Reused reading

This weekend, I'm going through my massive collection of books and selecting a pile that I'm willing to part with. My collection is growing a little unwieldy, and I've finally convinced myself that getting rid of a wonderful, excellent book is no sign that it's any less a part of me. I just know that I won't reread every book I own, and I'd rather declutter and get store credit for more great reads. Makes sense, doesn't it? A few great titles that I hope will be on the shelves of a local used bookstore soon:

• "Night" by Elie Wiesel: This 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner is an excellent book. Heavy stuff, though. I made the mistake of reading it poolside during vacation a few years ago. Not quite sure what I was thinking ...

• "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan: The New York Times Bestseller was on my Modern Literature syllabus in college. Good book. A little overrated.
  

• "The Haunting" by Shirley Jackson: Good for an October read, but I'm really not into the horror genre at all. And the book cover illustration scares me.

• "Rebecca" by Daphne DuMaurier: Same as "The Haunting" but without the scary cover.

• "On Law, Morality, and Politics" by St. Thomas Aquinas: Another book leftover from my tenure at KU. Not sure if this one helped me earn my English or journalism degree. Nonetheless, this dude knew what he was talking about, and he made me think of religion and spirituality differently. Thanks, Tommy!

• "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold: Compelling novel. A little too heavy, perhaps, for a second read.

• "Suite Francaise" by Irene Nemirovsky: A book club selection that I loved until I read -- on a beautifully lazy Saturday morning -- about a man's brutal death. With disgust, I tossed the book aside and vowed never to look at it again. Time to make get something out of this book ... besides a foiled Saturday.

• "Best Friends" by Martha Moody: This novel holds a special place in my heart because I read most of it in one of my favorite places: the porch swing of a little cabin overlooking a gorgeous and peaceful tree-covered valley. The story had promise, but the ending was a shocker. After I read it, I really didn't like it. But after spending more time thinking about the book, I decided that it was a compelling and interesting story, although the author took a little too long to tell it. (Often on vacation, I speed through the book(s) I bring with me and beg Brian to make a stop at a bookstore, which he always willingly does. The small town nearby Petite Jean State Park doesn't have a bookstore that I could find, so I ran into Wal-Mart to get a new paperback. I just found the receipt tucked inside the front cover: 12:12 p.m. Sept. 4, 2007. I also bought a disposable camera to snap pictures of our hikes that week. Ahh. Vacation. According to another receipt tucked in the book, I apparently read it during lunch the following week while eating a bowl of black bean soup at Panera.)

• "The Great Man" by Kate Christensen: Another book club selection, I really couldn't get into this one and didn't like it as much as some of my fellow members. C'est la vie.

• "Revolutionary Roads" by Richard Yates: Yet another book club read. I loved it and still want to see the movie version for comparison purposes. But the soulfully depressing novel is not one I plan to delve into again anything soon.