Why I'm shopping my book-wardrobe this summer
A summer reading list with a difference (plus the psychology of book-buying)
Earlier this week
did a brilliant post about The Life-changing Joy of Rereading books you’ve loved instead of rushing out to pile more onto your already heaving bookshelves. Now, I am the last person in the world to suggest a book-buying abstinence (J has just pointed out, not incorrectly, that that would make me a total hypocrite), but it did get me thinking about the amount of books that I have bought (or, lucky me, been sent) that came into the house shrouded in excitement and anticipation and now, months, even years, on, languish unloved and unread in a pile somewhere. It’s not that I don’t want to read them, it’s just that there’s always another book begging for my attention. I started doing a quick count but soon stopped for shame. For a snapshot of the scale of my unread book problem, see below. And bear in mind that these are the ones that haven’t been sent to charity in a fit of guilt or a frenzy of decluttering.
So, inspired by Leah, I realised it was time to shop my own book wardrobe for this year’s holiday reading. Of all the hundreds of unread books in the house, I challenged myself to pick ten (or maybe 11!) to take on holiday. (Disregarding, for the moment, the extra £70 it would probably cost me in baggage allowance, so I’ll only end up rebuying them on kindle...)