As the bookshelves get clearer, my mind follows suit (I hope)
Book Purge Twenty-one — November 6th 2016
All over the shop with this week’s books. There are a number of YA volumes this week as I eat into those my kids no longer want. But a total of 102 all told, which ain’t bad.
The five slim yellow volumes are copies of The Middle Way, a quarterly from The Buddhist Society here in the UK. I’m sad to see thee back of the Larssons but I won’t be reading them again. I think Lagercrantz is writing a further sequel and I’m sure I’ll read that, if only out of loyalty to Larsson and the character of Lisbeth Salander.
Everything under the sun here. The Kant is from my university course and, despite the ravaged look of the spine, I don’t think it has been opened in over 30 years. More, probably. I’m a big fan of Steven Pressfield’s writing books but I found Gates Of Fire heavy going and I won’t be returning to Thermopylae with the Spartans. A number of books that I got for my kids — although I read and enjoyed the Pullman series — and a few about the wildlife of Singapore from my time there in the 90s. No longer needed and I suspect that the way Singapore has been building since then, much of the wildlife may no longer be there.
I have a number of Doctorow books (E.L. rather than Cory) and I have always enjoyed his writing. He is just one of the authors I decided I was unlikely to read again and so was taking up shelf space unnecessarily. Should I need to read a Doctorow, I can get it from the library. My eldest daughter was in to the Rennison series. The Dickens is a duplicate. The Parkers — much as I loved the early Spenser novels — are from the later period and disappointing: they feel written on autopilot after the verve and vim of the first half dozen or so in the series. The Dawkins is powerful but I feel I got the message after one reading.
Another Doctorow and another Dawkins, although this one is more in keeping with its nature guide neighbours above. Neal Stephenson is one of my favourite writers and I have read nearly everything he has written, including the Baroque Trilogy. Unfortunately, the books tend to be very thick and take up a lot of room. There’s a chance I will tackle the Baroque Trilogy again some day — and Cryptonomicon, too — but this and probably Anathem will have to make way. The Greek cookery books stem from my time on Crete in the 80s.
And that’s that. Another 102 books to leave the house. It’s starting to feel embarrassing that I have so many expendable books that I have clung onto for so long. As I dig these out and add them to the purge pile, I realise they were taking up space in my head, too, like needy relatives seeking to use moral blackmail to garner attention.
More, therefore, to come next week.
