In 2019, when I had to leave London and return to Brazil to care for my mom, I left behind 18 years worth of books. I just couldn't afford to bring them all on the plane (my journals were already costly enough) so I tried to hand them out before the vast majority were left at a charity shop. I still think of them 5 years later!
Know the feeling Tim. As if your sense of self is brutally snatched away by intruders. For me it was discovering an underground lock-up garage I rented in Kilburn (to store half my treasured vinyl record collection and old Garrard record player and Kef speakers)was broken into - everything half inched, gone. All I could do was say a prayer for such things as Can’t buy a thrill, Steely Dan, Tapestry Carole King, Led Zeppelin 4 etc At least it wasn’t my entire collection. Kind of shows how we should not take our old knackered books and music for granted. Expert declutterer Marie Kondo says we should bin these things. But that is not to do them the justice and respect they deserve.
Tim - thank you - I love this piece as it articulated my own unarticulated feelings about my own books. It made me think, as you have said, that books document obsessions and loves. For me they also document mistaken or just plain weird purchases - yet another thread in how the books we buy and prefer echo ourselves.
I really empathise with you. I moved house in 2020 and had a lifetime’s worth of books, read and unread, reference, French, poetry, fiction, nonfiction etc. Over many weeks beforehand I did try to selectively reduce the numbers by giving to charities. But when I moved to a smaller house I still had boxes and boxes of them (flat fruit boxes from the greengrocer, excellent for stacking). Then the house was renovated over a period of over 2 years so they all had to be moved from room to room through dust and chaos. But finally I was able to display them again. The comfort of just touching and looking at them, many of which I won’t have time to read in my lifetime, is immeasurable. If they had suddenly disappeared I would have been totally floored.
Tim we are selling our house and moving to a place that is 3/5 the size. We had to sell at least half our books. I felt like you. And we gave away two floor-to ceiling bookcases. Now we have to empty our garage.
In 2019, when I had to leave London and return to Brazil to care for my mom, I left behind 18 years worth of books. I just couldn't afford to bring them all on the plane (my journals were already costly enough) so I tried to hand them out before the vast majority were left at a charity shop. I still think of them 5 years later!
Know the feeling Tim. As if your sense of self is brutally snatched away by intruders. For me it was discovering an underground lock-up garage I rented in Kilburn (to store half my treasured vinyl record collection and old Garrard record player and Kef speakers)was broken into - everything half inched, gone. All I could do was say a prayer for such things as Can’t buy a thrill, Steely Dan, Tapestry Carole King, Led Zeppelin 4 etc At least it wasn’t my entire collection. Kind of shows how we should not take our old knackered books and music for granted. Expert declutterer Marie Kondo says we should bin these things. But that is not to do them the justice and respect they deserve.
Tim - thank you - I love this piece as it articulated my own unarticulated feelings about my own books. It made me think, as you have said, that books document obsessions and loves. For me they also document mistaken or just plain weird purchases - yet another thread in how the books we buy and prefer echo ourselves.
I really empathise with you. I moved house in 2020 and had a lifetime’s worth of books, read and unread, reference, French, poetry, fiction, nonfiction etc. Over many weeks beforehand I did try to selectively reduce the numbers by giving to charities. But when I moved to a smaller house I still had boxes and boxes of them (flat fruit boxes from the greengrocer, excellent for stacking). Then the house was renovated over a period of over 2 years so they all had to be moved from room to room through dust and chaos. But finally I was able to display them again. The comfort of just touching and looking at them, many of which I won’t have time to read in my lifetime, is immeasurable. If they had suddenly disappeared I would have been totally floored.
Tim we are selling our house and moving to a place that is 3/5 the size. We had to sell at least half our books. I felt like you. And we gave away two floor-to ceiling bookcases. Now we have to empty our garage.