Shelf: de-clutter

I said I wanted to simplify and de-clutter my home. It is a big job and, when I think about it, I feel overwhelmed. There is just so much that I need to go through. Even so, I've managed to tackle a little bit, here and there. I even tackled a specific project: my bookshelf.
When we moved in last year, my big project was unpacking. (That giant mess should have been the motivation to do-junk, but it wasn't.) My first big, unpacking project was my bookshelf. Each shelf was full of books, ones I've read, others I haven't. Books I've loved for years and others that were newer to me. This is how the shelf looked then:

What a mess!

At the time, the sight of my shelf brought a smile to my face. The sight of all my books made me happy. Since then, a few things have changed.
It wasn't long before I learned that having all my books on the bottom shelves was a bad idea, what with my little ones running around. They just didn't understand that it's not OK to pull mommy's books of the shelf and rip them to shreds. So, I re-arranged.
I found a way to get most of my books loaded into the top three shelves, and tightly stuffed my larger books (yearbooks, the kid's memory books, etc.) on to the very bottom shelf. I filled the empty shelf with the kids books. It was within their reach, and I figured they would be less likely to go for my books if theirs were more readily available.
It worked for a while. Then something changed. I guess they got bored with their books, because they started to go for mine again. Yearbook pages were ripped, and I had to do something.
I have some shelves in my bedroom, but they were filled with, well, junk. I cleared them off and moved the books I'd had on the bottom shelf into my room. Now there were two empty shelves in the living room. At this point I was only allowing so many toys out at a time. I filled a couple of bins with toys, and they already had a couple with their books. Finally, I thought, this is taken care of. But, nope.
All of the books on my shelf started to look busy to me. I didn't find any pleasure in the stacks of books, I started to talk myself into going through my shelf, and getting rid of the books that I didn't want anymore. It still took another while before I actually focused on the shelf and got it done, but I eventually got to it. Here's my finished product:

The very top of the shelf has been cleared, aside from my pretty decorations. I went through my books a few times, on different days. Each time I went back I decided to pull another book or two from my collection. Each time I scanned my shelf I would ask myself things like:
Did I enjoy reading this book?
Will I read it again?
What feelings did I have when I read it?
Would I want my children to, one day, read this book?
Does this book on my shelf reflect the kind of person I want to be?
Is this book uplifting and/or wholesome?
There were a few books that never made it past the first question. Most of the rest that went were books that I had enjoyed when I read them, but I wouldn't read them again. Some of the books had what could be considered some pretty inappropriate content. Others I had bought on a whim, just to have something to read, the ones that seemed to me to be a waste of money--gone.

The bottom two shelves are still for the kids use, but I've scaled back what they have, too. All but a few of their toys and half of their books are put away now. I couldn't handle them messes they made, and they don't really need all their toys out at once, anyway.

As of now, I feel pretty good about the books that are left and the appearance of my shelf. It looks more tidy to me and the books that are there are books I really love.
(I still need to actually get rid of the books I pulled. You can see them stacked on the desk next to the shelf there. I've got a bunch of things together to donate to the DI (thrift store), now I just need to take the trip.)