We have been asked on a number of occasions about our book collection and so with this in mind I thought I'd do a little article.

I started collecting books at an early age, about 11 or 12, taking my pocket money to the local Fords or Co-op and picking novels off the revolving remainder stands they used to have (does anyone remember these?). I couldn't get enough and soon started to build a sizeable collection. At that time it was mainly Science Fiction but later I started on Fantasy, Horror and lastly Thrillers and I still have all these books in the collection today.

I didn't really have any bookshelves at first and the books would be stacked anywhere. On my wardrobe shelf I had a Gerbil cage along with some of the books. It escaped one day while I was at school and made a nice paper nest. I got home and was not impressed. That was the last Gerbil I owned. Through the years I have read varying amounts (at 18 serious beer drinking and chasing women became the main preoccupations:) sometimes only managing 2 or 3 books a month, while at others reading 4 or 5 a week, depending on mood and girlfriend situation. Always had a book on the go though.

Then one lucky night I met Chrissi (in a rather dire Mansfield nightclub on 'Grab-A-Granny' night) we got talking and soon found we had a common love of books. Two of my main hobbies in a single entity… heaven. From this moment on there was no turning back and we eventually moved in together and two collections merged. Chrissi's wasn't quite as large as my own but for the first time the collection contained a lot of books I hadn't read.

Over the years we have added to it at every opportunity, sort of saving for a rainy day, to such an extent that about 10-15% of the books are presently unread. This might seem odd but it is nice to be able to browse unread novels with enough to choose from such that one will always suit your mood.

The collection now numbers approximately 1200 paperback and 1000 hardback books of various genres with another 350 non-fiction titles. Our main problem is finding places to live with enough wall space for all the bookshelves.

Some many books, so little time...

Nigel - 1st May 2002