves army again. Not played D&D properly for a long long time, Call of Cthulhu sounds fun though. I’m just not patient with long games, always preferred the books.

    Impressive unhaul / purge. Even though it was probably hard to say goodbye to long-term occupiers of the epic library lounge you have. But that means more room for new books!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. piotrek

      Thank you!

      Dark Elves are a great looking army 🙂

      Call is very good, but difficult for a Game Master, more than typical fantasy. That was long ago, but now I play a lot of Eldritch Horror, nice boardgame with definitely Lovecraftian feel, although quite long a complicated.

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