Wind" in which he defends his decision to reduce his personal library to around 400 of his favorite and most useful books, giving the remainder to a public library where they might be enjoyed and used by others. I also shared my own compulsion to possess books which has led to crammed bookcases and shelves along with piles scattered here and there at home and in my office at work. My wife, confronting the latter, was increasingly chagrined - what would I do with all of these books once I decided to retire? Perhaps Coehlo had come up with a feasible solution when that time came.Today the hens have come home to roost. Just over a week ago I announced my retirement after almost 32 years at the same job ( http://lookingtowardportugal.blogspot.com/2010/01/its-time-to-bone-duck.html). And today my wife and I braved a winter storm and drove into downtown DC to begin packing up my office, including three decades of accumulated books. There were books that had sentimental value, and others I knew I would need at some point in the future. Like Coehlo, I would want to keep these. We crated up almost two dozen boxes which we brought home. Several boxes of books moved from my office to the section’s library where my colleagues will continue to use them. Finally, we packed up more boxes which I loaded into our car and then navigated a snow-packed Pennsylvania Avenue to a small bookstore on Capitol Hill. While the owner unpacked each box for inspection, his wife invited me into an adjoining room where she offered me a piping hot cup of coffee and I told her how I had come to accumulate so many books. They both understood how difficult it was for me to part with them. They were generous and ended up buying about half of what I brought in. The rest I donated to the store for its "books cheap" program to benefit the local neighborhood association . . . the idea being to find them a good home. Sounded good to me; Coehlo would have been proud. I made my way back through the snow to my office with a few bucks in my pocket, enough to buy a nice dinner for us when we finished our packing at the end of the day.
We are home now. The floor to ceiling bookcases in my office are essentially empty now. The boxes of books we brought with us are squeezed into the basement wherever there was space. The office library is a little richer, and a small bookstore up on Capitol Hill has new volumes for perusal. I have fewer books to deal with, but all of the books still exist; they are just in different places than they were when the day began.
