Library readings

As I mentioned somewhere before, I joined the local library as my new year's resolution. This would give me the opportunity, I thought, of taking out a couple of books every year that I knew I wanted to read, but probably only once. So buying them would be a slight waste of money. Added to that, there are loads of non-fiction books that I find interesting but don't really have to own. All in all, I thought about 5 to 10 books each year would be stretching it, but still worth it (a membership is around 60 Euros, I think).
We are in week 15 of this year and I have already borrowed 10 books, with several others reserved. Clearly I should have done this whole library thing much sooner.

So what is it that I've been reading?

Firstly, books that I am interested in, but not entirely sure I really want to read. This includes Murakami's Man without Women, which was one of my first borrowings, but also The Miniaturist. I would never buy these as I wouldn't be sure I would finish them, but just getting them from the library is easy enough.

Then there are the classics that I've never read but think I really should have read. These include The Color Purple and The Secret History. Both can still be found in bookshops all over (somewhat proving their status as a 'classic') but having read them I am sure I will never get back to them again. They are sort of 'been there, done that' reads.

I also read a couple of non-fiction books that are informative but nothing too deep, including (in Dutch) a collection of columns by a philosopher, a collection of musings by an art critic, the memoirs of a special forces operator and a collection of Banksy's works. I am currently reading an account of Monet's work and life, so this category seems to be somewhat art related. Finally, I read a book (again Dutch) that is advertised as 'a novel' but which read to me like an autobiography, so I will count it as non-fiction.

Finally, there are those books I think I want to own, but the ratings in reviews and on GoodReads scare me off. The only example I've had so far is You have a friend in 10A, the short story collection by Maggie Shipstead. Since I absolutely loved The Great Circle, I was planning on buying all three of her other books without hesitation, as I tend to do with newly discovered authors who don't have that many titles to their name yet. But then I read some things that made me doubt whether I would enjoy them as much. So I checked the library and apart from two dozen copies of The Great Circle they only had the one other book; You have a friend in 10A. I read this over the past week and I am still not entirely sure what to think of it. Some of the stories were pretty good, making you think the way a good short story is supposed to get you thinking. Some of the others had heads nor tails. All of them reminded me in some way of The Great Circle by their setting or characters (most of all the title story, which also revolves around has-been actress and her strange relationship with her father), but in a toned-down version. It is like she revists the same themes or characters from different angles, some of which work out and some of which don't. I am still not entirely sure what to think or whether I want to actually buy the other two novels she has written.

So, 10 library books and counting. I hope to think my book overview at the end of the year will be a bit longer than it has been in previous years, especially on the short story and non-fiction lists.