Behind the Ironic Column

If I’d just go ahead and read the books I’m going to read and dispose of (through passing them to other people, returning them to their rightful owners, or giving them to a charity), then I’d have room on my shelves for the ones I’m not going to read but am going to keep.  And if I got rid of the ones that I’ve been intending to read for the last 5 years, that would make an even larger space.  Does that make sense? 

Maybe not, but if you’re holding on to “reference” materials, you know what I mean.  I’m not going to read the botany manual – at least not cover to cover.  But I’d like to have it around for looking things up  – and sometimes it’s just more convenient to look something up in an actual book than to do it online.  I know an increasing number of people don’t see the need for books when you can do almost any kind of research on the internet – but I’m not there yet.  Maybe my need for a physical object comes from remembering days when the electricity went out (and not just from my childhood – we lost power for 2 or 3 days in a Portland ice storm not that long ago) or the broadband connection wouldn’t stay connected. 

In the continuing saga of clearing out the storage rooms, I’ve discovered quite a stack of these ‘reference’ materials.  Some of them I can live without.  The likelihood of my needing a manual about analyzing poems is pretty small – and I’m sure I can find the equivalent again.  But how about the volumes of poems themselves.  I will admit that I don’t read poetry on a regular basis – but when I do want to relocate some poem I vaguely remember, I stand a better chance of finding it in those books than on the internet.  Some of it is related to eidetic memory – I can visualize where I read the particular lines I’m looking for even if I can’t actually see the lines in my mind.  And there’s some comfort in just having the books in my possession.  They remind me of other chapters in my life and are intrinsically useful themselves.  Who can resist that? 

So I think I’ll spend the rest of the summer reading.  Since I just did the full day stretch for book 7 in the Harry Potter series, I should be able to handle these shorter books without too much trouble.  I do realize this is some new form of procrastination – but it’s an enjoyable one and I refuse to feel guilty about it.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS