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1. es0mhi@tilde.zone's status on Sunday, 13-Nov-2022 05:52:34 JST es0mhi

   in reply to

   • Zan McQuade

   @zanmcquade

   I remember the ignorance, even disdain, with which I met people who explained to me that unfortunately they didn't have enough space in their apartment any more to buy more books.

   Recently I had the idea to create a digital catalog of my/our books. The books are scattered over many places and residences, even countries, and that makes it increasingly difficult to find them. A side effect would be that I would learn how many there are. I have no idea - they will in any case be several thousands.

   These days, 9 out of 10 books I read are digital. The question of whether I have enough time to read all the unread books has never bothered me. That's not why I own all these books in the first place. It's mostly about the fact that at some moment during the day a passage in a book may come to mind and I can immediately go to the shelf and continue reading.That happens quite often. (Over 90% of our books are written in all kinds of languages other than English, and thus not available online.)

   I love to live squeezed tightly between objects anyway. But a life in a place that is not crammed with books would not seem worth living.

   • simsa04 likes this.
   • Zan McQuade (zanmcquade@tilde.zone)'s status on Sunday, 13-Nov-2022 05:52:42 JST Zan McQuade

     in reply to

     At what point do large collections of books become nothing more than pebbles in someone's driveway? Do most people who own lots of books also read lots of books, or do they simply like the book as an object? (Related: https://lithub.com/10-famous-book-hoarders/)

     It's a little of both for me, I think. Many of the books in my library are reference and art books, books on topics I've been interested in studying in-depth; some reflect my completist tendencies for authors I become obsessed with (Iris Murdoch, Joan Didion, Sue Grafton), while others are books I've read that I keep around as reminders of characters & themes that feel like old friends.

     Most though, are aspirational, or I guess I should say "potential" -- options for whatever I might be in the mood for at any point in time. I don't end up reading all the books I buy. And I worry that the longer they sit unread, the more they're becoming like driveway pebbles...

     (Next up: confronting my actual pebble collection...)

     #Books

   • Zan McQuade (zanmcquade@tilde.zone)'s status on Sunday, 13-Nov-2022 05:52:43 JST Zan McQuade

     I made the mistake of estimating the number of books in my home (1620) and the number of books I'm capable of reading in the remainder* of my lifetime (1600). Quite the exercise to make me confront both my mortality AND my book hoarding tendencies!

     *assuming I live to 86 and continue to read about 40 books a year