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
Zan McQuade
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...)
A lady of magic and extra innings. I listen to a lot of Todd Rundgren.(By day: Content Director at O'Reilly Media; by night: piano/synth, books, baseball, rock/fossil collecting)
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