Simple Questions: June 30, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome readers,

Have you ever wanted to ask something but you didn't feel like it deserved its own post but it isn't covered by one of our other scheduled posts? Allow us to introduce you to our new Simple Questions thread! Twice a week, every Tuesday and Saturday, a new Simple Questions thread will be posted for you to ask anything you'd like. And please look for other questions in this thread that you could also answer! A reminder that this is not the thread to ask for book recommendations. All book recommendations should be asked in /r/suggestmeabook or our Weekly Recommendation Thread.

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[u/INTJ5577]

I'm currently 71 years old and downsizing to a studio apartment in a 55-plus community. I own about 1200 books and have read a lot about the benefits of letting go of physical books as you get older. I have a meaningful connection to my books. The apartment I'm moving to is quite large for a studio. Since I live alone, I have no problem with a studio and have lived in many in different cities. I'm debating whether to keep all my books and their matching bookcases, which I thought of using as dividers in my studio. I love my books and how they look. Is it foolish to keep all my books at 71? In my new city, I'll be within walking distance of a large public library and a growing art museum. I try to convince myself that it's polite not to burden others with cleaning up after me when I'm gone. Removing these books feels like it would be a burden after unaliving, but maybe they could arrange for a book collector or a used bookstore to take them, and they can decide what to do with them. I don't think my books are worth much, and if I got a dollar per book, that would be $ 1,200- I'm not impressed. I've hired a moving company to handle my boxes and furniture so I won't have to do the heavy lifting myself. I'm still physically active and could move the books myself if needed. I wonder if I'm holding onto the past and resisting my next chapter. I'm a very stubborn INTJ and would appreciate a second opinion. Any thoughts?

[u/Legitimate-Law3625 → u/INTJ5577]

Keep them please … it’ll make your new place feel homely and library like and you probably have some real treasures amongst all those. Many books are so hard to come by these days and in the future you could palm them off to others who are interested.

[u/Regular-Newspaper-45 → u/INTJ5577]

Well I believe there is nothing wrong with keeping the books. If you are worried that they might be a burden after you are gone you could ask local places if they would be interested in the books and kind of write a will for them. This way whoever has to clean up later doesn't have to figure out themselves what to do with the books.  Besides it sound like you got many years still ahead of you wich also means their is plenty of time to think about what to do with each book. You can instead of doing a painful parting with many books at once regularly chose a few to bring to specific places. This way it is more personal what happens with the books wich is at least for me, with my 23 years, always a more pleasant way. Or every time you see someone gift them a book. "My" grandma (My sister's husband's grandma but I don't have one so I adopted her) is giving me a book every time we see each other. Always saying it is her favorite book and that it reminded her of me, right followed by acting as if she already forgot about its existence lol Oh and you can upload them all on some reselling website. A ton of work and you won't get much out of it but this will reduce the number of books slowly and ensures that they get to people who will read them.