And now for a book ban (sort of)

Since I started my shopping ban on 1 June, the pile of unread books on my bedside table has grown. It wasn't huge to begin with and it's not massive now - less than 15 books - but it concerns me still. 

No doubt diehard bibliophiles wouldn't be bothered by mountains of unread books, much less a molehill such as mine. It's just the way life is when you love reading, right?

It's certainly far easier to justify spending money on books than shoes - books are experiences, not things. They can be life-changing. They educate and entertain. They enrich the mind and soul.  Yes, but only if you read them! 

Famous book collector A Edward Norton, who wrote the book on book collecting (literally), would vehemently disagree. He once said: 

"Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity ... we cherish books even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access reassurance."

This is all nice and romantic, but a pile of unread booked doesn't produce ecstasy for me; rather, it produces a mild sense of disquiet, in the same way unworn clothes hanging in my wardrobe makes me uneasy. Despite any pleasure the purchase brings me, they are both a waste of money and useless occupiers of space. It feels wrong writing that, but it's true. An unread book is just a thing, not an experience, no different to a pair of unworn shoes or any other thing you have in your house that takes up room but is never used. I concede a room with walls lined with a vast collection of books - a personal library - is very inviting and visually pleasing (see home library porn here), but I don't want to amass a huge collection of books just because they are nice to look at. I'm not opposed to collecting things just because they are aesthetically pleasing, but that's not what books are made for.

I've never been a big hoarder of books. I've always gone through my shelves and culled them every now and then, getting rid of books that didn't thrill me the first time I read them and books I enjoyed, but know I will never read again. It will probably take me my whole life to amass enough books to line the walls of a personal library, but at least I'd be able to say I've read nearly all of them. 

The other reason my growing collection of unread books bothers me is the likelihood that I've transferred my desire to acquire from clothes and shoes to books. I've certainly wanted all the books I've bought recently. I most definitely plan to read them (I finished one on the weekend and I've started on my next one)...just the same as I wanted and planned to wear all those dresses and pairs of heels! If I keep buying more books  - justifying it to myself because books are experiences - I won't be able to read them all. They will end up as just things.

So, I'm not going to buy any more books until I've at least made a very big dent in the pile of books on my bedside table and then I will finish one before I buy another.