Judging a person by pretentious books on their shelves can be misleading
February 25 is Ireland Reads day and lots of events have been organised at local libraries this week.
Underlying this of course is some kind of moral imperative. Reading is seen as good for you. It can be instructive, challenging, cerebral – but also enjoyable. Whatever your reason for reading, there’s nothing to beat a good book on a cold February night when going out doesn’t appeal.
Which is why we should all support Ireland Reads Day on Saturday, February 25. Our libraries have lots of events planned for it and indeed, for the month of February. To celebrate Ireland Reads in County Cork, author Elizabeth Murray will visit Schull Library today while authors Catherine Kirwan and David King will be at Youghal Library on Saturday. (I don’t know how Catherine finds the time. This full-time solicitor is in the process of completing her third crime novel. Weekends off are a thing of the past.)
The rest of us benefit from the labour of writers who were celebrated at UCC last week. This year is the tenth anniversary of the university’s MA in Creative Writing. To date, some 150 students from Ireland and abroad have graduated from the programme. Some have set up literary journals, others have gone on to publish novels, short stories and poetry collections. All have tapped into their creative side, enhancing their lives and some have launched new careers as writers. (It’s a tough career, not for the faint-hearted. We’ve all heard of the rejection slips from publishers piling up but they’re never going to stop a writer from pursuing what feels like a vocation.)
‘ ’ was the headline over an article on books in the Guardian recently. There’s some truth in that. As the writer of the article, Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett pointed out, there is a tendency to treat having books “as a sort of identity.”
I have a copy of Joyce’s famous tome of which I’ve never got very far. Call it pretension (definitely) or duty (there’s a touch of that), but like a good copy of the Bible (regardless of your religious beliefs) no home should be without a copy of the book that made Ireland’s most famous writer-in-exile almost sacred (despite some profanity in his novel.)
Another book gathering dust on my shelves that I’ve only briefly dipped into is by Richard Dawkins. Again, there’s a touch of pretention in owning this book. It’s another must-have, an indicator that the owner is capable of thinking beyond what he/she is having for dinner. A cursory look at my book shelves reveals that some books I bought at readings haven’t been touched. I buy them to support the writer.
But in case you think I have books sitting on the very stairs of my house (spotted in a writer’s home who ran out of space), you’d be wrong. In fact, Marie Kondo, the Japanese organiser would be proud of me. Formerly a hoarder, moving house a couple of years ago, I got rid of about 200 books (all the non-pretentious ones including purchased solely because it was a phenomenon). Now I’m all set to load up again – followed by a purge. It’s like an eating disorder.
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett’s husband has an interesting approach to book consumption. When she moved in with him, he had very few books, not because he is not a reader – (God forbid) – but because he grew up in a Buddhist household. The Buddhist preference is for an uncluttered environment and places little value on physical objects. Once this guy has read a book, he simply donates it or gives it away. He only retains the books that he’ll likely want to read again. Clearly this in not a man that has his identity tied up in the books he buys.
You’re hardly going to have that Harold Robbins book you bought unthinkingly at the airport in full display in your book case. Not if you’re trying to cultivate a vaguely intellectual image. More likely, you’ll put the Steinbeck in an eye level spot.
Reading is precious. Don’t just have books for show. Read them. On Saturday, you’re being asked to ‘squeeze in a read.’ Time perhaps to dust down Ulysses....
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