Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Confessions of a collector...


Having spent the evening with a friend who’s been known to buy a book or two herself, and conversation having drifted round to where we might find the ultimate promised land of reasonably priced, well stocked, second hand bookshops I am ready to admit that I might be more of a collector then a reader. Ever since I was a child I've wanted my own Library, and have gathered books accordingly. I often wonder how many volumes I need before my shelves can claim their true title?


I do read, and I'm obsessive about having a book with me. I'm the woman who won’t leave the house without a book in her bag, even if it’s just to browse round town – or visit a friend. Most of the time I'm not sure that one book is enough, if a journey is in the offing it will indeed be more than one book, no holiday is complete without a small library in attendance. My preferred coat is a Barbour because of the number of excellent book carrying pockets it carries, yet I probably only read a couple of books a week.

Nothing to be ashamed of in that until I consider how many books I buy in the same time, a number that often reaches double figures in seven days. If it was just about reading I would use public libraries, but it’s very rare that I do – I hate to give the books back. Often I buy things knowing I won’t pick them up again for months, maybe years, but I want to know they’re sitting on the shelf waiting for me. Some books – I'm looking at a stack almost a foot high made up of six Everyman volumes of Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire – I’m sure I will never read, but they where a pound each in Oxfam. How could I resist? After all it’s the sort of thing any well furnished library needs...

I find the book as an object is as important to me as its contents, not more important, but definitely as important. I'm not a fan of hard backs or special editions, though I have both, paperbacks; lovely, light, compact, cheap paperbacks are my first and true love, and I can’t get enough of them.

4 comments:

  1. I'd not seen your blog til you commented on mine, but what an impressive collection of VMCs!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just found your blog through your comment on Verity's and I fear we are kindred spirits...as much as I try and curb my book buying I can't help myself, and I seem to read one book for every ten I acquire...it's not a good recipe for success in the battle of keeping my bookshelves under control! But of all habits to have, it's not a bad one, I think.

    Welcome to the book blogging world! We seem to have the same taste in books and I have blogged about many of the books you have - you could be me!

    ReplyDelete
  3. So very true, all of it!
    Actually, coming to terms with my collecting instinct has made me happier about buying books I know I'll probably never read...

    My friend once asked me why I was taking a book with me for our walk - when I explained that she might break her leg, and I'd have to wait for the air ambulance, she wasn't much pleased...

    ReplyDelete
  4. One never knows when a book will be needed to fill up some otherwise lost moments waiting in lines or other unavoidable and/or unexpected downtime. I always feel sorry for people who don't have a book with them. Or what about those folks who get on a long haul flight with nothing but the airline magazine to read. Yikes.

    I probably buy more books than I should, and try to limit myself to those that I think I want to read. If the book is non-fiction I am likely to keep it forever as a reference book even if I don't ever read it. But when it comes to fiction--which is the bulk of what I buy--if I begin to feel like I will never read it, I sometimes feel the need to get rid of it. Since fiction is frankly one of my reasons for living, the thought of a dud looming somewhere in my collection makes me a bit crazy. I can feel it silently oppressing me, taunting me that I will never read it. Sometimes I surprise myself and actually read it, but other times, I just know it is never gonig to work for me and I need to set it free (and get it out of my house).

    I might need therapy.

    ReplyDelete