You buy yourself many books!

PalmaThe moment always comes when someone I know tells me, “You buy so many books!” Then the interrogation begins: if I read them all, how many do I have in the pile of unread books (‘the pile’ is an understatement, I have a shelf of unread books), what do I do when there’s no time for anything, why don’t I get them from the library, where do I put them, etc., etc., etc. Sometimes I’m in the mood and give explanations. Afterwards, I regret having justified myself. And it’s not about the books. It’s because they are my things, they don’t hurt anyone, and I like doing them.

Regarding the argument that I spend a lot of money on books, it’s usually made by someone who drinks cocktails on weekends, habitually buys cigarettes, likes to be fashionable… While they reproach me for my expenses, I think about what others must spend on alcohol, cigarettes, and clothes. But I don’t say anything, because I don’t like wasting time.

I buy books because reading is a way of life: I eat, sleep, breathe, and read. It may seem strange, but the books are scattered around my room, the bathroom, and the hallway right in front of me. I want them to be close to me. I like the smell they have, when they are new and when they are old. I’ve been keeping books since I was a teenager, and the oldest ones have yellow pages and have to be opened carefully so they don’t get damaged. If they were people, they might suffer from arthritis.

My usual bookstore is one of the few kind places I find in Palma, because I don’t like crowds and I’m developing an increasingly exaggerated phobia of noise. Inside, I know all the people who work there, and we take the opportunity to chat for a few minutes, which usually ends with a good laugh.

Inside the bookstore, I can classify the people I see: those who buy books out of obligation, those who accompany their child or partner, those who want to give a nice gift, those who are hooked on a saga that makes them happy, the more intellectual ones, those who are looking for something very specific, the obsessive ones, the absent-minded ones… It’s like my natural habitat.

When I get home, I put the newcomers where they belong. And, when I have fewer than 100 pages left to finish a book, I wander around to pick up the next one – this is a sacred rule. I’m not the one who chooses the next read, it’s the books that tell me whose turn it is. Actually, I should say that I buy books because they make me happier than people – my children, this doesn’t apply to you!