Agent Palmer

In order to discuss paring down one’s own personal library of books, it is important to recognize two important facts, especially for the avid reader. One: there is no such thing as a complete library; and two: having too many books is a binary experience. You either have too few or too many. There is no in between.

So with that in mind, why am I writing a post about purging books? Because I found that I had too many, and so I went searching for ways to decide how to shrink my personal library.

The email subject line stated, “Kindle Notice – Devices no longer supported,” and it went to pretty much anyone with an older registered device, at least if my social networks are to be believed.

“Starting May 20, 2026 — 14 to 18 years after their initial launches — we are discontinuing support for Kindle devices released in 2012 or earlier.”

I can snack with the best of them. Movie marathons, binging television series, autumn weekends with lots of football, or a long evening gaming session all go better with lots of snacks.

If I had druthers for one specific snack, my favorite would be Andy Capp’s Salsa Fries. But as they don’t exist anymore, I will give a pass to Andy Capp’s Hot Fries and the many other kinds of chips and pretzels. But they are not a replacement for Salsa Fries.

Enough with the trilogies!

I recently read a pretty good book. But it was published at the height of publishing’s trilogy mania and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t quite enjoy it enough to continue with the trilogy. And that’s kind of a shame, because about two-thirds the way through the book, I knew there wouldn’t be any answers when I finished it.

Now, that’s not the case for all trilogies.

I spent a lot of the last two months of this year listening to an album from 2020 by Tim Minchin, whose art I not only appreciate but am inspired by. Here’s the catch… I didn’t even know about the album until late October. In fact, I first listened to it the same day I finally listened to The Rolling Stones 2023 studio album Hackney Diamonds.

How did it come to this?