Daphne Lee
reviews Nick Hornby's The Complete Polysyllabic Spree in StarMag today. (I wrote about the book too
here.) I love her explanation for why booklovers tend to accumulate mountains of books:
First of all, there's the question of mood. You may want to (nay, need to) buy a book on the spot, but, years may pass before you feel like reading it! This is why my bedside table is stacked with books. I'm usually in the middle of at least three at any one time because I never can tell what I'll feel like reading first thing in the morning or last thing at night. It's good to see Nick Hornby publicly identifying with and acknowledging the problem. Not that it really is a problem. It's only those spoil sports who read maybe half a book every couple of years who see it as such. Their main concern would probably be shelfspace or lack thereof, but if you truly love to read and like owning what you read (or will, one day, so help you God, get around to reading), shelfspace ceases to be an issue. Who needs bookcases when there are other kinds of surfaces that will as readily hold your books? Who says your wardrobe is only for clothes? Or kitchen cabinets are just for crockery? Has it ever occurred to you that there's a lot of useable space under your bed?
Daphne Lee reviews Nick Hornby's The Complete Polysyllabic Spree in StarMag today. (I wrote about the book too here.) I love her explanation for why booklovers tend to accumulate mountains of books:
9 comments:
My mum always complains about how my books are taking up too much space.
In fact, she has officially banned me from buying any more books this year.
I tell myself to stop buying books because I'm running out of shelf space. But Daphne's right. There's still plenty of floor left in the house.
Finally, vindicated!! I must let my husband read this & Daphne Lee's post, hahaha. I don't know why it's taken me so long to get to this blog, but it's a gem!! Will definitely return for more. :)
hah! Hmmm... but also need to consider the fact that pages tend to yellow sooner when recklessly left around. At least I think so. I figured it that way because books in stores with air-conditioning seems to age slower. Am I right? So I got myself a Bily Bookcase with doors, to protect my dear books from aging so soon.
Yeah, I used to have two closets meant to put only my books, but I ran out of space that I had to place them throughout random places in my house, the drawers in my toilet are particularly popular.
On the other hand, hola from Bangalore! Lim May Zhee and my sister are guestblogging for me, hahha.
It's so good to know there are other people just as bad as I am! Was completely floored when I realized the amount of books I've accumulated.
We've pretty much run out of space at home now and my husband complains that he can't sit anywhere without having the corner of some book digging into him!
ah, it is good to be in the company of peope who have lots of books and sometimes even read them. It used to bother me that I am unable to shelf all my books (I am doubleparking them) until I realise who cares in the great scheme of things how or where I put my books. So now I keep in books in whatever places as long as I have access to them whenever I need them.
yvonne, book pages turn yellow because of the acid content of the paper. 'Bily bookcase with doors' will not stop the yellowing. Better to buy books printed on acid-free paper.
alex: oh acid-free papers! I thought papers other than recycled ones are okay.
miao - my sympathies *sigh*
gette - i am inspired too - and will no longer feel guilty about the poetry books and essays on lit crit piled up on my bedroom table
ms. blabs - many thanks for kind words
swifty - have a great time ... must catch up with the swiftyless blog
ok tiara
gfeline - i am inspired by the piles of books on your blog - who needs more bookshelves!
alex is right, yvonne ... but isn't it sad how fast books decay here?
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