It's the start of November, and I've caught up...almost. With weeks to go, I've read 50 of the 52 books I planned to tackle this year.
Except that I didn't plan a list. I chose this book or that book and got down to it.
The state of play is wide open in January and narrow as hell as the last sands drift out of the calendar. Right now I don't have a shelf with two unread books on it...or I'd read those and close off another shelf.
This means...unless I go book-daft between now and the last hours of December...that I've pretty much limited myself to clearing three bookshelves.
Recap: a shelf takes an average of two-dozen books. A short shelf will squeeze in a dozen. After reading 52 books, I'd expect to clear two long shelves and a few unread books on a short shelf.
No surprises there.
Did I stick to reading hardbacks? Given my two mass-purchases of hardback books in generous sales created a bookberg that collided with my shelves, wrecking them, the agenda is to melt the bookberg.
However, through the year you buy in a few paperbacks and insist on the rule: if a book comes into the house, it jumps to the front of the queue. Try to read it the day it arrives.
If we go by bookcase, I have 25 unread hardbacks to the left of me. Half a year's reading. Forward and left in a most awkward bookcase, there are 35 volumes queuing up.
Ahead of me there are a mere eleven tomes desperate to be read. If I read that one small shelf, I clear the entire bookcase. Why don't I hop on that train next year? Perhaps I will.
On my right, bloody hell, only five. That can't be right. And yet, I find it easy to count to five.
I must away, to another room, and check on the rest. This is what happens when you buy in loads of books.
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But I stop in my tracks and wonder what these hardbacks weigh. After a few mystic miscalculations, I misconclude that I'm staring at half a metric tonne.
I buy hardbacks for their durability. Moths last longer than paperbacks. I don't buy books as potential investments. Hell, I don't buy anything as a potential investment.
Nothing I own is bought with the view to its increased value over time. If I don't recycle or throw out the things that are worn out, I keep what I buy or make gifts of things.
This means these books are here until I'm not here. I clear the shelves of unread books, but I never clear shelves of books unless I am moving bookcases.
At the moment, my reorganisation of the collection leaves me with two near-empty bookcases...and one of those was bought in as the lastest of the last bookcases I'll ever buy...yes, I've thought that before. That's the lastest of the last this time.
Lack of space is funny that way.
So. Challenge. Can you read 52 books a year? Yes. Did I read a book a week? No. I started the year reading more per week, and knew I'd tail off as I tackled immensely lengthy volumes. It averaged out, just in time.
Will I clear more than three bookshelves next year? Depends entirely on what I feel like reading. As usual, the plan isn't to have a list but to get through a pile without adding significantly to the pile by purchasing even more books.
If you or loved ones have been affected by the issues raised in this blog post, remember there is no cure for book-reading. Readers will buy more books even if they have enough unread books to construct a small house. Ooh. A bookhouse. Mmm.
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That weighty detour took me away from the truth. Elsewhere, not right here, there IS a bookshelf with two unread books on it. Will I tackle those in the coming weeks? Depends entirely on what I feel like reading. ;)
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