And I don't mean just deleting them out my kindle app library.
I mean, I actually went into my amazon account and went to the 'manage my content and devices' link and jettisoned them permanently.
When you do the permanent delete, you get asked 'are you sure?' for every single title. So that's 300+ 'yes, I'm sures'.
I'm not sure if this would be considered a drastic move or standard housekeeping.
Regardless, it was a well overdue step for me. You see, back when I set up and downloaded my first kindle app (circa 2012-ish), I was thrilled by the number of free ebooks available. I downloaded tons of stuff with carefree abandon. All of it. Fantasy-chosen-ones, bodice-rippers, classics, thrillers, chick-lits, dystopian sci-fi, kids books, recipe books... and everything in between.
It was probably the least picky (discerning?) I've ever been with my reading choices. I mean, they were all free, I love reading and space wasn't an issue! How could I go wrong?!
I found some unexpected treasures and savoured them. I can still remember where I was when I read some of them. Others I jumped into cheerfully, only to lift my head a disconcerted 5 minutes later going 'really?'
I realised that I didn't really enjoy reading on a screen. So, where I might normally finish a physical book even if I was struggling to connect to the story, the ebook/screen format meant that I gave up on it.
My kindle had became choked with unfinished books. If it had been a physical library, it would have been a dense mausoleum, full of stale air, and books splayed and sprayed everywhere in dusty, dissatisfying, overwhelming chaos.
One of the things I wanted to do for myself this year is read more. A graveyard of ebooks isn't a good place for me to enjoy reading.
Of the 300+ now-deleted titles, it's interesting to see how many I downloaded in 2012 or 2013, and in that whole time since, I either never opened, or didn't want to finish.
I've now got a minuscule 99 titles on my kindle.
They're a mix of fiction/novels in genres I'm actually interested in, self-published books - many of which are written by the online Twitter writing community I'm patched in to (ie., my Twitter friends), and writing craft books.
My kindle library is now more curated to my interests. Which is how it should be.
I've kept a few wild cards left over from the free-for-all downloads a decade ago. Just a wee smattering of random to keep me on my toes.
It's now much more of a space I can look forward to heading into. Where I can again feel the frisson of excitement and anticipation of an unread book. Where I can tolerate the ebook format to reach all the way to end of the story.
I'm now heading to the kindle app before my social media apps these days. Which is saying something!
I've even read two novels recently, both on my phone kindle app. Something I've never managed before.
They were both amazingly imagined stories. Inspiring and intimidating. To the point that I'm now half-feeling that my imagination is falling well short of the standards needed in my creative writing! 😂
But that's another worry, for another blog post, for another day.
Du fond du coeur x
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