Sunday, January 06, 2013
Some Books Worth Keeping
This is all that's left after the latest purge, but it had to be done. I was stoic at the used book store, but I admit to welling up a bit when I got back to my car and looked into the empty box that once contained all seven volumes of Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu. I hope someone else will enjoy it as much as I did.
15 comments:
Oh no! You gave 'm up for adoption! What if, in a few years, you think: 'I wish I could read Proust again'? Okay, you can buy them again of course. Perhaps you did the right thing. At least you kept the Gogol.
You are HIRED!!!
I'm buying your round trip ticket to Soubry's flat where your mission will be to reduce his 5000+ voluminous library down to a reasonable box or two to load in the rover.
That's it. Not one box more than 2. Really. Soub needs your help!!
xxx
I kept the Collected Stories but Dead Souls, great as it was, went down the road. So did a set of about eight brilliant "Harvard Business Review on . . ." books. But damn! That's a pretty high quality stack left there in my headboard!
Hi Martijn!
If I were Soub and you were waiting for me in Texas, I'd have a 20-cube dumpster brought to my yard and those 5000 volumes would be gone in an hour, along with everything else I owned. I wouldn't give it a thought.
Hi mule friend!
Your excample is as magnificent and scary as the Guy who built the Ark. Noah? You are the one with the Qur'an...
Now I lie in my bed and watch all rows and rows of books that surround it in disbelief and horror. 'What have I done?' I think. I have collected books I can never get rid off. I have built a mausoleum of books.
You're the most inspirational guy I've ever seen.
Thanks, Martijn! Yeah, I had to put this photo up on Facebook, too, just to see what horror that copy of the Revealed Koran would trigger. Nothing outright, at least so far, but what fun!
Nooooooooooooooo, my comment's gone! Some softwear malfuntion!
I tried to compliment you on the nice picture and no passing on the fine opportunity to mobilize soms of your friends. But at the same time did I wonder if they would recognize the Koran spelled like Kur'an.
Then I said that I had taken the step to pull myself off facebook once more, not by defriending everybody this time but just by not placing any new things because my latest antics and honestly-felt poetic pieces to share has caused me a near-total ostracisation, including from most or all of my last realtime friends.
And then I said, bravely, oh well, there is no shame in sollitude and expressed my admiration for the sitcom "My Name is Earl" which I watched today, a show about Karma. Funny!
And then I believe I had kudos for you and your quest to raise awereness and open mindedness amongst your friends, but I forgot how I said everything. So this will have to do. Let's hope the comment will not be eaten this time.
Damn it! Thanks for your effort, Martijn, and for the kind comments. Truth be told, though, my Facebook antics are less about raising awareness and open-mindedness and more about stirring up shit. My vague allusions to being Muslim have a purpose, my friend, which you have figured out already or will in due time.
You rock, dude!
You're a regular Neal Boortz.
Neal Boortz is an asshole. Thank you, Carl!
Can I send you a few zillion books?
Two boxes is... not possible. Books ohhhh!
I'm trying, I am.
It's not the books that's keeping me back, but the wait for a K1 visa.
What-the... ? Something very strange happened yesterday. Either something or somebody changed my spelling, or I was com-ple-te-ly OFF when I tried to re-type my comment.
But THAT off? "and no passing on the fine opportunity to mobilize soms of your friends" was spelled like something else completely.
But never mind, embaressing as my spelling is, the well wishing came across. And again...
I was sure you'd appreciate that. Plumb sure I say.
I love your approach, Dave! Hope Soub is taking notes ... ;-)
Though waiting for the visa IS my current definition of hell ... a mild sort of hell that is hot but tolerable as long as I don't move too fast and stay hydrated.
xxx
Hang in there, RDG and Soub. Your day is coming!
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