I find myself in a similar dilemma. Not only with books I have not read but books I have, never intend to return to, but somehow feel linked to the people who wrote them, even if I never finished them. Piles of New York Reviews, London Reviews, pile up, and before I commit them to the trash or the fireplace in Hull, I take them up and find an article I rushed by, which I want to hold on to. Now I wonder what I will do with the library I have assembled as neither of my children are the ferocious readers that I am--yet there is something comforting about being surrounded by books, and my granddaughter who has resisted all efforts to get her to do some serious reading as she blossoms into the age of eight. She ran around our loft yesterday with her i-pad showing an older friend how many books the loft holds (the book cases go up to the loft's ceilings) and I had a spark of hope that she would be awed as I was, by my father's bookshelves and tempted to roam in them.
Yes, I can relate to the piles of magazines and "processing" them rapidly as I try to discard them. That seems to happen to me every couple of years, after the backlog has built up. It would seem more rational to do a comparable "quick skim & mostly discard" as each one arrives, but of course it seems easier to just add the newly-arrived issue to the pile.
I think my children did all become readers, which has contributed to the problem of "piles of books" in the Milton house. In addition to all the books I've bought myself, some of which I haven't read, there are also enormous numbers of books in the three children's rooms, many of which look fascinating... but when could I ever find the time to read them? And even if I abandon my quest to read these books, what should I do with them? Sigh.
I find myself in a similar dilemma. Not only with books I have not read but books I have, never intend to return to, but somehow feel linked to the people who wrote them, even if I never finished them. Piles of New York Reviews, London Reviews, pile up, and before I commit them to the trash or the fireplace in Hull, I take them up and find an article I rushed by, which I want to hold on to. Now I wonder what I will do with the library I have assembled as neither of my children are the ferocious readers that I am--yet there is something comforting about being surrounded by books, and my granddaughter who has resisted all efforts to get her to do some serious reading as she blossoms into the age of eight. She ran around our loft yesterday with her i-pad showing an older friend how many books the loft holds (the book cases go up to the loft's ceilings) and I had a spark of hope that she would be awed as I was, by my father's bookshelves and tempted to roam in them.
Yes, I can relate to the piles of magazines and "processing" them rapidly as I try to discard them. That seems to happen to me every couple of years, after the backlog has built up. It would seem more rational to do a comparable "quick skim & mostly discard" as each one arrives, but of course it seems easier to just add the newly-arrived issue to the pile.
I think my children did all become readers, which has contributed to the problem of "piles of books" in the Milton house. In addition to all the books I've bought myself, some of which I haven't read, there are also enormous numbers of books in the three children's rooms, many of which look fascinating... but when could I ever find the time to read them? And even if I abandon my quest to read these books, what should I do with them? Sigh.