Book Purge Six — July 17th 2016
Eight books this week because I bought something new: William Boyd’s Sweet Caress.
The purge is having its desired effect; the more I get into it the more I find that I have books that take space on my shelves simply because at one time I bought them. And I’m unwilling to discard them for reasons that are probably less than rational. For the most part these are books that I will never read again. In fact, quite a few of the books I have not even read once.
There was a time, too, when I thought that I was building a library for my children. This plan has come to a halt against the wall of indifference that my kids feel towards books. Not reading per se but the book as a package of readable material is less important for them. Sad but true.
So here are this week’s candidates for dispersal to the vagaries of the charity shop system:
1. Gardeners’ World — Geoff Hamilton
There was a time when I believed I would find a kind of happiness in gardening. I watched the TV series this book is named from and I bought quite a few books on gardening — plants, planning, landscaping. I am happy to accept that this won’t happen; that I am not destined to be the happy suburban middle-aged man pottering among his shrubs and perennials. I struggle to find the will to mow the bloody lawn, for god’s sake. Sorry, Geoff. This goes.
2. Poker for Dummies — Harroch & Krieger
After gardening, poker. Another plan: professional poker. I bought a series of books and concentrated on learning about Texas Hold ’Em. This was the starter. In the end, I never got past a few online test tables. Too scared.
3. Wool — Hugh Howey
Fiction, at last. I read Hugh Howey’s blog and the story behind the publication of this book — and its success and the success of his subsequent books — is a story that serves to warm the cockles. So I bought the book and I read it. Sacrilege it may be but I find it rather dull. I won’t be reading it again.
4. The Necropolis Railway — Andrew Martin
Railways and detectives. A perfect combination for me. I read Andrew Martin in the New Statesman for a time. I had already discovered and consumed a fair few of the Railway Detective books by Edward Marston when I bought and read this. Martin is perhaps more literary than Marston but I found the book less fun to read. In the end I chose to buy no more of Martin’s Jim Stringer series and I won’t be reading this again: it can go.
5. 12 Books That Changed The World — Melvyn Bragg
I was given this as a gift. I like listening to Bragg on In Our Time and I used to watch his arts programme, The Southbank Show. I skimmed this and know it is not something I will read. Bye bye.
6. The Word And The Void — Terry Brooks
I can’t remember what led me to buy and read this trilogy in one large volume. The idea of the books had intrigued me and I liked the idea of a hero who was a Knight of the Word. I swept through the books and found them powerful. The ending was affecting. For all that, it is now better finding a new home. I’m glad I read them.
7. The Outcast — Sadie Jones
This was a book I bought my mother. It found its way onto my shelves and I know I won’t ever get round to reading it. The queue of books ahead of it never shortens. It is time to find a new home.
8. Microtrends — Penn & Zalesne
I have no idea why I bought this. Boredom at WH Smiths at Victoria Station and picking up a second book to pay half price. Kidding myself it was relevant to my business or was interesting in some deep and special way. I’m sure it may have been interesting but I didn’t read it when I bought it — a few years back — and I won’t be reading it now. Off it goes.
