Reading is precious. But the cult of book ownership can be smug and middle-class | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

I have started giving away my books – sometimes even putting them in with the recycling. Why keep a novel that could delight someone else?

I used to have, or rather hoard, a lot of books. Still do, I think, at least by the standards of the average home, but I’m doing my best to get rid. In the last couple of years I have given away hundreds. If the thought of this fills you with horror, then maybe look away from this next part, where I confess that sometimes I even put them in the recycling. Only the really objectionable ones, that I feel I am saving the reader from by taking them out of circulation.

The big book purge began when I decided to go through the shelves and discard any book I was vaguely embarrassed to have in the house, for reasons of quality, subject matter, politics or author (look at your shelves and you probably have your own equivalents). Since then, I’ve been jettisoning them every few months with no regrets. Only twice have I have needed to look something up in a book I’ve thrown away, and rebought a cheap secondhand copy.

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