Books are both a blessing and a burden. There are few pleasures like holding a new book in one's hands--a pleasure I have experienced countless times in my life of buying and reading books and building my library. I think I can safely say that though I migrated from records to tapes to CDs, I will never make the move from books to electronic readers. Curl up with a Kindle? I don't think so!
On the other hand, books are heavy and bulky. Nothing will impress this fact on one's mind like a cross-country move. So last fall over many weeks I packed box after box of books--a lifetime of collecting--to transport them to our new home in Texas. The only thing that makes packing and carrying thousands of pounds of books possible is that you do it one carton at a time.
The estimate for having custom-made bookcases built and installed in the study in our new house was unrealistic, so we left the books in boxes. Now the time has come to unpack--and the joy/pain begins. After a trip to Ikea we found good, sturdy (and affordable) bookcases. I have now spent one week lugging the materials upstairs, assembling the bookcases, and opening box after box of precious books.
Opening up the cartons is a little like Christmas morning over and over. Each box held at least one special book that I had not seen in months--almost like greeting old friends. But there is no way they will all fit. After all, the books previously lined the walls of both an office at the college and the walls of our loft. Now they must be accommodated in a single room. The hard work is almost over and now the really hard work begins! Which books to keep in view on the shelves, which to box up for a decision later, and which to begin to dispose of right away?
It's time to put the decisions aside for awhile and curl up with a good book.
On the other hand, books are heavy and bulky. Nothing will impress this fact on one's mind like a cross-country move. So last fall over many weeks I packed box after box of books--a lifetime of collecting--to transport them to our new home in Texas. The only thing that makes packing and carrying thousands of pounds of books possible is that you do it one carton at a time.
The estimate for having custom-made bookcases built and installed in the study in our new house was unrealistic, so we left the books in boxes. Now the time has come to unpack--and the joy/pain begins. After a trip to Ikea we found good, sturdy (and affordable) bookcases. I have now spent one week lugging the materials upstairs, assembling the bookcases, and opening box after box of precious books.
Opening up the cartons is a little like Christmas morning over and over. Each box held at least one special book that I had not seen in months--almost like greeting old friends. But there is no way they will all fit. After all, the books previously lined the walls of both an office at the college and the walls of our loft. Now they must be accommodated in a single room. The hard work is almost over and now the really hard work begins! Which books to keep in view on the shelves, which to box up for a decision later, and which to begin to dispose of right away?
It's time to put the decisions aside for awhile and curl up with a good book.
1 comment:
Ode to an English professor! I love it.
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