Monday 7 July 2014

LINDA GRANT - I MURDERED MY LIBRARY


Synopsis/blurb……

What happens when you begin to build a library in childhood and then find you have too many books? From a small collection held together by a pair of plaster of Paris horse-head bookends to books piled on stairs, and in front of each other on shelves, books cease to furnish a room and begin to overwhelm it. At the end of 2013, novelist Linda Grant moved from a rambling maisonette over four floors to a two bedroom flat with a tiny corridor-shaped study. The trauma of getting rid of thousands of books raises the question of what purpose personal libraries serve in contemporary life and the seductive lure of the Kindle. Both a memoir of a lifetime of reading and an insight into how interior décor has banished the bookcase, her account of the emotional struggle of her relationship with books asks questions about the way we live today. 

Linda Grant is an award-winning novelist and non-fiction writer. Her novel WHEN I LIVED IN MODERN TIMES won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2000 and THE CLOTHES ON THEIR BACKS was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2008 and won the South Bank Show Award. Her latest novel, UPSTAIRS AT THE PARTY, will be published in July 2014. She lives in London with fewer books than she used to.

A short kindle read that won’t be adding to my storage difficulties! It’s always interesting for me to see how other bookaholics deal both physically and emotionally with the issues that our shared passion causes.

Unashamedly I do have an emotional attachment to my collection-cum-library, probably more as a collective entity, as opposed to any individual love for a random book that might be plucked in isolation from a shelf.  

I didn’t have the all same issues as the author insofar as all my books have been acquired in adulthood after leaving my parental home, but I have bonded with my books in the past 30 years plus.

For many years, I was of the read them and keep them mind-set but practicalities did overcome the wrench of initially being able to let go of, not just books, but friends. I felt a sense of loss when releasing that first batch of books by Ellroy, Parker, Burke, Pelecanos, Bruen, Guthrie, Smith and Gischler, to mention a few.

Subsequently I have found it much easier to part with books I have just read, mainly because I have survived the trauma of that initial mass bereavement. I suppose losing them one at a time, is similar to shedding flakes of skin daily – it’s unnoticeable and not a threat to my overall well-being.    

Other random personal reading peculiarities I have are……..

I don’t like getting rid of books I have bought but not read, even though some of my books have me scratching my head and thinking what did I ever see in that? My taste has evolved obviously over the past 25 years.

I have issues with never not finishing books, irrespective of how much I have disliked something. Maybe I’m an eternal optimist and think something will drastically improve, or maybe I think I’m too stooopid to comprehend the author’s intent and just maybe if I continue, the sackcloth will fall from my eyes – perhaps on the very next page and enlightenment will vanquish the darkness and the penny will drop. And I’ll be a much richer person, basking in my new found knowledge, where previously there was only ignorance.

Part of never not finishing, could be Catholic guilt at “waste”, but also a big chunk of it is sheer cussedness. If I don’t finish it, the author has beaten me and is somehow laughing at me. Well that ain’t happening, Mr Writer – go ahead and do your very worst, you ain’t beating me! See me sucker – still reading your puerile crap – who’s laughing now? (Err, probably, still him but that’s part of my genetic make-up I suppose.)

Back to the author’s offering then, which is hard to review without actually transferring her thoughts and scenarios to my own outlook. Maybe that’s the point.

She had a favourite bookshop in childhood. My two were in adulthood - the independent seller, Goodwins in Leighton Buzzard and a couple of times a year, a trip to Murder One on the Charing Cross Road in London – source of some amazing US imported crime fiction pre-internet and Amazon days. Both of these are long gone, though I’m not quite sure if Murder One limps on in another guise at another location. She rues the absence of a decent bookshop in her locale, so do I; though in some immeasurable way I have surely contributed to their demise in pursuit of more books for my money. Why buy a new book for a tenner, when I can buy 3 second hand books for the same money?

Don't do it Linda! Aaargh, too late!

She double stacked her books on shelves when space was tight. I did the same, then triple stacked if the width of the shelf allowed it. I also had to abandon author shelf chronology in an attempt to squeeze more books on the shelves, by reordering by size. I even removed my clothes from my pine wardrobe and filled it with books instead – 4 rows across and 4 rows deep! I kept the clothes elsewhere, but the underlying theme was I’d rather have a book than a shirt!

