No author and no book deserve to be consigned to the realm of oblivion, to be sealed up by dust or to be nibbled at by mice.
The book should find a place where occasionally (perhaps wistfully, perhaps dreamily) one can run one's finger along its 'spine', pick it up again and again to recall certain passages.
The author may have left us a long time ago — but his written thoughts will remain for all time to come.
If you take this to heart and show respect for the book and the author, then it will also work with the right balance of joy and pain.