The Trials of a Completest.
One of the frustrating things about many good writers is that they’ve written more than one book. Yes I know that’s an attention grabbing first line, but bear with me as I explain the problems it causes, at least to someone one like me. I’m a completest. All or nothing. If I start something I have to finish it, no mater how long it takes.
In a non literary way I’m like this with music. If I like one album by an artist I have to them have them all. There are some examples where this is not the case, but that’s only the way things are at the present moment in time and I will always feel a weird kind of guilt about it, especially if I see a CD I need for sale (yes I still buy them) but decide to spend my money on something different. CDs are to some extent easy, I put them on and they play in the background for about 30 to 60 minutes. It takes a lot for me to get to the point to give up on an artist who is no longer producing good music. The same can be said for writers: if I like one book, I need them all.
The difference with a book, or course, is that it’s more of a commitment then just playing some music in the background; it’s hours and hours of concentration. Therefore there are some authors I haven’t yet to get to because they have written so much, Terry Pratchett for example. I’ve heard great things but I look at just how many books there are and I feel I need to at least finish Agatha Christie first.
Elsewhere on these pages, and therefore a few years ago, I wax lyrical over my love for Jerome K Jerome. You probably know Three Men in a Boat, and maybe Three Men on the Bummel- turns out he wrote a whole lot more. In my blog I’ve listed my favourites and I’ve read most of his works. This is where I have a struggle.
Years ago I found you can buy compilations of most of his books. The first one I saw was called 14 in 1. It did what it said on the tin, fourteen books in one volume. It was a good price and despite already owing both the Three Men books I purchased it. I was then introduced to more of his wit and a lot of quality writing. Of course I wanted each book as an individual, yet this was a good way to get some of the more obscure texts and in good condition too. I’ve read the whole thing now and loved it, thing is… it’s not the same size a proper book and it’s hard to hold and read. What’s worse is it’s not complete, there are other writings of his that I’ve yet to buy. You can get other compilations, for example A miscellany of sense and nonsense from the writings of Jerome contains some of what 14 in 1 already does but others that I am yet to read. Of course it has Three Men in a Boat and if I were to buy this it’d be the third copy I have of that story (what do I mean “if” of course I will buy it at some point, probably soon). More frustratingly Jerome K Jerome wrote short stories, some of which are published in anthologies alongside works by other authors, which just the idea of creates panic in me about how I’d store it on my bookshelf where an author’s books are all grouped together. I can read them online, but I want to own a proper copy!
In some respects all this is good as I still have more, and new as it were, stories of his to read – I just wish he’d been more organised in the way he published them!
Slightly less frustrating is George Orwell. I was killing time at Delhi airport many years ago and when I saw in a book shop a collection of most of his novels. Again I had a few of them already but it contained more that I didn’t and so I bought this thick tombe and was very soon able to finish reading it, again very difficult to hold. Orwell was somewhat less chaotic in that there are lots of essays and other things that aren’t included but I can get them nicely complied elsewhere and will do so. The two big books that were missing, Down and Out in Paris and London and Homage to Catalonia, were easy to get, I had one already. But I now have this large red volume next to two smaller, slimmer, books on my shelf and the ones I already had. I’ve read it all, but it looks wrong, such are the struggles of a reader, or some of us. I suppose the question is, are compilations better than owning the individual titles? I think not, sorry. But then, The Complete Works of Shakespeare…
Of course I want to enjoy more than one book by my favourite authors and sometimes feel a hint of sadness when I get to the end of someone’s works. A case in point is James Herriot for whom I only have one book left and keep putting off reading it as I don’t want it to end, I can always reread some and for sure I won’t remember a lot of his anecdotes, but it’s not quite the same.
Regardless, owning and having read the full bibliography of a writer can be rewarding and satisfying, but to get to that point can be frustrating.
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Arthur Hofn - Literature 