Books to go

A couple of months ago, I read an interview (I can't remember with who, or where) that has been haunting me ever since. It was with someone aged around 60, who had decided to only read new books, and about once or twice a year reread a book that he already knew he loved. Because, as he reasoned, he read only about 20 books per year, and as he had only about 20 more years to live (at least, that was the number he was aiming for) that made a grand total of 400 books left to read in his entire lifetime. He felt sorry that he hadn't read more great novels when he had the time (in his teens, twenties, and generally before he had a job or children) and now he wanted to make every book worthwhile.
Imagine that! I mean, it is a noble idea, of course, and great planning on his side, but the whole depressing thought of knowing how many books you're still going to read in your life, basically means saying 'no' to a lot of books, and closing the door on so many reading experiences. And when you read a new novel that you absolutely love, you automatically go 'aw, but I won't ever read you again, because I don't have enough slots left for rereads!' Horrible thought.

But still, the man had a point. I mean, my situation is not nearly as dire, as I am only 31, read 40 books per year, so with his projected life expectancy I would still have 2000 books to go, but I too have spent time reading novels I didn't enjoy, didn't think were going anywhere, or just read out of politeness to the person who lend it to me. I am terrible at not finishing a novel; once I've started, I feel like I am committed to finish it, no matter how awful I think it is. (Non-fiction is different, by the way, I have about 10 non-fiction books laying around with bookmarks stuck somewhere in the first 50 pages that I'm not sure I will ever finish.) But all those non-enjoyable books take up a lot of time. Even more time than the good ones, respectively, because I automatically read less when I don't like what I'm reading, so it takes more time to finish them.
So, time for a change.
In 2015, I gave myself the challenge of reading 52 books, and of only reading books I hadn't read before. I didn't make the number, but I did read all new novels. This is a great idea in principle, but some of those novels I did not enjoy. Still, I kept reading, to reach my goal. New rule from now one: if I don't like a novel, or feel myself avoiding reading, I will stop reading that novel and start something else.
Next up; rereads. I like rereads, especially during busy periods when my mind is too distracted to dive into a complex new novel; rereads are like a familiar warm bath that relax my brain and don't care if I miss out on some smaller details because I already know the main plot. During the renovation and move, I read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, for example. Which is great, but too many rereads get in the way of new novels. So; rereads are only allowed when needed.
Finally, I have several authors who are my absolute favourite and whose every new novel that comes out I read immediately. Examples include Ian McEwan and David Mitchell. There are also some authors who would probably make it onto that all-time-favourite-have-read-everything-will-read-every-new-novel-that-comes-out list, but who I keep forgetting about, until I by accident read another one of their novels, go 'this author is great, I should read more by them!' and then forget about them again. Examples include Margaret Atwood and Graham Swift. So, third new rule; read more novels by potential to-love authors.

As always with literature, I will probably break any rule I make within half a year, but they do give me some comfort with the depressing 'the end is neigh!' feelings I have been walking around with for a while. And if you'll excuse me, I will now get back to my John le Carré, a novel that I felt was sagging a bit in the middle, but did not put down, for, er... reasons.

A return to Postcrossing

With a new home comes a new address, and new possibilities for mail (snailmail, that is). While we've been receiving lots of letters in recent days (energy/telecom/governmental and move related), this flow of envelopes usually tends to dry out after the couple of weeks, when everybody actually knows you've moved and everything has settled down. Wasn't there some sort of solution to this... I pondered. That's right, Postcrossing!

So I went back to the website I'd visited so many times just a short while ago, and then it turned out that that 'just a short while ago' was actually a hiatus of three whole years. The last time one of my sent postcards had arrived was the 30th of August 2014. The last time I'd registered a postcard had been the 10th of October of that same year. If my Postcrossing stats were a heartbeat, my account had died a good while back:

Sad Postcrossing stats... see the little rise all the way to the right?

Time flies when you're, err, to busy to have fun?

Time to rejoin the Postcrossing community, and get those postcards flowing again! My first three cards went, predictably, to Russia, Germany, and the USA. This was fine by me, als the last two countries have short travelling times, and cards are thus quickly registered, freeing up space for me to actually receive a card (I was at 858 sent and 860 received, strangely, so I needed two of my sent cards to be registered to actually receive a card from someone). Luckily, the person to draw my address for the first time in three years was also a German, so my mailbox was indeed happy for the first time in almost three years!
But sadly, that person immediately wondered why I hadn't been active on the website for so long, and was afraid I had quit. 'For so long' was at this point a mere two weeks, but it did make it very clear that active participation is a key ingredient to Postcrossing; you cannot just draw a couple of addresses, send the cards, and then forget about the whole project for a month. You need to stay at least a little bit active, otherwise, or people will wonder whether you will actually register their card, and then maybe not put as much energy and enthusiasm in what they'll send you.
So since then, I've drawn 5 more addresses, and I now have cards travelling to Belarus, Ukraine, Germany, China, and the USA. It brought back all the old thrills of trying to find the perfect card, trying to match it with the perfect stamp, and then trying to squeeze in as many words as possible to give the receiver a nice long message.
It's fun, but also quite a lot of work. I think I'll stay around 5 travelling cards at any time (my maximum is 26 at the moment, but that would mean actually setting aside a whole afternoon just to draw addresses and writing cards!), which lesses my chance of sending any to rare countries, but what is wrong with Germany, Russia, China and the USA anyway? And hopefully I will still receive great cards from all corners of the world.