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Staying mostly at home hoping to avoid the Covid virus means that I have an opportunity to read some of the 700 or so books in my collection.
Like many collectors the point is to acquire the thing, not necessarily to read it. For example I have just about all the first editions of novels by Nevil Shute, Henry Handel Richardson, Eleanor Dark, M Barnard Eldershaw, Helen Simpson, etc., and have read almost none of them. So I've been reading them (among other things).
I started with Shute's well known novel 'On the Beach'. I had seen the movie many years ago but had not read the book. I quickly found that it is hardly a suitable book to read during a global pandemic of a potentially fatal virus. Set in Melbourne in the 1960s the basic plot is that the northern hemisphere has been destroyed by a nuclear war and the radioactive clouds are slowly moving south. The residents of Melbourne have about 6 months before the radioactivity arrives and they all will die. He explores how different people cope with this sort of scenario. Excessive drinking is a common theme. A good read but not recommended at this time. I kept needing a drink, for one thing.
So I have moved on to other Shute titles and other authors. My other reading from the collection is Australian history and I've now read quite enough about the convict system and bushrangers.
I've certainly got enough books to keep me going for however long this pandemic lasts.
Like many collectors the point is to acquire the thing, not necessarily to read it. For example I have just about all the first editions of novels by Nevil Shute, Henry Handel Richardson, Eleanor Dark, M Barnard Eldershaw, Helen Simpson, etc., and have read almost none of them. So I've been reading them (among other things).
I started with Shute's well known novel 'On the Beach'. I had seen the movie many years ago but had not read the book. I quickly found that it is hardly a suitable book to read during a global pandemic of a potentially fatal virus. Set in Melbourne in the 1960s the basic plot is that the northern hemisphere has been destroyed by a nuclear war and the radioactive clouds are slowly moving south. The residents of Melbourne have about 6 months before the radioactivity arrives and they all will die. He explores how different people cope with this sort of scenario. Excessive drinking is a common theme. A good read but not recommended at this time. I kept needing a drink, for one thing.
So I have moved on to other Shute titles and other authors. My other reading from the collection is Australian history and I've now read quite enough about the convict system and bushrangers.
I've certainly got enough books to keep me going for however long this pandemic lasts.