David O'Mahony: Embrace the messy nature of leaving books unfinished

'As somebody recovering from years of pushing myself to finish books, let me tell you what a liberating feeling it is to accept — and not just on an intellectual level — that if it’s not working out you can just set the thing aside and not spare it a second thought.'

You know that ever-growing pile of books that you keep meaning to get to and yet, for a myriad of good reasons, don’t? Although, let’s face it, if you’re a bibliophile at all it’s probably multiple piles. One (but why stop at one?) next to the bed, one at least near where your books are actually supposed to go, honestly the possibilities are endless. Ikea sells trolleys on wheels that are supposed to be for drinks or kitchen supplies, and there’s no shortage of book influencers online who’ve repurposed them into mobile “to be read” trolleys.

But that doesn’t get rid of the sort of existential dread that can accompany adding a book to the pile, no matter how worthy the title. The sort of itchy angst that creeps up on you when you’re not thinking about it, when you don’t even realise it’s happening. And what about ebooks? And audiobooks?