Three years ago, I shared in this column how I decided to spring-clean my bookcases during the free time we all had under the Covid-19 movement control order (“To all the books I loved before”) and had put the tied up “to give away” books on the steps on the shorter part of the stairs.
In that culling exercise, I could still keep books for sentimental value and for nostalgia’s sake because I had the room for it. This time around, I have to ditch a lot more books because I am downsizing to a much smaller place. Practicality must be the order of the day and the “keep” pile must be a lot smaller than the “junk” lot.
At the time of writing, I am less than halfway through this arduous task and already am quite exhausted. That’s because it’s easier said than done as my books are a testimony of my own personal growth and journey from preteen to senior citizen.
My love for reading and books started with famed children’s author Enid Blyton; I kept a collection of her books, which I thought would interest my children. They didn’t take to her and preferred Japanese manga and graphic novels. Still, I kept the books thinking perhaps my grandchildren might read them.
Well, none of my kids are married, so no grand-babies, and I am giving up on Blyton.
Joining the goodbye pile are books by my favourite science fiction authors, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, whom I devoured in my 20s. I couldn’t bear to part with them three years ago even though the books were in a very grotty state. But I had to steel my heart and let go because I know I will never read them again.
The same goes for my collection of Frank Herbert’s Dune series. I had boldly declared I would re-read the opus, as the book was being made into a multi-part film starring the delectable Timothée Chalamet.
I tried, but I just couldn’t get into the story again. However, I did enjoy the first part of the film that came out in 2021 and I will certainly watch part two that is due for cinema release on Feb 29. (Oh, did you realise this is a leap year?) I must say I have – soon to be had – a very wide range of book genres that reflected what were hot bestsellers at different times. For example, I was caught up with the J.K. Rowling phenomenon of the 2000s.
I bought her first book in the series on Sept 26, 1999 from Barnes and Noble in New York.
I was in the Big Apple on assignment and met my sister who was living there at the time. She told me about this children’s book that had everyone talking. Intrigued, I bought Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which is the American version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. I finished the book on the flight back, and, when I landed at Changi Airport, I quickly bought the second book, Chamber of Secrets.
Rowling would rule the publishing industry for almost a decade as her legions of fans impatiently waited for each installment of her seven-book series that finally ended in 2007 with the finale, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.Sadly, all seven books aged badly on my shelves.
The spine and pages of the hardbacks came unglued and the ones in paperback “foxed”.
That is an age-related process caused by high humidity that turns books brown and speckled, which is similar in colour to a fox, hence the term, foxing.
So it’s goodbye to Harry Potter. Ditto my Game of Thrones series by George R.R. Martin, Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games, the vampire themed True Blood series by Charlaine Harris – books that were all turned into movies or TV series.
There are many more authors I loved and must now abandon, keeping only a few copies of their work.
They include Lee Child and his gripping Jack Reacher series, John Grisham for his absorbing legal thrillers, and supernatural writers Stephen King, Anne Rice and Neil Gaiman.It is also farewell to many Asian authors who meant a lot to me.
Among them are Khaled Hosseini, who gave us heartbreaking insights into life in Afghanistan and Jung Chang, whose autobiographical Wild Swans set during China’s Cultural Revolution was so astoundingly moving I read it multiple times.
I had intended to sell many of my books; that hope went south because of their extreme state of foxing.
That means most have to be sent for recycling. That’s why they are now lined up on my staircase. Once I am done sorting them out, the badly foxed books will be sent for recycling.
I hope to donate or sell the rest.I also have lots of biographies and autobiographies: I have no qualms junking What’s in a Name by Nazir Razak even though the book is in good condition, and A Doctor in the House by you-know-who.
There are a lot of other non-fiction books too, many of which were my father’s, who was an avid reader and inculcated that love for reading in his children.
Dad had a penchant for books on the military, World War II and communism because he lived through that era and was a Special Branch officer. He left me serious tomes like Tales of Japanese Soldiers, Forgotten Armies, The Nanjing Massacre and The Malayan Emergency.
Two magazines that were dear to his heart and he had full faith in were National Geographic and Reader’s Digest, to which he subscribed for almost 50 years. And he would buy RD’s special publications like Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things, Keep Your Brain Healthy for Life and The Truth About History, which are now on the bottom shelf because they are so heavy.
Also on the bottom shelves are two sets of very loved books: the Time-Life Books on The Great Ages of Man that I read over and over and taught me so much about world history, and the 50-volume Life Science Library that covered a wide range of topics like Health and Disease, The Insects, Man and Space, Flight, Water and The Desert.
I once wrote about how I became a clever girl (published Feb 8, 2017) thanks to regular reading of the National Geographic that Dad subscribed to.
That was indeed true; the magazine opened up the world to me. But it was these wonderful book collections that also nurtured and fed my mind and curiosity. The only thing they couldn’t do was make me mathematics smart. That’s why I can’t play Sudoku.
Both sets of these books are in surprisingly good condition despite their age. I plan to keep the Great Ages of Man series but will give away the Science series as they have become outdated and too many to keep.
And because I really must, I will finally get down to bundling up Dad’s 40-plus years’ worth of Nat Geo magazines and will try to find a good home for them. A school headmaster did email me asking for them three years ago. But it was during the MCO and I was supposed to get back to him but forgot! Wonder if he is still interested.
My apologies to you, Mr Jagdave Singh. If you are still interested, please email me. Same goes to anyone else who would like to check out Aunty’s library.
The views expressed here are the writer’s own.
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