The Antilibrary: Why Unread Books are the Most Important.
I tend to views all the books I've accumulated but not read as simply friends I haven't met yet. And the books I tend to re-read as spending time with old friends.
I tend to views all the books I've accumulated but not read as simply friends I haven't met yet. And the books I tend to re-read as spending time with old friends.
I consider this horsepucky. Humblebragging about how little you supposedly know, but oh so wise. what crap
ReplyDeleteI have somewhere in the vicinity of 5 thousand books, I had to cut down for the last move, and am only now getting back up. and yes, I have only read about 40% of them, give or take. maybe less, I have picked up a lot of paperbacks lately after reading Paperbackwarrior.com (recommended, btw)
My books are a luxury, and I love the feeling of being able to peruse them, at leisure, enjoying the strange ideas that pop out. I do not sort them, letting them pile up basically by size (because shelving is expensive and space-devouring) and date they showed up. Leaving Noir mysteries beside Financial histories, and two over, mistakes of world war 2. Lets my mind wander like a drunken hobo, and it is wonderful.
But no, it is not the unread books that make me smarter, it is the ideas I HAVE received that does that. Owning a book that is not read is either a waste, or an admission that life is finite...
Rick
An Addendum:
ReplyDeleteChris, I love you, man, but you need to hear this:
You don't need to justify books. Books are cheap, plentiful, and don't need feeding, painting or to save up for college. They just are. Enjoy them, hold them, love them. and they don't care it you ignore them for another book.
It's ok.
Rick - thanks for the responses. I get you - really do and I'm jealous of the 5k books. When I got separated I ended up giving away most of my books. I still miss many of them.
ReplyDeleteBooks to me are not a luxury - they are a joy and also a way of exercising the mind. I buy two books very two weeks like clockwork (one fiction and one non-fiction) and I read every day. But what I read is based on my whim - what interests me at the moment. More often lately it is re-reading a book I particularly enjoyed but may have forgotten the details.
Even though I also get rid of one or two books a week now (either donate them because I won't ever read that book again or I give them to friends who I think might enjoy that particular book) - I am soon closing in on a point where I'll have more books to read than days left on Earth. And that's fine by me. I don't look at an unread book as a waste - just something I haven't gotten around to yet.
I learned the hard way to split em up. One mystery, say, then one history book, then another mystery, then a finance book, etc. and mix up the mysteries, or I would get burnt out on the characters (because amusing quirks are annoying the third time in three books that the main character was that stupid. see the tv show Monk)
DeleteI'm currently paring my library, it's hard, as they are a big part of who I am... for better or worse. Damn internet has me reading good literature much less to my chagrin.
ReplyDelete