Poison gifts

Last night, I went for another go at my bookshelves. The worn-out tomes I mentioned in yesterday´s post were the first to go. And then I went at the hardcover shelves.
Now, as I mentioned, I don´t buy hardcover unless -there is no pocketbook edition, or- it´s a book I so like that I absolutely want a more sturdy edition to last forever.
Thus, a lot of what I have there are presents, namely, from my family.
Having somebody else buy your books for you is a tricky business at best, as in "you know my taste quite well- I already own all of these".
At worst, it´s an attempt to make someone over into what the buyer thinks that person should be.
So, from my dear family, there´s a steady influx of politicians´memoirs, travel experiences, books on theater and opera (I´m not a fan) and odd specimens of rubbish, which usually go into the shelves unread, some with their protective foils still on.
Every time I get one of these, I get angry at the thought of what useful thing the money they shelled out for that could have bought instead. I also get frustrated because I have told them quite often what I wanted, and got one of those pieces of trash instead.
To me, that shows that they are buying gifts for a person who doesn´t exist, a person who should conform to their idea of what their child should be like. Needless to say I don´t fill the bill in the least. And I sometimes think the sole purpose of those books is to make me feel guilty that I don´t.
Which doesn´t incline me in the direction of reading them, either.
Sometimes, DH reads one of those books, but there was one particular book that no one in our household would ever read, which was "gifted" when there was a serious falling-out as a slap in the face in gift wrapping. I always think it´s funny how the word "gift" in English means a present and in German it means "poison". This book definitely represented both meanings.
So, I put it into the recycling bin. I am still mulling over the fate of the other ones- they are good for keeping up those middle-class academic household pretensions when you line them up on your shelves, but then again- who watches, and who cares?
What I did, incidentally, find out was that these books are of interest to so few people that the online resales place I went to to find out if I could at least recoup some of the money wasted on that book had an offer of...9 cents. Not even a dime. And definitely not worth spending wrapping material on.
And definitely not worth keeping around just to have my hackles rise every time I come across that book.

I have better uses for the space that took up, and for my peace of mind.


Julia