Last week, I spent a few days back in Oxford, and I can never be in Oxford without visiting Square Books. And I can never visit Square Books without buying at least one book. This time, I bought two—Krista Tippett’s Speaking of Faith and Larry McMurtry’s Books: A Memoir. Tippett’s book was an unplanned purchase, but you know how it is. You wander into the bookstore, you approach the display table, a title catches your eye, you read the blurb, you check out the table of contents, you are intrigued, you lose all self control, you willingly hand over your cash.
But McMurtry’s book was a planned expenditure. Westerns are not usually my genre of choice, but his Lonesome Dove has a place on my (rather long) list of favorite novels, so when I heard that he had published a memoir centered around his life with books—reading them, writing them, acquiring them, collecting them, selling them— I knew, as a fellow bibliophile, I’d have to add this book to my collection.
My collection, by the way, is nowhere near as extensive as his 28,000 volume library. Because he no longer has time to reread them all, the 72-year-old McMurtry says of his beloved books, “They need to find other readers soon—ideally they will be my son and grandson, but if not them, other book lovers.”
Well, I’m not seventy-two yet, but I understand the sentiment. As they say, “So many books, so little time.”
But McMurtry’s book was a planned expenditure. Westerns are not usually my genre of choice, but his Lonesome Dove has a place on my (rather long) list of favorite novels, so when I heard that he had published a memoir centered around his life with books—reading them, writing them, acquiring them, collecting them, selling them— I knew, as a fellow bibliophile, I’d have to add this book to my collection.
My collection, by the way, is nowhere near as extensive as his 28,000 volume library. Because he no longer has time to reread them all, the 72-year-old McMurtry says of his beloved books, “They need to find other readers soon—ideally they will be my son and grandson, but if not them, other book lovers.”
Well, I’m not seventy-two yet, but I understand the sentiment. As they say, “So many books, so little time.”
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