You ARE taking books, aren't you?

This past week I've been doing some publicity work experience at Random House in London. It's been good so far; everyone is really nice and it's interesting to see the difference between a small indie publisher like Melville House, who employ under ten people, to move to a publicity department which has more than that number alone, and that's only for half a dozen of their imprints.

Anyway, this post isn't to talk about my work experience, but to talk about what someone said to me on my second day. I arrived and set up my things, turned on my computer etc, and one of the publicists turned to me and said, "Cassie, you ARE taking books, aren't you?". I kind of froze for a second because I thought maybe she was accusing me of taking books, but she was in fact saying quite the opposite.

She encouraged me to take books, see what the different publicists were working on and to feel free to ask for a copy of anything if it caught my eye. Heavenly.

I guess since they're a big company, it's the kind of thing they can afford to do, and since they're only paying my travel and food expenses, then I also have the added feeling of not feeling that bad when they suggest I take books. However this does leave me with a slight problem with regards to this project.

I now have way over 111 books.

It's not a huge problem - I kind of have over that amount already. There are a few on my list that I have grouped togther (like Kavalier & Clay and The Escapists) because they seem to go so well together. The idea was for me not to buy any more books until I have finished all the ones on the list.

So I guess technically I'm not breaking any rules, since I'm not actually buying any books. And I simply cannot say no to taking books for free.

So far I have accumulated:

• Pulse by Julian Barnes
• Savage Lands by Clare Clark
• February by Lisa Moore
• The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds
• Precious by Sapphire
• Annabel by Kathleen Winter
• Swamplandia by Karen Russell
• Things We Didn't See Coming by Steven Amsterdam
• What to Look for in Winter by Candia McWilliam
• Deloume Road by Matthew Hooton

I'm sure there will be several more before my second week is over.

I'm not quite sure what to do with them. I don't feel like I can read them ahead of my other books. That was what this whole project has been about. I can't just get new books and read them ahead of the others! Can I?

I might make a couple of exceptions depending on the book. Some new ones, for example. Or if I really really don't want to read any of the others. We'll see. I'm keeping them separate for now...