Work from home seems to be feast or famine. I have those times when I’m plodding along until my eyes are crossing and I’d pay someone to interrupt me. This is not one of those times. I’m dealing with tax preparation, saying good-bye to friends leaving Arizona for cooler climes, writing a book, proofreading a book, and our community is having a garage sale.
We do have a few things taking up space that we don’t use, but is it really enough for a garage sale? It seemed pretty skimpy so we did a deeper exploration of the closets and garage. We found a few more things. Then my husband said, “what about all these books?”
All these books??
He picked one up as if I needed an example.
I haven’t read that one yet. Or that one, or that one, or that one. But I want to read them and I will get to them someday.
“Where are the ones you have read?” he asked.
I’m was flattered that he thought I was organized enough to keep them separate, but the truth is, they are all mixed together. The books were taking up a lot of space. I decided to go through them and decide which ones I could part with. A difficult choice because I am a re-reader.
A book I’ve loved is like a good friend. I want to see them again and read them again. I’ve read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice at least fifty times. (For a large part of my life it was an annual read) Most I’ve only read twice and some I haven’t re-read at all yet, but given time I’m sure I will.
Then there are the books I bought for research. I need them when I’m writing a book and flag the important passages. But when that book releases, I’m working on the next one, or possibly the one after that. If I want to speak intelligently about the book that just released, and I do, I need to refresh my memory about the background and the research I did—and sometimes what the book is about! So, I need to keep those books handy too and re-read as necessary.
I read plenty of new books, too. I just buy them faster than I can read them. But when I’m in the mood for a specific type of story, I often stick with my old friends, the books I already know.
How about you? Are you a re-reader or a one and done?
Me…? Like you, I have a gazillion books that I haven’t read–YET. I have those that I’ve read and loved (truthfully, Lady of Harleigh is front and center here), others I’ve merely liked, a few that I didn’t like so much but which have ‘something’ I might reference or need someday, and LOTS of research books. I don’t tend to reread whole stories, but rather reread parts, and so I keep almost all the books that had something I connected with. Long-winded, but, yes, my bookshelves are packed, and the piles are thus also on my desk, and I’ve hired a carpenter to build me another bookshelf around and on the wall behind my desk. And i wouldn’t want it any other way ( ;
Yes! Those books that have something I might need or reference some day! That’s a whole other tangent I could investigate–why are you keeping that book? I’m reminded of my husband. He works in metal art and I’m always asking why he has pieces of metal stored. Because he might need them some day!