« There exists one truth which most people sub-consciously accept but which is unmentionable in polite society: | Main | When you look at what is happening to Europe, there are some similarities to the Arabs and Persians in late antiquity. »
May 16, 2017
I have been accused of “book collecting,” but there is no truth in this.
Indeed, while installing a few new bookcases, which necessitated the juggling of several old (and bookcases are hard to juggle, believe me), I was able to identify several hundred works that could be “recirculated.” Gentle reader may be shocked to learn that my principle parodies that of the abortionists: “Every book a wanted book.” Another principle is to avoid having them pile up on floors, which creates physical obstructions to peripatetic philosophizing. - - Dust : Essays in Idleness
Posted by gerardvanderleun at May 16, 2017 1:23 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
I love books and have always loved books. I can thank my mother who taught me to read before 5 and my older brother who also loved to read and brought me to the library with him a couple times a week. I like to buy books at St Vinnies. I will even find the St. Vinnies I will be near when I travel (I like to travel as much as I like to read). St. Vinnies usually have a lot of books. Where a Goodwill store might have hundreds of them a st.Vinnies may well have tens of thousands of them. Another great thing about St. Vinnies is they do a better job of shelving their books in author sequence so it is easier to find specific books. Interestingly after looking around at local St Vinnies I can tell that at a St. Vinnies 500 or 1000 miles away will tend to have a different class of books/titles/authors. Also the prices are super low at SV. Just saying.
Posted by: GoneWithTheWind at May 16, 2017 12:17 PM
Apparently, they carry on like minks when I'm not looking.
Posted by: ahem at May 16, 2017 4:14 PM
They do have a way of growing, on you.
Seems every 10 years or so we have to clear the air and donate several hundred to various places.
Posted by: ghostsniper at May 16, 2017 8:31 PM
He's wrong about women hating books; I think I'm a worse collector than my husband. They're starting to disturb my sleep; the other night I dreamed I discovered a hitherto unnoticed empty cupboard in the house, and I immediately began filling it with books.
Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at May 17, 2017 11:15 AM
".... six stand out because they are so obviously disposable, and have survived every purge through the last half-century.
I stare at them, together, and realize that an entire worldview could be constructed from them, and that it was my own, in formation."
Powerful truth.
Posted by: Miss E at May 17, 2017 6:08 PM
My house is lousy with em. Nobody has time to actually read all that stuff.
Posted by: pbird at May 18, 2017 8:19 AM