The claim in the title might be a strange one, because I do not consider myself a minimalist. Of course, not all minimalists are digital nomads who live out of their backpacks or people whose bare, white homes only contain a bed, a chair, a cup, and a fork. Minimalism looks different for everyone, after all, and people rarely conform to stereotypes.
However, I have a book collection, a manga collection, and a video game collection. I still own dvds of my favorite movies, and geeky knickknacks such as figurines. All of these collections have gone through several decluttering rounds and the remainder is displayed neatly, but they aren’t what you’d consider ‘minimalist’. Hell, plenty of people would argue that having a collection of any sort is counterintuitive to minimalism in the first place. Whether they fit under minimalism or not doesn’t matter, however: I like having these items around, so I’ll keep them.
Before these decluttering rounds a couple of years ago, however, I realized I was getting overwhelmed by my own stuff. I began to declutter, and procrastinated on working on my master thesis by looking around for inspiration on the internet. Marie Kondo and minimalism eventually caught my attention. I initially felt that minimalism was a bit too extreme, but I discovered there were some useful aspects to the movement. I began following several minimalist YouTubers, who advocate simple and intentional living, and I read Fumio Sasaki’s Goodbye, Things, which I found thought provking.
Though I do not consider myself a minimalist and I do not agree with everything, I like the idea as a countervoice against consumerism, materialism, and accummulating stuff one doesn’t really use or need. It made me look at my own stuff, my relationship to these items and shopping in general.
To me, minimalism isn’t about what I do or don’t own, or how few items I own. It’s a helpful tool in deciding what brings value to my life. This element of minimalism is applicable to what’s often perceived as the very antithesis of the movement: collections! Here is how minimalism has helped me with my book collection.
It helps me declutter my book collection
This one is obvious, but it deserves to be mentioned. If you’ve read my previous post on why unhauling books is a good thing, you’ll remember there are various benefits to unhauling books, such as space and no longer having any books collecting dust on your shelves that will never get read (again).
Previously, I (probably subconsiously) considered my book collection as a collection of trophies, telling everyone what I had read. As embarrassing it is to admit, some books would take up valuable shelf space as status symbols to impress others. My experience reading Ulysses by James Joyce was absolutely dreadful and I despise Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe with a passion. I will never read these books again unless someone holds a gun to my head. There are also less extreme examples: I had a lot of books that were highly regarded but I personally didn’t find anything special, such as Dune by Frank Herbet. Eventually, I realized there was no reason to hold on to these books. Keeping these titles out of a misplaced sense of pretentiousness is not only silly and superficial (and honestly, nobody cares what books I have on my shelf), but holding on to every single book I’ve read as a ‘trophy’ is not sustainable in terms of space management. At least, not when I still want to be able to walk through my home.
I’ve had several rounds of decluttering and a lot of books were donated or given to friends. I decided that I only wanted to keep the books that, in the words of Marie Kondo, ‘spark joy’. I keep my favorites, books that I’d want to read multiple times, or books I’m very excited to read in the near future. It means that a lot of classics and literary works haven’t made the cut and a significant part of my remaining books are fantasy. Most of my collection might consist of ‘genre fiction’ which doesn’t have a good rep, but I don’t care. Of course, some classics and literary books still remain, such as Lolita and The Count of Monte Cristo, but that’s because I loved them, not because they are highly regarded. I still have a few books lying around I’m pretty sure I’ll donate after reading them, and that’s alright too.
It helps me get a better sense of the books I enjoy reading the most
Especially after discovering GoodReads, studying as an English major, working in a bookshop, and discovering BookTube, I added a massive amount of books to my TBR. These books were either hyped as the best thing since sliced bread, or I felt that I ‘should’ read them due to the themes and critical acclaim. That’s not to say that all of these books didn’t deserve the attention, yet I found my interest waning. Deep down, the book didn’t really interest me. I used to read these books anyway, but usually, my initial lack of interest was indicative of my lacklustre reading experience. I not only began ruthlessly removing these types of books from my wishlist, but also had a good look at my physical TBR. Did I still want to read this? Was I genuinely still interested in this particular book? If I was still excited, the book would stay. If not, off the book went.
As time passed, however, it became easier to determine whether I was genuinely interested in a book or not. Minimalism can not just apply to things, but also to time. Do I really want to spend my precious time with a book I have no interest in, simply because others loved it or I felt that I ‘should’ read it? The answer is no. Futhermore, it also made it way easier for me to DNF a book. If I don’t like it for whatever reason, I DNF the book and don’t look back. Life’s too short to read books I don’t like, no matter how ‘important’ these books are. The only exception are review copies.
