"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal
Dear Blog-Friends,
Discuss: Can one ever have too many books?
Lee is packing box number 7 as we speak and is not half-way done. He did allow me to give away a couple of William F. Buckley’s spy novels and a few George Will books, but that’s about it.
Abby
NO! 🙂
No, although owning spy novels by William F. Buckley might be pushing it.
You can’t have too little George Will…
No.
I’ll buck the trend. Yes, you can have too many books. When we moved last summer we had close to 20 boxes of books, and they all went to the third floor. Of course, many of these books sit on the shelf more as trophies than as useful references or meaningful resources. The American inclination towards having more stuff is not just the domain of Wal-Mart shopping or mall-cruising credit-stretching middle america. It reaches even to us book-types.
wasn’t it Erasmus who said “when I get a little money, I buy books. If there’s some left over, I buy food and clothes.”
I think the only reasons to own a book are a) the library doesn’t have it and/or b) you keep going back to it over and over. Although I suppose that if I had kids I might like to have some good ones around just on the off chance they might wander into them.
I have lots and lots of books, but I’ve read all of them (or at least significant portions of them). It probably won’t surprise you that I think someone has too many books only if he buys them for show, instead of for reading.
Having a lot of Harlequins is completely out of the question, though. Especially if one buys them for reading. 😉
That said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart is also.”
I’ve pondered this question myself, looking at my spouse’s vast collection of books. But I look at the bright side. I figure if he can have that many books, then I can have so many shoes, clothes, etc. It all works out in the end.
I suppose I should defend myself from this rank character assassination!
I think I can honestly say I’ve never bought a book just for show. Most of the people I know wouldn’t be impressed by the kinds of books I buy anyway!
And, for what it’s worth, I almost never buy fiction because I’ll rarely read a novel more than once (and the Buckley spy novels were, like, 75 cents at the local library book sale). And I buy many books second-hand. And I have a well-used library card. So there! 😉
Haha, this was funny.
A Thinking Reed 
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