I'm using my week off for some year-end housecleaning -- I've already cleaned out one desk drawer! Getting rid of books is much more emotionally charged, though I'm also eyeing the huge TBR piles that have sprouted in the corners of my house. As for newer books, I'll say goodbye to Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol," which was fine for a quick read but not the sort of book I'd come back to (unlike J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, which can bear an occasional re-reading).

The New York Times asked several authors about their end-of-year housecleaning. I particularly liked the answers of Chang-rae Lee, who teaches creative writing at Princeton. Among his suggestions:

-- Any novel or poetry collection written by a celebrity.

-- Cookbooks with a spiral binder; these are usually distributed by P.T.A., Rotary clubs and voter groups ... [or those] featuring the words easy, delicious or light in their titles.

-- Any oddly prefixed “____-onomics” titled book.

I'd add:

-- Any book over 500 pages that has sat unread for more than two years. (Who are we kidding? It will never be read.)

-- Any textbooks from your college major -- or other books, purchased later, that touch on that subject. (See above: who are we kidding...)