Books
I love books. I love looking at them. I love collecting them. I love reading them and marking them up. I love re-reading them and wondering why I marked up what I marked up the last time I read the book.
I love Amazon.com and Christian Book Distributors. I loved Charlottesville and the used book places, especially the 3-story house-maze we went to where every wall, corner and step was stacked with books. I love the Protestant Center in Lausanne where they sell used books by the kilo. (You just put the books on a scale and give them $2.50 for each kilo.) I love Abebooks.com where you can find nearly any book on the planet in nearly any condition, sometimes cheap.
But my love of books has been shaken. Really. A book “read” is an investment of time and energy. It represents a slice of your life. Each book not only forms you, it also steals from you, or takes a portion of your life. One bookshelf can contain a year of your life.
Wife and I finally had to get rid of wife’s dad’s books yesterday. Of course, wife’s sister and brother had already taken some books. We put another 250 volumes in our apartment. The 430 kilos of Ukrainian books await a future trip back to their homeland. About 40 other volumes are in the church building. We found owners for most of the French books. About 20 other people culled through the English ones. We called every English-speaking church within 50 miles. But no doing. There were still over 2,000 books to get rid of.
I hope someone buys a kilo of them, and when they turn to pages 1, and then 100, they’ll find his embossed seal:
ESB’S LIBRARY
The wicked borroweth and payeth not again.
The wicked borroweth and payeth not again.
posted by Brady @ 3:12 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Just yesteday, I reminded Lisa of my life's dream to have a library in our home someday. An entire room, stacked to the ceiling with books along each wall...a comfy recliner in the corner and a bright light for my (by then) old eyes. I share that love of books. Some of my favorite places are in downtown San Luis Obispo where you can walk from used book store to used book store. I can spend hours at a time in those places, coming out only when hunger drives me. I love the smell of a new book. I have some books that I return to so often, to the same pages, that they are dog-eared and easy to find. I love discovering new authors and filling up more shelves.
I'm just out of room.
Add me to the list of book lovers. Beth has introduced me to books on tape which has been a whole new fun dimension. Steve, that might help with the vision thing.
And, I've been to Greg's office, there's nothing in there but stooge stuff and guitars.
I hate books, they take away from blogging...
It might just be me, but there is also something to be said for nice hardcover editions. I caught myself the other day on the verge of paying 150% more for a book in hardcover when there was a paperback of the same edition sitting right next to it. I bought the cheapie, but told myself: "when(if) I ever get full professor..."
By the way, thanks to you and ELS for the book.
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