In Books & magazines, Meme by Laura | 0 comments
- How many unread books do you have in your house, right now? (Your own books, that is—not ones that belong to other family members—and not counting things like school books, if you have them.) Clearly, an estimate will do. Unlike some people I know, I don’t keep a formal list of the books I own, much less of the ones I haven’t read yet. Just an informal list in my head, which has been known, from time to time, to fail me. Though there are hundreds of books in this house that I haven’t read yet, technically almost all of the belong to Dave. Usually, when I buy a book, it’s because I want to read it right away, and I do. The exceptions are when I get a collection of books, especially if a number of them arrive at the same time. Many years ago I belonged to an Agatha Christie book club, and got nicely bound special editions of all her books. I haven’t read all of those yet, though I have read most of them. Almost as many years ago, I got a collection of leather-bound fantasy books, which arrived here in big boxes—it was like Christmas, very fun. I haven’t read all of those yet, either. Occasionally someone (usually my mom) will give me something that she thinks I’ll like, and it often takes me years to get to it. There are a couple of those around, too. All told, I think there are probably fewer than fifty books that I own that remain unread.
- To the best of your recollection, what is the OLDEST unread book in your collection? How long has it been waiting? The book I own that I’ve had the longest that I haven’t yet read is a copy of The Drifters by James Michener that my cousin Jim gave me. I was still living up in Chico back then, and he’d returned from Germany where he was stationed when he was in the army only a year or so before. He came up to visit, and brought this book. He “loaned” it to me, told me how much he enjoyed it, how he thought I’d love it, and proceeded to tell me the entire story. By the time he was done, an hour or so later, I didn’t feel the need to read the book. But I kept it. He still desperately wanted me to read it. It was just a few years after that that he died, and me still with possession of the book. I still have it. Though I inherited quite a few of his books when he died, and have read most of them, I still haven’t had the, I dunno, courage is the wrong word, the wherewithal perhaps, to read it yet.
- Do your to-be-read books haunt you, make you feel guilty that you haven’t read them yet? Jim’s copy of The Drifters occasionally haunts me, but guilt at not reading it isn’t precisely what I feel. It’s much more complicated than that, and involves all sorts of emotions that have nothing at all to do with the book, but have to do with my relationship with my cousin, his untimely death, and all sorts of other things. The other books that I have that remain unread pose no problems, lay on no guilt, but have been joyful when I have gotten around to reading one or two of their number.