How do you keep a library when you' ve got no room for your books? With rising rents and record numbers of young people having to move with their parents, it' s clear that we are a moving generation.
As a student in Leeds I moved three times in four years; in London it was seven times in three years. Regularly having to load our possessions into laundry bags and boxes takes a lot of our finance and energy, but the effect on our book collections is rarely considered.
Keeping a collection of beloved books in a damp flat with no shelves, which you' ll probably have to move out of in six months' time, is a challenge. Deciding which books to keep and which to reject becomes increasingly difficult. Do you hold on to the books you know you' ll reread or do you keep the to-be-read pile intact (完好无损的) ?
Donating books to a charity shop or local school may be virtuous, but when you haven' t had time to read them since your last move, it becomes depressing. There' s a copy of Much Ado About Nothing I' ve been moving around with for nearly a decade because it is the only piece of Shakespeare in the marketplace.
"Just buy a Kindle! " you might argue — but for many people, books are more than just books. They offer us an emotional connection to the past, to the person who gave them to us. They are a way to brighten up a dark flat, they are a link to home; they are the hardest thing to move and the most enjoyable thing to unpack.
So what if you are already facing your second move this year and can' t bear the thought of pensioning off more of your beloved books? You start reading more. Read all the books in your current bedroom and work out if they' re worth the trip; give away as many books as you can; leave books with trusted friends to be reclaimed at a later point. Start looking at your books creatively.
