Review: I Murdered My Library
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 22, 2014
When author Linda Grant was moving home, she had to take a long, hard look at the library of books she had built up over a lifetime. As she muses, “you cannot have a taste for minimalist decor if you seriously read books.”  So much of this short book resonated with me, as I had also recently reached the point where books stopped furnishing my rooms and started taking over my house.  Like Grant I was a bookish child who, “preferred above all else, as I still do, to stay indoors and read.”  This book takes us through Grant’s early love of books and she  recalls how books taught her everything – when first living alone as a student, for example,  she turned to a cookbook for advice.  There seems nothing that books cannot teach you – they are company, friends and a place to retreat.  Yet, the author admits that she came eventually to hate these books which her estate agent looked at with such desperation;  seeing not beloved friends but clutter and mess.  They were heavy, dirty, dusty and the font size was too small.  Her kindle, by comparison, was small, tactile and simple...Books do certainly define a person’s identity.  Like Grant, anyone who steps through my front door asks that question, “have you read all these books?!”  They offer comfort and reassurance and, if you are a serious reader, you cannot help pass a bookshop without going in – it is an addiction.  Like Grant I have recently also ‘murdered’ my library – ridding myself of hundreds of books. Anything which can be brought on kindle was ruthlessly recycled and now – although I still have a lot of books by most people’s standards – I do have a lot less.  So I empathised completely with Grant’s feelings of desperation to rid herself of these books and yet her guilt over doing so.  This is an entertaining read, full of humour and warmth.  The author discusses the loss of bookshops, her relationship with reading and her feelings about those who don’t read.  I really enjoyed my time in her company and think this is a must read for anyone contemplating those over spilling bookshelves with concern.