Bibliophilism

I never throw books. Unless they are written in nynorsk ('New Norwegian' (takes you to the Wiki entry), the second official language in Norway) and I loathe them so much I would rather burn than read them. There have been a few of those, and anything written by Ari Behn – the only writer I have read, and now shun as standing operating procedure. I keep them to chronicle my intellectual journey: fairy tales, H.C. Andersen, Bjerke, Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, R.L. Stine, Defoe, Verne, Tartt, Coetzee, dictionaries and reference books (etymology from my grandmother), volumes on the pitfalls of translation, Lessing, Morrison, Nabokov, Auster, DeLillo, literary theory.

Perhaps I will one day get to furnish a library (in the flat with high ceilings, several fireplaces, and huge windows). Perhaps I secretly prepare for it. Regardless of space, I do not throw books. And I do not give them away.

Horridly enough my grandparents seem to think I'm a good candidate to inherit their library, and I plan to collect first editions. I have my beady eyes on a few Coetzees.

Bibliophilism

I never throw books. Unless they are written in nynorsk ('New Norwegian' (takes you to the Wiki entry), the second official language in Norway) and I loathe them so much I would rather burn than read them. There have been a few of those, and anything written by Ari Behn – the only writer I have read, and now shun as standing operating procedure. I keep them to chronicle my intellectual journey: fairy tales, H.C. Andersen, Bjerke, Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, R.L. Stine, Defoe, Verne, Tartt, Coetzee, dictionaries and reference books (etymology from my grandmother), volumes on the pitfalls of translation, Lessing, Morrison, Nabokov, Auster, DeLillo, literary theory.

Perhaps I will one day get to furnish a library (in the flat with high ceilings, several fireplaces, and huge windows). Perhaps I secretly prepare for it. Regardless of space, I do not throw books. And I do not give them away.

Horridly enough my grandparents seem to think I'm a good candidate to inherit their library, and I plan to collect first editions. I have my beady eyes on a few Coetzees.