It’s book month. It is? Sure, why not? Not even going to bother to look up if another month is book month. For me, no for us, right now, it’s book month. This month, each week, I will talk about my relationship with books in general. There’s no better place to start than with a look at my unread book collection and how it functions…or at least, how it pretends to function.
To start with, I keep a hefty collection of books that I haven’t read. We are talking about somewhere in the area of 200 books, and I keep them all crammed together, stacked tight, double deep on a single shelf. I do not put these books in any order other than size. Why size? Because ordering them by size does a few things for me. One, it lets me fit as many books as possible on this poor bookshelf. Two, it still gives me a way to find books. If I know a book is a hard cover, it narrows my search to certain stacks.
Why keep them unorganized? Space is a big reason of course, but there’s actually a reason to make it take up very little room. I’m a little ashamed of them. They are all books that I want to read and haven’t. For most, I just don’t have the time, for others, I might have found the second or third book in a series I’ve never started. But mostly, it’s the former.
The biggest reason to keep them unorganized? It encourages me to experiment with my books. The books I buy are all over the place. If I see an old sci-fi book with a cool cover and an author I’ve never heard of, I’ll pick it up. Books by mainstream authors? Why not? Classics that weren’t forced on me in school? Imagine how much cooler I will be if I read it on my own. Friend recommendation? Don’t mind if I do. Honestly, when you get enough books in one place I am convinced that they multiply on their own.
With such an odd collection, kept in such a specific kind of disarray, it’s hard coming to my shelf looking for a specific book. Half the time I don’t even remember what I have (I have to track my library on my phone for those late-night bookstore runs). Instead, I have to come to the shelf with an open mind not knowing what I am going to walk away with.
This system is not without flaws. For example, I have by way of gifts, collected not one but two Harry Potter books, neither of which is Philosopher’s Stone. It’s a book series I always intended to get to, but was never in love with the writing. Now, I have more misgivings, but it’s also such a cultural touchstone that it feels wrong to shut myself off to the series entirely. So, as a half-measure, I keep the two books on my unread shelf. I try to avoid situations like that, but likely through fault of my own, it does come up.
Once I read a book though, then it gets to go on the “read” shelf. A shelf of order, where all the spines align, the authors are alphabetical, and each series is kept in order. My read books sit behind me, spread wide, supporting me as I work. My unread books sit right next to me when I write, just inside my peripheral vision, taunting me.
Quote of the Moment:
“It’s like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind
Current Reads:
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson