There are always books you can give to charity, always too many on your shelves, even when you have given away as many as you can bear. I almost donated George Simenon's La Verité sur Bébé Donge a few weeks ago but when I opened it I realised it was my French prize in fifth year at high school so, of course, I can't release it. Why we keep these things I do not know. I doubt I'll read it again and it will continue to gather dust. I can't release The Lord of the Rings either, that was my Maths Prize. I've never read it, and I probably won't - though we had to do The Hobbit in English, that's probably why I chose it in the first place. (I haven't seen any of the hobbit films, but I do remember Bilbo Baggins' name, it's intriguing what stays in your head from books you read years ago.) I'm also quite tempted to give away Doris Lessing's Briefing for a Descent into Hell, I don't think I ever got through it, but it's signed so I can't. I must've seen her at Edinburgh Book Festival but don't remember when.
2 comments:
oh gosh i know exactly what you mean. I'm not a hoarder by nature but somehow that doesn't stop me having huge numbers of books. I've become more ruthless recently but even so, if I'm not sure about a book once I've read it, I'll keep it just in case rather than get rid of it
Yes, we start a clean-out and end up standing with a book--or something else--in our hands, gazing at it, gazing out the window, and reluctantly put it back on the shelf.
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