Result of all this? I got a better sense of my likes and dislikes, and most books I finish are books I really enjoy.
It helps me be more critical of the books that find their way on my shelves
To add on to my previous point, I’m more critical of the amount of books that find their way into my home. For example, I’ve realized that I’ll read thrillers only once most of the time. It seems a bit of a waste to buy a physical copy I’ll end up getting rid of, so I’m trying to decide between getting a library subscription or an e-reader for these titles.
I also won’t buy anything that I ‘should’ read, but only if I’m genuinely interested in a book. Whenever a book piques my interest, I actually keep it on my wishlist for a while; I sometimes realize that my interest has passed after a couple of weeks. It saves a lot of money! That’s not to say I’m not buying any book ever, but my purchases are more intentional and I only stick to books I want to read soon.
Finally, it keeps my physical TBR smaller. I’ve been working to downsize my TBR pile, and this has helped me to make sure it won’t grow bigger again. A very large TBR was stressful and overwhelming to me, and it actually prevented me from rereading my favourites because I had so many unread books! I also don’t want to have books sit on my shelves for years, only to DNF them after 100 pages because I don’t like them or because my tastes have changed over the years.
My purchases have been intentional and come from a genuine interest in reading these books in the near future.
It made reading less stressful
The reading challenge on GoodReads, overwhelming TBRs… I’ve realized that when I attach too many numbers and ‘things I should’ to my hobby, it becomes too stressful which negatively affects my reading experience. After all, books should be about their contents and the experience they provide, not about numbers or stats. I already had the sense to avoid readathons because they are simply not my thing and I never really bothered with reading stats, but I also don’t feel like stressing about my TBR and my GoodReads reading challenge. So I’ve decided to keep both numbers low and manageable.
Even if I do not consider myself a minimalist, I do feel that there are aspects that are applicable and helpful even to those of us who like maintaining a collection. It has helped me evaluate my relationship with items and to determine what brings me value. Of course, my life is not perfect, and neither is my book collection. It just means that my hobby, something I do for fun in my spare time, has stopped being overwhelming or stressful.
All the Light We Cannot See
Echo
The Outsider
Royal Assassin 
Circe
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
My Lesbian Experience of Loneliness
The Promised Neverland
Vinland Saga
Real
This one is about several people who, when driving on the highway, get dragged to a town in the middle of the desert by a very tall, theatening cop. The town, however, is abandoned, and something seems quite strange and inhuman about the cop. I loved the initial myserious and tense atmosphere in this town. You slowly find out what has happened to the residents and what’s up with the cop. It also gets quite gory and graphic with its descriptions. I also liked the jerkass writer character; he seemed the most interesting of the bunch to follow, despite being a flawed and (initially) somewhat cowardly person. I did not enjoy the more religious aspects of this horror, though. It became a Good vs Evil thing, as though the majority of the characters were directed by forces beyond their control. David especially was annoying. It’s kind of a shame, because this book has a cool villain.
The third and final installment of the Bill Hodges trilogy, so naturally you’ll have to have read the previous two books as well. Though Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers were both definitely crime novels, this one heads into the supernatural territory that Stephen King is known for. The culprit behind the Mr. Mercedes killings had developed psychic powers, and he’s going to use them to not just get revenge on Bill Hodges, but to also kill a lot of people. It’s up to Hodges and his friends to stop him! Some things felt a bit too conventient and the conflict wraps up without any real sacrifices, which kind of killed the tension. It did, however, have a satisfying (and sad) conclusion and it was fun to follow the characters. I like the first book in the trilogy best, but this was definitely a good way to end the series.
This is the book I keep forgetting I’ve read, which I suppose is telling. Women everywhere do not wake up when they fall asleep, and they are eventually wrapped into a cocoon. The women attack any poor fool trying to wake them in a homocidal rage before falling asleep again. The majority of this book takes place in a women’s prison. The men are left to fend for themselves in a world that increasingly falls into chaos. The women, however, wake into a new world. The setting is interesting enough, with the potential to provide insight in gender politics, yet the execution felt a bit lacking for me. I think the gender politics were a bit too stereotypical. In the ‘fun’ department, the characters were simply not as compelling as what I’m used to in King’s works. Some were interesting, but the cast was too big, which resulted in a lack of focus. Though slow books are common with Stephen King, this one occasionally becomes a slog to get through.
