Ex Libris

    The Guardian today ran the obituary of Carlos Ruiz Zafón, author of 'The Shadow of the Wind', a fourth of the 'Cemetery of Forgotten Books' quartet. Books about books - a meta-play I've always quite liked. An intellectual conceit forgivable by those of us who simply like books. Bibliophilia seems to be quite a common condition - I've met people over the years with magnificent collections, at least one of whom authored part of her own library.
    I love books and always have. In my earlier, poorer days that would mean obtaining volumes by means unsociable - the passage of half a century does nothing to assuage the guilt, but there we are. I've never, though collected books as mere possessions: I only buy things I want to read, which means more often than not, paperbacks. I'm not into the preciousness of the fanatical bibliophile, it doesn't interest me - the same way that I find 'collecting' art somehow obscene. If you truly like something, all well and good, but collecting any art-form purely for the sake of financial investment frankly disgusts me.
    I still have a large-ish collection of books (compared with some people I know round here, a pretty small one by comparison) of mostly ratty tomes and I still buy regularly, so the number of books-to-be-read ratio steadily increases. Hopefully though, now that retirement is within smelling distance, I can start to catch up on my habit. Although I might have to spend a bit less in future.