One of the worst things about Generation Rent? I moved house – and had to get rid of 600 books

For literature lover Rob Palk, the unthinkable happened – but how did ditching all those novels help to reignite his love of reading?

It wasn’t the books that mattered – it was the words in them (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A few weeks ago, I sold most of my collection of 700 books.

I had just been evicted. My room was in a shared house that had been allowed to revert to a pre-human state. There were edible-looking mushrooms growing in the bath, the walls had a light coating of blackish mould, animal infestations would flourish then suddenly vanish, as though the mice and insects had given up.

Local eccentrics moved in. And then departed in a hurry. One housemate left hidden tape recorders around the building in case we were talking about him. Another used to cook soup then air it outside in its pan overnight.