My Relationship with Books

Books – I love them. I write them, I publish them and I read them. The room I’m writing in now has one and half walls lined with books. There are more bookshelves in the spare bedroom and in my own bedroom. The former houses the ones I’ve read and don’t mind passing on to other people. The latter is home to the ones I have yet to read – there are two shelves of them and it never goes down as I’m always adding to my collection. And here in my study are all the ones to do with my work and also the ones I’d never give away – usually because they’ve been signed by the author. On top of all of this I have two shelves full of books in my office at the university where I work.

Why is that all of these life-style television programmes regard books as clutter? I think they look inviting, perhaps even decorative and if you line your walls with books, aren’t you actually providing extra insulation?  

Many book-lovers feel nervous at the mention of the e-book reader. Bring it on, I say. The books I need are always in the wrong place – if I’m in the office, the book I want is at home in my study. How cool it would be to have it loaded on to a reader you carried around with you. Just think, too, when you go on holiday you in effect only have to take one book.

It wouldn’t stop me loving the hard copy version though. There is something quite seductive about the look, the smell and the feel of a brand new book and even of one that is musty and dusty with age.   

I hate retail therapy. Most of the time when I go clothes shopping, I come back with books. It’s not really helpful. And even though, as I writer I curse them because of the way they’ve monopolised the industry, I’d rather be in Waterstones than House of Fraser. Their space is so attractive. And the indies, when you can find them, usually have a delightful quirkiness.

Amazon too is a friend – even though with their demands for huge discounts they put a squeeze on my royalties and my publisher’s profits. At least they link my books with others in a way that makes mine sell better. And to me as a reader they flag up books I’d never have met otherwise. How did some of these books ever sell before?    

I once worked out that, as I read fifty books a year and write about two, there should be plenty of work for every writer on the planet. However, I was forgetting that not everybody loves books like I do I also had a scary thought a few months ago: my Amazon wish list was so long that I would not live long enough to read all of those books. I stopped adding to my wish list.    

Books, I hope are here to stay. Whatever the new technology might bring.