A bookworm's joy in living on borrowed time

I must admit I did not buy 40 books this year. At a nearby bookshop I paid for a membership card that allows me to borrow two or three books at a time and keep them for a month. I could have bought about 20 books with the money I paid for the membership, but I prefer to spend it on borrowing books.

Owning a book has its advantages, such as allowing you to make notes in the margins to your heart's content, and you can reread them anytime you want, but borrowing holds advantages, too.

One consideration is space, and in cramped places like Beijing, this issue speaks volumes when it comes to owning books. And of course, borrowing is more environmentally friendly.

You want to reread a book, but just look at how many books there are in your bookshelf that you haven't finished reading even once. People tend to finish books they borrow more quickly than ones they own, mainly because of the pressure of a deadline. Several times during the year I stayed up late to finish a book the night before the due date. I finished about 10 more books that way.

It is increasingly difficult to choose a good book because there are simply so many out there. In recent years about 440,000 books have been published in China each year. Even if you choose only from a narrow area of interest, singling out 40 is mind-boggling. Book reviews and the comments readers leave on the websites of online bookstores can be helpful in this regard.

But you cannot judge a book by its review. What I do is to try to find and borrow the book from the bookstore. Some are like fast food: you leaf through the pages and finish them in a flash. Some are strong in certain chapters but weak in others, worthy of fleeting attention. Some are old stuff repackaged, and some have titles that scream at you but lack substance.

I cut my losses by perusing on the spot or borrowing. Of the 40 I read from cover to cover, I bought four I thought were worth keeping. Strangely, I had not really set out to read those four books but happened upon them in the bookshop. That unpredictability is one of the exciting parts of this reading adventure.

So why don't I borrow from public libraries? After all, it's free, and a much greater choice is on offer. The reason is that I have no library near where I live, and no one I know has recommended any library near them. I do wish there were more public libraries.

In the meantime I shall renew my membership card with the bookstore for the coming year. It helps to sustain this worthy business, and it helps to sustain me intellectually. And it's a great place for thinking and writing - an example of that being the piece you are reading. It is packed with avid readers, many of them families. Particularly on days when Beijing's smog keeps you inside, there seem to be few better places to be.

for thinking and writing - an example of that being the piece you are reading. It is packed with avid readers, many of them families. Particularly on days when Beijing's smog keeps you inside, there seem to be few better places to be.