Space

Had to get rid of some books recently. Bit painful for me as I am a hoarder and a completist, who instinctively attempts to acquire everything by an author I like and keep it somewhere, maybe reading around a third of what I buy. But the very limited space available in a shared one-bedroom flat has led to some tough choices. Tried eBay but it was too much hassle, so they all went to the charity (and so back where they came from in some cases).

Sometimes it freaks me out to think that nobody can ever possibly keep up with the amount of stuff that is published every year, let alone the classics. One of my haughty English lecturers once said to me despairingly "but I haven't even read all of Dickens!"

But I'll keep buying and keep finding new places to stash them out of my wife's sight.