I had a pretty good filing system going in the house - the books I've read here; the new ones over there. However, over 23 years, there were a number of books that ended up misfiled; stored with the books I'd read, when I'd never actually read them.
As I packed the house, I gathered these lost books into a couple of boxes. The boxes went with me to my temporary summer home, then into the van.
You see, the theory was that as I read the books, I'd drop them off; turn them loose into the wild for other people to read, and thus free up the space in the van.
It was a good theory.
The problem comes in when you realize that a lot of the campgrounds have informal lending libraries. You drop off a book, you can pick up a book. So, as I finish reading a book, I drop it off. Then I can't help but look the shelves over to see what other people have dropped off. And most times, I find a good book or two that I haven't read yet, so I pick them up. I mean, it's even better than the used bookstores - they're FREE! How could I be expected to resist?
I have managed, over almost four months, to get rid of half of one of the two boxes of books by forcing myself to follow one rule - I'm not allowed to pick up more books than I'm dropping off. That's not so bad, eh? and if I don't manage to get through the boxes by the time I have to get off the road, well, I'll need some bookshelves anyhow, and they look so lonely if they don't have some books on them...
incorrigible. that's me. at least when it comes to books.
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