tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post1353005127264277935..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: Hoarder? Qui, moi?! By Jan NeedleKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-50717381468905154412012-05-15T16:24:12.603+01:002012-05-15T16:24:12.603+01:00In the convivial aftermath of Christmas dinner my ...In the convivial aftermath of Christmas dinner my youngest brother (not a reader) said "I know what, let's all guess how many books Jul and Francie have got in this house!" Like Smarties in a glass jar at the village fete except the winner wasn't going to get to keep them. His idea was that everyone would then disperse, take a room each (yes, including the shower) and work off their dinner counting volumes for the afternoon. F and I took one look at each other, paled and said NO.julia joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09773900100240758504noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-87453049999475970652012-05-15T13:46:45.810+01:002012-05-15T13:46:45.810+01:00my friends in n wales let out caravans for a livin...my friends in n wales let out caravans for a living - but for the last two years one of the statics has been packed with aunt mair's books. she died, and the act of non-hoarding was just too much. they invite all visitors to help themselves, but most of the books are in welsh, and most of the visitors are english. naturally enough, i've got teach yourself welsh (see above!), but beyond ordering un pint cwrw i'm as much use as a chocolate umbrella.Jan Needlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15823078224282953782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-85032882250592150912012-05-15T13:26:18.306+01:002012-05-15T13:26:18.306+01:00insulation, definitely!!
On the contrary, 1500 so...insulation, definitely!!<br /><br />On the contrary, 1500 sounds like just about enough for the bathroom :) I was shocked when I recently went to visit my best friend from college to find his house almost empty (like me he was always a stuff person in those days). He says he clears his books out every 6 months!!Dan Hollowayhttp://danholloway.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-54632386996800254082012-05-15T11:44:58.739+01:002012-05-15T11:44:58.739+01:00Oh, and said books double for insulation as we don...Oh, and said books double for insulation as we don't have it! Does that sound like an excuse fellow hoarders?CallyPhillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15481379296340077102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-3641812620096019462012-05-15T11:44:24.283+01:002012-05-15T11:44:24.283+01:00nice one Dan! Self reflection is a wonderful gift....nice one Dan! Self reflection is a wonderful gift. (I always felt that but never said it!) I was still bullied. <br />Now Jan, as re book hoarding. It is possible to a) overdo it and b) get rid of some. Here comes the therapy. I had an uncle who hoarded so many books that he could no longer use bath/kitchen etc... just like those TV hoarders but ONLY books. And he used to sit cataloguing them. Do I need to tell you what happened to him/them? He died mad and homeless (so I'm told) and the books moved to my mum's house. Which was fortunately bigger. But which creaked from bookshelves (double lined) everywhere. When she died we had to sort out the best part of 20,000 books. I have one brother who is no great reader and the task fell to him! My whole family historically has a book hoarding problem (including never taking library books back!)I realised that in order to free myself from the family curse and prove again I'm the black sheep, I REDUCED my books. By half. About 6 years ago (I'm sorry to say some of the family hoarders took some of them...) I reduced from 3000+ to about 1500. And I've been really careful about only buying a book since when I can't get it from some library or online (I DO take library books back - ALWAYS) I could reduce by another 500 I'm sure - but living rurally there's a lot of research books which need keeping (THAT'S NOT HOARDING?!?) I have managed to build up an ebook library of over 200 already but I have masses of space left on the Kobo so that's not an issue just now. More of an issue is how many books one has floating around and making enough time to READ them. I think many folk will be downloading books rather than reading them in the future - but this is a whole other debate. I would say to anyone. DO reduce your books. Intelligently. Keep things you WANT to read again or NEED to use for research but hey, you know those things you impulse buy and then never look at again - usually you can get them from Libaries.. and keeping libraries alive is an important thing.<br />I just hope there's not a flurry of others now suggesting that 1500 is a HUGE amount of books to own. Remember I come from a family of 20,000+ tomes.CallyPhillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15481379296340077102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-11321877568608589232012-05-15T09:14:49.927+01:002012-05-15T09:14:49.927+01:00I used to joke when I was at school that I kept ev...I used to joke when I was at school that I kept everything out of kindness to my future biographers. no wonder I got bullied, arrogant little git that I was!Dan Hollowayhttp://danholloway.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-38894436712945312692012-05-15T07:46:11.324+01:002012-05-15T07:46:11.324+01:00'What is the Deutsch for Oxfam?'
Griechen...'What is the Deutsch for Oxfam?'<br /><br /><i>Griechenland</i><br /><br />(Ever listen to any German cabaret?)<br /><br />;-)Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13770069472552779217noreply@blogger.com