I have finally got round to unpacking my books. However, what used to be the one consolation in having to move so frequently in the past is now just an irritant. I used to be able to recall exactly when I bought a particular book, the circumstances that led me to buy it and where I bought the book from - and, more importantly, to enjoy recalling these minutiae as I unpacked them - but unpacking them now and they just annoy me. I have only read a small percentage of the books that I possess and, of those books that I have read, I only treasure a handful. So my question to myself is, why do I keep them all when they obviously distress me. I am afraid not just because I appear to have become 'a minimalist' - a term for which I have only had disdain in the past - but also because I might not ever have the time to read - or, more precisely, study - all the books that I haven't read but which I would like to and that seeing them stacked on bookshelves in front of me just reminds me how little time I might have.
It is so depressing.
