You can’t have too many books…
Well of course you can. If you have walled yourself in and haven’t been able to find members of your family, pets or food in the last few days, than you probably have too many books. If they have the imprint of the Bodleian Library or Cowes High School or “Parkhurst Prison – do not remove”, then you may have more problems than not enough shelves. But unless you are an actual fire hazard and have been repeatedly refused house insurance then you don’t have too many books.
In general the phrase “You can’t have too many <INSERT NOUN HERE>” may be completed by “guitars”, “bikes”, “shoes” (so I am reliably informed) or, of course, “books”. (Oh and “postage stamps”. Obvs.). Just as after a certain age it is illegal to drive past a garden centre without thinking of cake, so some of us are incapable of walking past a bookshop without breaking step and with an involuntary twitch of the credit card.
Books and ideas
Independent bookstores, charity shops, auctions, eBay, libraries, trusting friends (oops) are some of the many sources of books to fill the space available. We regularly fill a couple of boxes for the local Oxfam or Ability Dogs charity shops, and I have been known to buy back one or two after some late second thoughts. There is a finite length of bookshelves in any home, but is there a finite amount of shelf-room in our heads? I haven’t reached capacity yet, and intend to continue this experiment until someone turns the lights out. Books on the outside, ideas on the inside. Books and ideas is what make my world tick.