Oliver’s twist: A compassionate guide to decluttering your bookshelf

Of course you hoard books. We all do. But if the pile is toppling over, it’s time for a trim. Relax, here are some tips. We’ve got you

Somewhere in Kannalu, Karnataka, a man named Anke Gowda has been collecting so many books for so long, he’s amassed 1.5 million of them. They’re stocked in a large house that functions as a free library. In Indiana in the US, John Q Benham’s six-car garage and two-story building are filled with roughly the same number of books. A Guinness World Record marks his as the world’s largest personal collection.

Admit it, you have too many books. That's the first step to decluttering. (ADOBE STOCK)

In his time, Dr Ambedkar had one of the world’s largest personal libraries — his collection had 50,000. Karl Lagerfeld’s stash, when he died in 2019, stood at 3 lakh...

OK, we’re coming at this wrong. This was supposed to be a guide to decluttering your bookshelf, not glamourising hoarding. But with books, subtraction is hard. They represent worlds explored, tales told and retold. Their very presence is a sign of hours spent with imaginary heroes, dragons, tycoons, ghosts, aliens, blood-soaked proms...

OK, before we get sucked into that void again. Here’s how to manage an overflowing book nook.

Give friends books they need. That way, you’re passing on your volumes, not letting go of them. (ADOBE STOCK)

First, take stock. Take everything out. Yes, even the stack in the bathroom. And get a sense of just how many books you own, and how many places you’ve been hiding them. The first cut – returning all the ones you borrowed. It’s a warm-up for the harsher trims to come.

Then, take a moment. “Think about why you’re decluttering,” says Bernard D’sa, author and founder of Raindrops Publishers. “Is it about access? Organisation? Lightness?” If you love books, it’s probably all three. Don’t let the clutter win.

Chaitanya Srivastava, senior publicist at Penguin Random House India and Southeast Asia, recommends unleashing the vibes. Forget genre or popularity, “start with the books that are important to you, the ones that helped you through a breakup, a reading slump, a loss,” he says. These are keepers.

Get a sorting hat. Books are sneaky. Even a half-remembered doorstopper will fight for its chance to stay. D’sa has a good test for determining what you’ve outgrown and what makes the cut. “With each title, ask yourself ‘Does this book still speak to the person I’m becoming?’ ‘Am I holding on to it because I love it or because I should love it?’ Guilt collects dust; clarity clears space.”

For unread books, “the line between what you are interested in and what you could be interested in is a thin and slippery one,” Srivastava cautions. Check if you’re keeping a book out of buyer’s remorse, aspiration, or genuine anticipation. Are you displaying Proust to feel intellectual? Lining up Booker winners for performative discernment. Six-volume fantasy epics can seem overwritten after they get Netflix adaptations. Even cookbooks can seem outdated if you no longer care for a cuisine. Srivastava remembers buying Sally Rooney novels out of social media FOMO, only to find the romance themes too faint for his taste.

Prepare to mourn. Letting go isn’t always about disinterest or logic. Even Srivastava says he finds it hard to let go of books he once loved. “I have been a Potterhead all my life,” he admits. “And despite JK Rowling’s stance on transwomen, I’ve been unable to let go of the copies I collected growing up.”

Think of what your connection to an old book means today. A once-beloved travelogue about “finding oneself in the East” may now feel hollow, even offensive. Do you need a well-thumbed copy of The Fountainhead in 2025? Acknowledge the ideas you outgrew, the perspectives you abandoned, and the selves you no longer inhabit.

“The idea of ‘what truly deserves a permanent place’ is constantly changing,” says Srivastava notes. “After the genocide in Gaza, I realised that a bunch of authors I used to love have either been silent on the issue or are Zionist. So, next time I declutter, these books will go.”

Send them on. “Inscribe a note and give a book to someone who needs that idea now,” D’sa says. Your college roommate might need Tiny Beautiful Things more than you do now. That cousin with a camera? Give her Just Kids. “It’s less about letting go and more about passing it forward.” And it’s a good way to say goodbye to a treasured read.

Donate to community libraries, bring a pile to the office and let colleagues have their pick, pin a photo of the “must go” pile on your Insta and ship books to strangers. Of course, go on book swaps. But if you’re bringing back as much as you sent out, it means the books win. But then, they always do.

From HT Brunch, June 07, 2025

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