February 23, 2008
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The Chore I Adore
Cleaning bookshelves. Reshelving, reorganizing, touching, opening, reading.
I just can’t help it. I love my books.
Tools:
A small vacuum cleaner to vacuum the dust off the tops
An old cloth diaper to clean the shelves.
A stool for those upper shelves.Some books are going – sayonara.
Some books are old friends. They bring me back to the place I was when I read them, or the people who discussed that book with me, or the events in my life when I was in the midst of that book. I peek inside for an underlined bit, or look inside the front cover for a page number that’s sure to be wonderful.
Some books are patient friends waiting for a chance to get together and have tea. Every time I do this chore I look at my Harvard Classics “Famous Prefaces” and think awww, I’d love to read that book.
I set two books together as I would introduce friends of mine: I think you two will get along very well.
I remove a book which is so out place: What are you doing here? You need to get back to your home.
If you’ve see Miss Potter, just imagine me talking to my books like she talked to her drawings. You must see me smiling.
Back to work…
Comments (8)
Oh, you funny girl, you! Wonder what Curt think as he walks by….
I, on the other hand, am valiantly trying to get motivated to clean my living room and get rid of unnecessary clutter, as my teacher in “Stress & Coping” casually commented that “CLUTTER” can be a source of depression. AH! The secret is unleashed, at last!! Tee! Hee!
It sounds like a wonderful chore, Carol! I will have to do the same when we return from our weekend adventure. (I’m availing myself of the free high-speed internet at the hotel while hubby naps.) On Thursday I spent a couple hours at B&N, spending writing money I had squirreled away on some wonderful-looking books for myself. Including a small, thin paperback Oxford edition of Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake – with color reproductions of his original plates! I am drooling over it. Today, I spent another hour picking out books and games to bring home for the kids, and two books as thank you gifts for Michelle and her husband for watching (all three of!) our boys. I found a wonderful book called Walking to Canterbury: A Modern Journey Through Chaucer’s Medieval England for Michelle – she’s planning a trip to London with her father next year.
Thanks for your nice comments over at my “new” place – I love it, too!
Carrie
Mel, getting in the right frame of mind is key for me to get rid of clutter. Out, out damned spot sort of mood, you know. Curt has a bemused smile on his face and occasionally nods his head. He knows I’m strange, but he likes strange women, tee hee!
Carrie, THANK YOU. I just ordered Walking to Canterbury from PBS because I’m headed to Canterbury on our trip (that decision was just made yesterday). I never heard of that book until a few minutes ago and I’ll probably get it next week. You gotta love book-loving bloggers. I’m glad you’re having a great get-away. You are going to miss Michelle, eh?
Carol – Yes, I’ll miss her – but it’s only going to be a two-to-three week trip, and I’m so happy that she gets to go. That’s funny that you ordered the book – I guess I thought you were just going to be in Scotland, but you must have expanded your itinerary a little!
Carrie
Ah yes! Clearing book clutter and getting the remainder organized once more. I pretty much arrange my books by author, although I do keep a few according to subject. Prayer, for instance. And knitting, for another. Recently I have taken 5 bags of “no longer needed or wanted” to the library for their upcoming book sale, and have more to go through. As in, why in the world did I buy that?
Oh well… And now back to the rest of yesterday’s messages. I have only a few minutes available before needing to leave for church.
We’re supposed to CLEAN our bookshelves?
My recently graduated daughter introduced me to William Blake and his very cool illustrations. That’s a fun Google search, too!
You make me smile!
This sounds familiar. You should have seen Ryan and I organizing our combined books when we got married. We have them organized by genres, authors withing genres, and sub-genres. We took great delight in every minute of it!