That last point still resonates, but when the book has been digested I can move it on now without remorse.

Overall – a 4 from 5. 

I don’t think she had to murder her library and condemn herself to looking at empty shelves, there had to be a compromise solution – so I’m down-grading her score! In the past few years, my collection has moved to the attic, as my daughter took over my study; that was almost as hard as losing 600-odd books in one go, but the library is still intact albeit not as instantly accessible.

Acquired recently on Amazon UK for Kindle.


Thanks to Moira at Clothes in Books for the recommendation.

14 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed reading your comments on this Col - your personal book experiences even more than your reactions to the piece. I love the idea of emptying your wardrobe of clothes.... and your firm belief that she doesn't need to empty her shelves. I share your feeling that it's harder to get rid of books that you haven't read, which is crazy....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Moira, I think the embargo might have kicked in just in time - at least for the good folk of Leighton Buzzard. The library is maxed out and the only way to expand would be to ditch the clothes and embrace naturism! Not too sure about your neck of the woods, but it's none too tropical in Bedfordshire - even in July!

      I'm still deciding whether I should keep signed books that I have acquired and read. Other than that if it's been read - it's a goner.

      Delete
  2. I am MUST FINISH THE BOOK AT ALL COSTS reader -- I really wish I could stop (or even discard) a book, but I just can't. But, then, I also don't tend to start books I suspect I won't like. Which is another problem -- perhaps I should be more broad-minded about everything bookish!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vicki, nice to find a kindred spirit, albeit one halfway around the world. When it happens, its like swimming through treacle....I must be due another one soon!

      Delete
  3. Col - Glad you enjoyed this. In my case, there are some books from my childhood and youth that I will not part with, no matter what. I've some series, too, that I will keep forever. But for other books, once I've read them, I make them available for my online book swap company. When space is limited, as mine is, there are only so many bookshelves you can put up. Thank goodness for my Kindle! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margot, thanks. It was a read that had me comparing my situation with the authors, I think anyone who loves books would do this and spend as much time reflecting on issues concerning their own library, as they would empathising with Grant's..

      Delete
  4. I enjoyed this post, Col, with your personal comments on your book collection and habits, especially. I loved the part about moving your clothes out and storing books. I have recently been more ruthless about getting rid of books I have read, only keeping those I might re-read or Glen might read. Or if the book has a great cover.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tracy - thanks, but don't you dare think about ditching those skull cover books! Anything else can go though.

      Delete
  5. Col, I too enjoyed this post with its look into your book purchasing, storing, retaining, and purging. Both Tracy and I try to get rid of books but she often keeps what I discard! There are certain authors I will never get rid of but my big downfall is huge and heavy photography books (no shelf space requirements - they just sit on the floor in stacks).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glen cheers. I sympathise about the large photography books, but floor stacks sound good. I don't have too many books of this ilk, maybe a dozen or so Time Life books about the Vietnam War, which aren't too cumbersome. Most of the rest is hardback and paperback fiction.

      Delete
  6. Col, I, too, read a book till the end and I never give up on a book I don't like. There is always a redeeming feature in every book. One owes it to the author. A couple of days ago I got rid of over a dozen novels including three paperbacks by John Steinbeck all of which I'd read. I'm past feeling guilty. Space is a problem and a book is paper and paper turns yellow over time. Sounds cold-blooded, doesn't it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Prashant, I think there's merit to your point of view. If someone has taken the trouble to write it, I owe them a bit of commitment at my end.

      Whilst I'm happy to pass on books I have read, I can't actual put them in the bin myself. The book lover in me won't allow it. If the charity shop I give them to, bins them or pulps them or uses them to start a fire to heat the building - it wasn't me!

      Delete
    2. Same here, Col, I give away most of my books after reading them. I have fewer than two hundred books and twice that number of comics which I'm more possessive of.

      Delete
    3. Hopefully, my numbers will start to reduce soon, as I draw across the barricades on more new books. I think it's time to read the old ones.

      Delete