I used to keep everything, but moving around a lot and renting made it really hard. I lost most of my books after a bad break-up. Now, with the Minipeelers in the picture and living in a small space, they’ve got heaps of books and occasionally we do a cull to pass some over to younger relatives. They’re allowed to keep as much as they like.

I will never forget living alone in a freezing house a couple of decades ago, with no money and a fireplace. I had every jacket and doona and was still freezing, so I made the decision to burn some books to keep warm. As a former student of literature, this was heartbreaking. The process of deciding which books would be burnt and which could not was not something I ever wish to repeat.