July 25, 2001
Books do furnish a room. I needed less furniture. You go away to realize the value of your home, among other things. Always on return I treat it with added reverence. This time I came home wanting to make a better working space. This involved the removal of five boxes of books which I donated to Housing Works on Crosby street, which is a great place to donate your excess volumes (or buy more).
So in pruning your library what do you keep? What do you remove? Obviously reference books remain. Do you throw out those really fat novels written by men that you haven’t read since you bought them eight years ago? Yes. Do you throw out one of the brilliant books that you have two of? Yes; keep the prettier edition, or the one that a friend gave you and wrote in. Do you keep the books that may prove useful if you get stuck writing that piece that you’ve been so stuck that you haven’t even started? Yes. Do you keep all of the books by your favorite authors. Yes and No. Some favorite authors have written books you don’t like, divest yourself of these. Some authors helped you more than any religion so you keep all of those books regardless of quality. Regardless of the fact that they may have been appealing only at a certain time of one’s life. Do you keep the slim poetry volumes? Yes, they can be very soothing when you can’t read the fat novels by men. Do you keep the books that you couldn’t finish written by dear friends? No, but not without guilt. Do you keep the misguided gifts from mother and father with inscriptions? Mother is older, so you keep the one’s from her and donate most of father’s.
It’s not an entirely rational procedure. But the space resulting is sheer joy.
True delight ! Have you read Flann
O'Briens The Third Policeman? Your
theory of the origen of time must be
some autochthonic Celtic fact.
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Books do furnish a room. I needed less furniture. You go away to realize the value of your home, among other things. Always on return I treat it with added reverence. This time I came home wanting to make a better working space. This involved the removal of five boxes of books which I donated to Housing Works on Crosby street, which is a great place to donate your excess volumes (or buy more).
So in pruning your library what do you keep? What do you remove? Obviously reference books remain. Do you throw out those really fat novels written by men that you haven’t read since you bought them eight years ago? Yes. Do you throw out one of the brilliant books that you have two of? Yes; keep the prettier edition, or the one that a friend gave you and wrote in. Do you keep the books that may prove useful if you get stuck writing that piece that you’ve been so stuck that you haven’t even started? Yes. Do you keep all of the books by your favorite authors. Yes and No. Some favorite authors have written books you don’t like, divest yourself of these. Some authors helped you more than any religion so you keep all of those books regardless of quality. Regardless of the fact that they may have been appealing only at a certain time of one’s life. Do you keep the slim poetry volumes? Yes, they can be very soothing when you can’t read the fat novels by men. Do you keep the books that you couldn’t finish written by dear friends? No, but not without guilt. Do you keep the misguided gifts from mother and father with inscriptions? Mother is older, so you keep the one’s from her and donate most of father’s.
It’s not an entirely rational procedure. But the space resulting is sheer joy.
- rachael 7-26-2001 1:17 am
True delight ! Have you read Flann
O'Briens The Third Policeman? Your
theory of the origen of time must be
some autochthonic Celtic fact.
- frank 8-05-2001 4:01 pm [add a comment]