I have close to 6000 books in my house.
Now, this is not a lot compared to some I know. Harlan Ellison has over a quarter million. Of course, he has the space for it (barely). But for an average library, 6000 is more than respectable, and many of those are collectible (which is not why I acquired them originally, it just turned out that way).
I’ve read maybe half of them.
I’ve known for a long time that I will likely never read all the books I own. Given that, owning them seems pointless. The trouble is, I also never know which ones I will read (or when), so divesting myself of them defeats the purpose of having them—keeping them nearby on the off chance that I’ll pick one up.…