A tidy home = a tidy mind

I sometimes contemplate what our house must say about us. I'd like to think it would say 'those two have relatively tidy minds' but what I think it says is 'what a pair of hoarders'. I find it difficult to be ruthless and I hate parting with things like books, birthday cards, letters etc.

I woke up on Saturday resolved to have a clear-out. What differentiated Saturday's clear-out from other clear-outs was that I took a critical look at all my books...and decided to get rid of quite a few of them. Most of the time our book shelf is a repository for random bills, photos, wedding invites, things that I don't know what to do with (but couldn't possibly throw away) and of course books, CDs and DVDs. But I have read some great books lately and it didn't seem right that they didn't have a proper place to live once I had finished with them. So here are some of the ones that I am proud to say now have a space on our book shelf:

• One Fraction of the Whole -Steve Toltz. Australian writer, really funny and surreal novel about three generations of a family in Oz.
• Sea of Poppies - Amitav Ghosh. First part of a trilogy. Indian writer. It took me a while to get into it but I just loved this book once I did.
• Smiley's People - John le Carre. Classic John le Carré - the ultimate spy novel.
• Shellseekers - Rosamund Pilcher. I read this as a teenager and the magic was not lost when I re-read it earlier in the year.

These books (and a few others) did not make the cut and are looking for a new home:

• Mr Toppit - Charles Elton. I found this book infuriating. I loved the idea (obscure set of children's books suddenly become bestsellers after the author's death and his family are left to deal with the legacy) but it failed to deliver.
• The Gathering - Ann Enright. I could barely struggle through this even though it was a Booker Prize winner. I think it was something about the Irish setting, the alcoholism and the funeral that the whole plot was based around.
• "Let's Roll" written by the wife of one of the plane-crash victims in 9/11. This was a gift from 2005 and it has stayed on the book shelf since. I have never been able to open it.

And these books narrowly missed the cut:

• Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts. I bought it when Al moved to India but seeing groups of tourists walking around Bombay clutching it like a guidebook totally put me off it. Next time I pick it up I will try harder.
• The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova. I started it but couldn't get beyond the first few chapters. The vampire element should have been more of a draw but wasn't. I will have to give it another whirl.

But look how much tidier everything is as a result:

Next step, alphabeticalising!