Too Many Books? Nah….
Is there such a thing as too many books? To a bibliophile, the answer is plainly no…so many books, so little time and all that. To someone trying to live more simply and keep only those books that seem practical (is there such a category?), the answer is not so obvious.
I go through periods where I have my book addiction seems under control, then things like today happen. Massive book sale, “80% off suggested list,” several titles i’ve been looking for, etc. It’s an old story, but a familiar one. I seem to go through periods of purging unread/unwanted volumes from the shelves, only to replace them with newer volumes whose newness ranks them high on the optimism scale for actually reading anytime soon…but likely will just assume their orderly positions at the bottom of my reading pile. Actually, I use reading “shelves,” but the concept’s the same. I do actually get to some of them over time, but most i’m saving for one of those “rainy day” things you hear about but never seem to execute. Given that where I live, Houston, gets a lot of rain you’d think i’d catch up at some point, but it’s rather hard when the reading pile grows faster at the back end while the front end doesn’t move as fast.
The other problem with being a closet bibliophile is that, like any expensive hobby, as the years past the cost of satisfying the urge increases. Since one of my interest areas is the medieval period, this makes for a dangerous exposure to some wonderful titles and worse, illuminated manuscripts. But so far, I’ve been able to control these urges protected with the simply fact that I have several hundred medieval titles in my library still unread, and that seems to keep me from adding more to the sagging shelves. Of course, actually reading a book isn’t a requirement to a bibliophile…the thrill of the hunt and the sated feeling from acquisition feeds the soul well enough. Reading the book is icing on the cake, but a delicious icing none the less.
