Discarding books

Books are the dream of those who stay in one place and the nightmare of those who move. I love books! And I have done as long as I can remember. And with that love it’s so easy to accumulate them. But if you move house they’re the worst.

In Norway I made a book cupboard that fit most of my modestly sized books. The big ones live in the robust cupboard I had since I was a child. And I decided that that book cupboard should be it. Every time I buy or get a new book, therefore, and old one has to go. And I can’t resist buying books. I keep on buying climate-related books, like the one I blogged about recently (and I have another one! I may get to that one soon, and then I’ll write a review). I also get books. And in Norway I bought a few books in Norwegian, as that’s not so easy here in England.

It was quite a step to start this. Many of my books are useless to the community around me. Hardly anyone here can read the Ducth and Norwegian specimens, so many of them just end up as waste. And throwing a book away is not easy. But I got the hang of it! And I am getting better...

I had already dealt with some of the more conspicuous targets, but that wasn’t enough. And then I fell ill. Not ill enough to sleep all day but too ill to work. Which as unpleasant and boring, but the only upside of it is that basically the only thing you can then still do is read books. Novels, preferably, as tougher stuff can’t be digested by my cottonwooly, slimy head. So I’m making progress! Only after having read a book I can decide if it’s worth to keep. So maybe this throat infection will let me catch up with myself, with my bookshelf!