Random thoughts...

[RonClinton]

Will be offline tomorrow; so, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving now! Enjoy your time!

Yep a busy weekend here as well with family, so warmest wishes to all for a Happy Thanksgiving.

[Ben Staad]

Ditto, everyone. Have a fabulous Thanksgiving.

[mhatchett]

Missed Thanksgiving, but I hope everyone has a great Holiday Season!!!

[RonClinton]

The only way to rearrange my book collection so that everything flows perfectly is to free up one shelf, and the only way I can conceive of achieving that is to pull -- and, presumably, sell -- my entire, complete Matthew Corbett series (plus a few other select titles from other authors), all 1sts, all signed (trade HC 1sts of the first two, then signed deluxe HCs of the next five, then three signed/numbered HC Lividians). I've only read the first three, and had long looked forward to, at some point, reading the rest of the series. But if I was that invested in the series, wouldn't I have read more of the series by now...? So it seems like the easy choice. Yet my inner collector is screaming at me that I'd be making a serious, serious mistake, and I already feel the pangs of regret even thinking of it...it's McCammon, for God's sake. But I can't see any other option at the moment...everything else just looks too precious and challenging to let go, especially since it'll require every title from several treasured authors.

Someone talk me out of the madness of this McCammon purge.

[saginawhorror]

Just think of how much it would be a pain to get back one day!

[dannyboy121070]

The only way to rearrange my book collection so that everything flows perfectly is to free up one shelf, and the only way I can conceive of achieving that is to pull -- and, presumably, sell -- my entire, complete Matthew Corbett series (plus a few other select titles from other authors), all 1sts, all signed (trade HC 1sts of the first two, then signed deluxe HCs of the next five, then three signed/numbered HC Lividians). I've only read the first three, and had long looked forward to, at some point, reading the rest of the series. But if I was that invested in the series, wouldn't I have read more of the series by now...? So it seems like the easy choice. Yet my inner collector is screaming at me that I'd be making a serious, serious mistake, and I already feel the pangs of regret even thinking of it...it's McCammon, for God's sake. But I can't see any other option at the moment...everything else just looks too precious and challenging to let go, especially since it'll require every title from several treasured authors.

Someone talk me out of the madness of this McCammon purge.

The last two books of the series were such letdowns that I really have no defense for the series. I loved them all, up until those last two, but they really tainted my love for the series as a whole.

[RonClinton]

Just think of how much it would be a pain to get back one day!

That's one issue. The other is that the quasi-completist in me pains to think that my McCammon collection will have such a huge hole in it.

And yet, when I consider those two reasons, nowhere in there is the overwhelming desire, the imperative, to read them. Honestly, if I were to have an undeniable desire to read McCammon, I'd probably lean toward re-reading BOY'S LIFE or WOLF'S HOUR before I'd be compelled to read the Corbett series. So: It's all about the collecting, the having, the cost of replacing. As a bibliophile collector who likes to think of himself first and foremost as a reader, maybe that should tell me something...

[dannyboy121070]

That's one issue. The other is that the quasi-completist in me pains to think that my McCammon collection will have such a huge hole in it.

And yet, when I consider those two reasons, nowhere in there is the overwhelming desire, the imperative, to read them. Honestly, if I were to have an undeniable desire to read McCammon, I'd probably lean toward re-reading BOY'S LIFE or WOLF'S HOUR before I'd be compelled to read the Corbett series. So: It's all about the collecting, the having, the cost of replacing. As a bibliophile collector who likes to think of himself first and foremost as a reader, maybe that should tell me something...

I had to, painfully, let go of the completist/collector mania when Brian Keene released some insanely expensive book back in the day (A Field Guide to the 13, I think it was.) Letting go of that urge to need EVERY book from certain authors also helped me stop caring about how my books were shelved and stuff like that.

[RonClinton]

I had to, painfully, let go of the completist/collector mania when Brian Keene released some insanely expensive book back in the day (A Field Guide to the 13, I think it was.) Letting go of that urge to need EVERY book from certain authors also helped me stop caring about how my books were shelved and stuff like that.

I think I need to subscribe to your school of thought, it would sure make decisions like this a heckuva lot easier.

[sholloman81]

I gave up (mostly) being a completist long ago. Just don't have the shelf space or the cash to make that happen. When I can do it, great, but I never really go out of my way anymore. Same with matching numbers. If I can do it, great, but it's never a deal breaker for me owning an LE book or collecting a series.

[RonClinton]

I gave up (mostly) being a completist long ago. Just don't have the shelf space or the cash to make that happen. When I can do it, great, but I never really go out of my way anymore. Same with matching numbers. If I can do it, great, but it's never a deal breaker for me owning an LE book or collecting a series.

The problem with McCammon is that the Matthew Corbett series is just a large, seminal part of his body of work that, to my mind, its loss would go beyond the pangs of completism...it would be a huge, undeniable hole. That said, I guess I could keep the S/L of SEVEN SHADES OF EVIL so at least Corbett is represented on the shelf.

[TacomaDiver]

Someone talk me out of the madness of this McCammon purge.

I'm not purging my McCammon collection, but I told myself I need to get rid of some of the random duplicates I have, and the rand PBs from Lividian that I bought even though I have the HCs (either 1st or the LEs). Just need to find a collector who would appreciate those editions rather than the nickel I'd get at the used book store (if I was lucky.)

Oh plus some random PBs from SubPress that I bought. I don't need every damn edition of a book. I'm not that mad.

[RonClinton]

I'm not purging my McCammon collection, but I told myself I need to get rid of some of the random duplicates I have, and the rand PBs from Lividian that I bought even though I have the HCs (either 1st or the LEs). Just need to find a collector who would appreciate those editions rather than the nickel I'd get at the used book store (if I was lucky.)

Oh plus some random PBs from SubPress that I bought. I don't need every damn edition of a book. I'm not that mad.

Yeah, I jettisoned my duplicates of any book (save for a couple) and ARCs some time ago. That was an easy scraping of the skin kind of discomfort...now any book that has to be removed is like open flesh surgery, cutting into the meat of things, 'cause now that I've purged, I don't know, maybe 1000 books over the last two, three years, I'm down to the good stuff, the "essential" stuff, and the pain of removing that kind of book(s) is a lot more acute. But it is what it is...it 's not like I can take with me, anyhow, right?

I still don't know what I'm going to do about my prospective McCammon massacre, though.