Book guilt
Published by Becky S August 10th, 2004 in arts
Very depressed. Not because Viggo Mortensen hasn’t called or because no one believes that this is the secret weblog of Britney Spears or because some people think that Doug Glanville cost Kevin Milton a no hitter two weeks ago (he so did not). No. I am depressed because I just finished a very disturbing project.
Out of curiosity, I took an inventory of the unread books on my shelves—the ones that I pack into boxes and move from apartment to apartment. Some were assigned and subsequently neglected as part of an undergrad class. Some I stole from my brother or Moon Pappy. Some were bargains at flea markets, library book sales, or book warehouses. And some I actually bought at full price from Amazon. I love having overflowing bookshelves, but there’s never enough time to get through the pile.
Since the birth of Good Grief!, there is even less time. Who are these people who can go everywhere, read everything, keep up on current events, and then write all about it in beautiful prose? Some of them even find the time to leave brilliant comments on everyone else’s weblogs. Shit, I can’t even keep up with my Economist subscription, let alone read the Sunday paper.
The list of shame is here. If you are missing a book that appears on this list, I definitely did not swipe it, probably.
UPDATE: After writing this entry, I realized that I stumbled into a book addiction contest among Philadelphia bloggers. Of course, I’m at a disadvantage because Mike and Scott are geeks and, therefore, have bigger books.
books viggo mortensen19 Responses to “Book guilt”
- 1 Trackback on Aug 11th, 2004 at 10:08 PM
- 2 Trackback on Aug 16th, 2004 at 1:58 AM
Are those really Ikea shelves? I thought those things couldn’t handle the weight and would sag, sag sag.
Owning techie books and claiming book guilt is not fair. They are chunky. I made my husband toss out many books. I mean how many Java books does one need anyway? Its a bloated piece of crap and have howto books that reflect that.
The tall shelf in the left-hand picture is from Ikea. Though the shelves don’t sag, the books are hiding a gaping hole in the back particle board.
The orange shelf is very sturdy and has been kicking around since childhood. It was maroon and then pink before I painted it “Chinatown Orange.”
Did your husband really throw away the books, or did he just create a secret stash somewhere?
Well…if husband did really create secret stash then I am certainly allowed to create secret stash of laughing buddha dolls and lots of bath and body lotions.
You really should go ahead and outsource Good Grief! as you promised some time ago. It’s the only way to fit everything in. I have started to employ people to write comments on my behalf. In fact, someone is writing this for me right now. I’m actually out of the office taking photos for my site.
I’ve hired a young, fun staff to help me with all my Blankbaby tasks so I can spend more time doing what is important; buying more books not to read.
I could probably loan you an intern or something.
You see, this is why I don’t read. I don’t need any more stress in my life (I am too busy side stepping broken glass). Plus, many of your books have been made into movies anyway. The ones that haven’t probably suck so you can just skip those.
Beckster,
Am proud to see that none of our two year plus book club pics are on that list—because I still have not finished Reefer Madness and Reading Lolita. Kudos to you. Since you have so many must-read classics in there (or at least can pretend to be erudite by having them on your shelves) I’ll help you reduce a few to the bottom of the pile: Angel of Repose (trying to be racy fantasy of a woman artist who gets it all, including her wealthy Jewess boyfriend who poses as a post-coital Christ for a series of paintings—a bit self-indulgent and transparent in terms of a woman’s fantasy of creativity, wealth, and pleasure), and Saving Grace (although a light fun read is really for ex-Catholic girls like myself and not worth your time since you don’t have the plaid uniform to remember). Now, many on your list are very worthy—some favorites include Agony and the Ecstasy (especially if you would follow that up with a trip to Italy), Sula, and anything by Hemingway, Miller (an acquired taste), the Dalai Lamma, Camus, etc. Actually, you have a great diversified list—just keep those sagging bookcases and pose as a literati.
Thanks, Sassy J. Moon Pappy has also given negative feedback on Angel of Repose. I’ll probably read Saving Grace, though, because I like Lee Smith (except that one we read for the bookclub where those catty women floated down the Mississippi for what seemed like an eternity–The Last Girls, I think). Confession: I never finished Founding Brothers, which is not on the list because I managed to get about 1/3 of the way through.
If anyone else has suggestions about what goes to the bottom of the stack, I’m all ears (eyes?).
Tintil, I put out some RFPs, but no one except for you was willing to take on Good Grief! You may recall that you weren’t a good fit in the Bollywood department.
I may borrow one of Scott’s interns, however. I’m also toying with the idea of a “stump post”–it would be like a politician’s stump speech, except for a weblog.
Becky, if it’s more time you’re after — you can always rely on the well-worn slacker traditions of:
- skimming the table of contents of the Cliffs Notes version, or
- reading the *always* insightful Amazon.com user reviews, or
- reading the back cover of the movie version.
All have served me well.
Of course, it will be hard to convince people that Malcolm McDowell is the name of the main character in “A Clockwork Orange.”
If I were you I would skip ‘Out of the Silent Planet,’ I read a bunch of Lewis in high school in my theology class, and disliked it all equally.
I would put ‘In the Name of the Rose’ and ‘Winesburg, Ohio’ near the top of the list. The Rose because it is a fun, erudite mystery, and Anderson knows how to write killer short stories.
Yes, I think In the Name of the Rose should be “on deck.” I disagree about Lewis, though.
What I really need–more than free time or an intern–is a sugar daddy. Then I could quit this job and be a woman of leisure.
Becky-
For all our sakes I think you need to lighten up a little. How long since you had a vacation?
So, does this means you’ve read The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce?
“Lighten up for all your sakes?” Sheesh, what’s that supposed to mean? I took the whole month of June off, and in September I’ll be in Montana for a week. No doubt I’ll be reading something fluffy on the plane.
Never read any Joyce. Someone once told me that Dubliners is a good way to ease yourself into it, so I bought that book and never read it.
Wwwooooo doggies. And I thought I was bad about not reading books I bought. But I only have like, 10 sitting around right now. And I’m currently on a quest to read more, I make myself read at least a chapter of a book a day. That quest is certainly made easier by being out of work since Saturday
Anyway I’m totally jealous of people who seem to be able to read everything, keep up on current events, take care of 3 children, cook gourmet sounding meals, watch a new TV show, host parties that are considered sensations, and basically save the world. AND blog about it everyday. WHO ARE these people? Do they have doppelgangers (sp?) who do a certain thing and report back to the main twin? This can’t be ONE PERSON living this life!
So jealous.
Don’t feel bad about your book list
at least you try! I think we all have lists of things we wind up collecting and not doing…okay…maybe just me but at least that makes you and me! 
I’d suggest that Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation immediately deserves to go to number one with an electric cow prod. I read it earlier this year and it was the best way to stop my butt getting big(ger) because I went down the full vegetarian path about the same time. (In fact, I really went down that path after watching Finding Nemo but, hey, people only laugh when I use that as explanation. Don’t make the same mistake!).
“Fast Food Nation” was an eye opener. I stopped eating at fast food places for awhile after reading it, and I am by no means a vegatrian, or a wisp of a man.
I would still say Umberto Eco is worth reading first though but you might need a compass to find your way through “Foucault’s Pendulum,” I know was confused when I read it. Then again that could be because I am not too bright.