I was inspired by Alex Weiss’s article, “10 Spring Cleaning Tips for Getting Rid of Old and Unread Books,” which offers creative and crafty ways to clean off our bookshelves. I appreciated the ideas for donating books to other people or organizations, but the suggestions to make paper bouquets and storage holders from books was like a stab in the heart. Cut up the pages, dig a hole into a book? It feels sacrilegious. Someone, somewhere poured their heart and soul into writing those books, so I’d feel bad mutilating them. Then again, maybe I’m reacting as if the books were written by me, maybe I’m just projecting. Imagine yourself as a writer, how would you feel about your book being transformed into a rose or storage holder? Before you answer, click on the picture to check out Weiss’s article: