I won't go into details, but the past few days I've dealt with someone who made me stop and consider my relationship to books. I'm a big reader. I have what I consider to be a really ecclectic and interesting collection of books.
This person has a lot of books too. I would consider a lot of them interesting, and would love to read them. In fact I bought several of them as gifts.
Here's the rub. While I would love to read some of the books, I dare not ask. This person's relationship with books is very clearly that of a collector, and not an absorber of good books. He may leaf through them once or twice, but the majority of the time his books sit pristinely on a shelf and are to be pointed at and "bragged" about.
My relationship to books is as an absorber and/or consumer. I take them to bed to read, I stick them in my purse, they get left out on tables and stacked up near the couch or bed. I put them in my desk drawers, and if I run out of room I put them in my "out" tray. I only stop short of taking them into the bathroom when I soak in the tub. I love to ear mark corners and on occaision I will highlight or underline things that have special meaning to me. Basically I'm all hell on books.
I do have a handful of "trophy" books that I do my best to keep in like new shape, but the majority of my books age.
What is your relationship with books?
