I have come to the painful realization that I must be rid of the books I
feel I will no longer read again even if I am happy to have read them and
have enjoyed having their titles surrounding me for years. My collection of
books has taken over my physical life. There is no space for anything else
(just like everyone else--I see how very much I am like everyone else when I
write this). I have been making excuses to keep thousands of books for
years. I have moved them back and forth to so many locations, looking at
their covers fondly each time I packed them. I still look at their covers
fondly, only this time the fondness is more poignant, knowing I am first
trying to sell them, then, if that is unsuccessful, giving them away to the
public library. And the books I keep: I feel like I am running some sort of
very private contest: it is quite something for me to come to realize which
books I truly cannot do without. I once said I couldn't do without any of
them but that is actually not true. In fact, the more I let go of books, the
more I am able to let go of more and my collection has become all the more
valuable to me when I look at the books I have decided to keep.
bobbi
On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 3:39 PM, David Bircumshaw <[log in to unmask]
> wrote:
> Apparently Elizabethans used to keep their books in chests which could
> double as extra seating. Or somewhere to hide all those bodies from a
> revenger's tragedy.
>
> On 24 June 2010 18:53, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > ah yes, i know it well....
> >
> > Doug
> >
> > On 24-Jun-10, at 6:20 AM, John Cunningham wrote:
> >
> > but am beginning to run out of room for boxes.
> >>
> >
> > Douglas Barbour
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
> > http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
> >
> > Latest books:
> > Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
> > http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
> > Wednesdays'
> >
> >
> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10.html
> >
> > because I want to die
> >
> > writing Haiku
> >
> > or, better,
> >
> > long lines, clean and syllabic as knotted bamboo. Yes!
> >
> > Phyllis Webb
> >
>
>
>
> --
> (David) "Dave no more" Joseph Bircumshaw
> "Every old house was scaffolding once/And workmen whistling"
> Website and A Chide's Alphabet
> http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
> The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
> Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/david.bircumshaw
> twitter: http://twitter.com/bucketshave
> blog: http://groggydays.blogspot.com/
>
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