As a dog lover, I was actually dreading to read this one. And yes, the concept is definitely heart breaking. Cujo, a friendly St. Bernard, gets bitten by a bat and goes rabid. The segments were Cujo slowly loses his sanity were heartbreaking to read, and considering his size, he definitely is a massive threat to anyone unlucky to stumble upon him. What I didn’t like, however, was all the ‘padding’ involving the soap opera love life of one of the main characters cheating on her husband. This bogs down the pacing and made the first half admittedly a bit of a pain to get through. It takes a good while for the novel to finally pick up. But when the main character and her son get stranded in the middle of nowhere due to their car breaking down, terrorized by Cujo, it definitely picks up the pace and gets quite tense. The ending punches you in the gut; it’s just a shame Cujo took so long to get good.
I admit, the blurb intrigued me right from the start. A man gets arrested for violating and killing a boy. There are multiple witnesses who have seen the man with the victim shortly before the murder, so there seems to be no question about who the culprit is. Or is there? Because, apparently, the man has also been seen attending a conference at the time of the murder. With conflicting evidence, what has actually happened? However, tension is rising in town after the gruesome murder and its supposed culprit have been made public. The Outsider starts as a typical police procedural, but also deals with mob mentality and has an interesting supernatural twist that kept me on the edge of my seat. I loved this one due to its characters and the way it builts tension! Be warned, though: it contains heavy spoilers for End of Watch.
Hitting two birds with one stone, this was my 
The only nonfiction book on this list, but as a Constant Reader of Stephen King, I loved this. It’s part memoir, part writing advice. This book gives a lot of insight in Stephen King’s childhood, early life, his first steps as a writer, the struggles in his early career, and his eventual success with his first published novel, Carrie. Did you know that Stephen King actually got a lot of rejections when he started out? He also writes about his alcoholism and the accident in 1999, both of which greatly impacted his life. He also gives writing advice, on what he feels does and doesn’t work, and how to get your first draft actually done. It comes down to reading a lot and writing a lot, and to make sure you actually sit your ass down and write! This is a very insightful and personal read for both fans of Stephen King as well as aspriring writers. It’s a shame that I hadn’t read this any sooner!
So I read Stephen King in October, and I chose one of his less horrific books. Insomnia is about an elderly man, Ralph, who suffers from insomnia (you guessed it!) after his wife dies. He begins to hallucinate, seeing colors, balloon strings floating above people’s heads, and tiny men who cut them. There is actually a reason Ralph is seeing these things: he’s meant to stop a terrible event from happening in his town. This book has a surreal quality to it, which is perhaps not surprising as the main character is sleep deprived. It might get a bit vague for some people. It’s also very much a slow burn, but I enjoyed the insight into Ralph’s head — the fact that he’s an elderly man made it very refreshing and insightful! I also enjoyed the references to The Dark Tower and It — this book is probably best appreciated after reading those, but you can still read this if you haven’t.
I had heard this book is … not the most popular of King’s bibliography, so I went in with no expectations. To be honest, people turning into zombies after some pulse through their cellphones messing with their brains sounds a bit dated. That said, I was pleasantly surprised! Cell has a very strong opening, starting right at the outbreak when our main characters scramble to get somewhere safe and worry about their loved ones. I could definitely understand the main character wanting to get in touch with his son, but this was obviously not easy. The second half is where the book gets vague, dealing with telepathy and hive minds. It wasn’t bad, it just seemed a bit too out there for my liking and the villain was about as interesting as a glass of water. It didn’t have the tension that the first half had, and that’s a shame. Still, this wasn’t as bad as people made it out to be. It just isn’t one of King’s best, either.
And here we are with King’s most recent work. In the middle of the night, the child genius Luke gets kidnapped and his parents are killed. He is brought to The Institute, a facility that runs horrible experiments on kids with (some) telepathic and/or telekinetic powers. It’s a matter of time before the kids are shipped towards the sinister back half; no one ever returns from there. After a slow start involving a character whose reason for being there is not immediately apparent, Luke slowly discovers the Institute’s purpose. He vows to escape and bring it down. King does a great job building its characters and the setting, and you really fear for these kids as you find out more about The Institute. There is also hope, though: you can’t help but root for Luke as he fights for both himself and his new friends.
Hands Up