Accumulating Books

 

The infatuation that many people share for the book object is deceptively complex. It would seem fair to assume that people who are into book buying must also be voracious readers, but mere accumulation does not mean the object is being used for its intended purpose. Everyone has bought some item at the grocery store in a moment of impulse only to throw it out weeks later, unused and beginning to rot; so do people buy books, thinking at the moment of reading them only to discover them months or years later still stuck in the “to-be-read” pile.

In fact, to be a “bibliophile” technically means to have an affinity for collecting books, and has nothing to do with reading them. There is an English word for people who have a passion for the book object, but not one for people who have a passion for reading. People who work the “look, feel, smell” facets of reading into the overall concept of what a “book” is can thus be said to be bibliophiles. This does not exclude a potential that these same bibliophiles may also be voracious readers, but the two are not mutually inclusive.

Bibliophilia can lead to some problems… Sometimes the object supersedes the content and you become a book collector rather than a book reader. Sometimes no one else seems to understand your spending habits and it can ruin relationships. Sometimes you find yourself tripping over stacks in your home and realize you need to make a change in your book buying habits. I myself moved into a small apartment a year ago and found myself having to give away approximately a quarter of my existing book collection. I had to make decisions on books I loved and would not part with, books I had bought and never read, and books I had read but hadn’t loved but might need someday in the future… you get the picture. Once I had filled a few boxes that were to be taken to the local library, I couldn’t bear to look at them anymore for fear of reconsidering.

Getting rid of a significant portion of the collection, however, drove home for me the importance of the book content over the book object. If all of those books had been on my Kindle, there would have been no heart-wrenching few days of parting with cherished (and expensive) books. There is no way I could ever hope to own a physical copy of every book I will ever read—why not make digital books a significant portion of my reading purchases and be able to contain my vast library in a manageable and attractive way?

There is a certain charm for bibliophiles in a vision of a vast physical library, full of dusty old books stacked floor to ceiling. I, too, have lingered for hours in used bookstores amid the moldering tomes in a state of pure happiness. Jorge Luis Borges, the famous Argentine writer, is frequently quoted on book blogs and in book stores saying, “I have always imagined Heaven to be a kind of library.” But for most people, it seems that reality eventually hits: sometimes you just have too many books. The modern home is rarely just a repository for reading material, after all—sooner or later, every bibliophile comes to the sad prospect of culling their collection for propriety’s sake. If you have reached that sad stage, take heart: here are 5 Strategies for Reducing Book Clutter.

If physical books are something that we know we must eventually give away, why not pre-empt that by “culling your collection” from the start? Why not purchase some books on a digital reader and purchase physical copies only of books that you cherish, have a vested interest in, and know might survive a house move or two? Why can’t the heavenly library be the never-ending Labyrinth that can be held in the palm of your hand?

Is it really worth it to buy only paperbacks, knowing you will likely get rid of them at some point, instead of buying ebooks that you can keep forever?