#book-collecting

#book-collecting

I had weighed that exact yes-or-no question untold thousands of times across my 60-some years of book collecting. This time was different. Weeks earlier, excepting a few hastily grabbed items, my entire collection of something like 4,000 volumes, acquired one by one over all those decades, had turned to smoke and ash in the Palisades fire. The question before me was not just about this particular book,

For much of my life, whenever I've spotted a neglected novel in my periphery, I've looked away. I'm not an "extreme empath," but I can't help feel guilty - like the book's sitting there wondering when the hell I'm going to get my act together. Despite my editorial profession, I'm actually a really slow reader, capable of only finishing 12 books a year.