Books accumulate easily in my life. They pile in every corner of the house in wobbly mountains to read. The problem is there is always a new book to read, a new story to discover, a new topic to explore. The piles grow and I end up reading none of it, always carried away by a new find.
Three bookshelves lined the walls of the living room at the start of 2024, a smattering of books grew by my bedside table, recent library loans toppled at the bottom of the stairs. It was all too much. So I trimmed. I returned unread books to the library, I culled the bookshelves. I expected the process to be difficult but it wasn't. Many of the books I had gathered represented different periods of my life, ones I would never return to. Many trips to local charity shops were made and the bookcases were sold. I purchased a new one and kept only the most meaningful books alongside a few titles I truly still want to read. And this year is the year I turn my attention to those and not the shiny new books that line the shelves of the library, of the second hand bookshops, and new bookshops.
At least in part. In late November, my brother shared with me a medieval reading challenge and I was swept into it. Over the course of 2024, I have been gradually sliding into medieval history and literature, a lot of the remaining 'to-read' books being story of Arthur and his knights penned over the course of the middle ages. So this challenge felt perfect. Only it required purchasing new books and well... I had just laid down the ground rules for 2025 in books. I paused for the briefest of time and decided that as long as the books arrived in my house before the end of 2024, it was fair game.
So here we have it. This year is the year I dip my toes in medieval literature and resist the endless lure of libraries and bookshops.
I aim to post my progress here and share with you the books I read throughout the year. No new books allowed. Well, almost*. Today is the 1st of January and that date marks the day I open a new Maigret anthology. For the last five years, I have purchased an anthology on that date on my eReader. Slowly, gradually, I am reading all the Maigret stories in the order in which they were published. I have always been drawn to the world George Simenon has created, to the stoic, sometimes brutish Commissaire Maigret. My grand father introduced me to that world. We didn't have much in common and he didn't pass much on to me, but this he did. It's a connection to him, to the me of all ages that has had a life permeated with Maigret stories. Sure, I could devour each book, each anthology one after the other, but reading them slowly throughout the course of one year is a ritual I cherish. It's a visit home, one I can no longer experience physically but will always have in the words of Simenon.
So as always on the 1st of January, I brew a warm cup of tea, I settle on the sofa, and I read one Maigret story to start the year. A comfort, a nostalgia, and a ritual to mark the turning of the years. And after the first story, my bookshelf filled with old travel tales, stories of Arthur and his knights, a pile of medieval words, and an odd assortments of classics, essays, poetry, and whatever else has survived the great cull of 2024.
*exceptions may be made for queer Arthurian or Greek myths retellings (I have no resistance to those), gifted stories, as well as publications by a handful of authors I love dearly (though I expect no new books from them). Oh and the books I've accumulated in my Kobo are fair game. Those too have been heavily culled and the remaining ones count as bookshelf books.