Weekly Photo Challenge: MINE (Of Books and Moving)

I’m a self-confessed bookworm. My preference is historical fiction. I’ve moved 3 times and for each time I have to decide which things I should leave behind, give away or just shoot in the trash can. I realized, after contemplating which material things I’m very possessive about (I have to qualify that because the immaterial ones are a different story), I learned that it was my books.

After finishing college, I had to rearrange my room to accommodate my new working lifestyle. After graduation, I catalogued all my books in Microsoft Access (the time and effort were well-spent) and label each one of them with “From the Library of (my name)” (not that I have huge collection but, as I said, I’m quite possessive when it comes to my books). My list even has a monitoring category so I would not forget who last borrowed my books (unfortunately, some I failed to recover).

When I got my 2-year scholarship offer in Japan, I literally emptied my room leaving only the furniture. I gave all my clothes away, decorations, everything, except my books. I packed them carefully in a box and instructed our helper never to open it and never ever donate them (my dad has a penchant for digging our old stuff and donating or selling them).

Going back to the Philippines, 1/4 of the box I sent home are books. When I came home, I unpacked the books I left behind, piled them neatly beside my bed together with my new addition from Japan.

This year, I got married and moved to Singapore. Again, I have to move my books as well and this time asked my brother to keep them. (Last time, the storage caused problems to the pages of my books). It is now a major piece of conversation in his home.

Some of the books bought in Singapore

I recently moved here in Canberra for my PhD. I didn’t have much books bought from Singapore so I didn’t have to exert time and effort to keep them (good thing my husband is also a bookworm). In a month, I already bought 4 books here, 1 autographed from a faculty member. Honestly, I haven’t read any of them. I’m too preoccupied reading academic books. And I’m feeling left behind.

The first set of books I bought here in Canberra

With the convenience brought about by technology, I also acquired a number of e-books, most sent from a good friend. I read 3 of them but I still prefer my physical communion with the embossed covers, slightly tainted pages and living words of an actual book. So, even with the impacts of technology on publishing and reading, I guess I will never stop grazing the quaint little bookstores in town, book sales in malls or in universities and book signing/launching events. I will never stop arranging them again and again until I finally settle down in a house where I have my own library—something I dreamt of since the time I bought my first book.

Finally, let me leave you with this sculpture located at Canberra’s City Centre.

“The more I read, the smaller I feel.”

How about you? What are the things you are most possessive about? Join the Weekly Photo Challenge and (I know it is difficult) share them (virtually, so that makes it easier) with the rest of the world (at least through photos).

• Weekly Photo Challenge: Mine (picturebandit.wordpress.com)
• Weekly Photo Challenge: Mine (jinancitydailyphoto.wordpress.com)
• Weekly Photo Challenge: Mine (smkelly8.com)
• Weekly Photo Challenge: Mine (laavventura.wordpress.com)

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