Book purging is an occupation hazard around here.
Tomes pile up in
corners of the office and in hidden bookshelves in the attic. What if I
need a footnote in the future? Steve blows through a 500 page biography
of Hilter or Marcus Aurelius every month or so. The shelves of Hilter biographies in the dining room frequently freak out new dinner guests, but it could be so much worse. Without editing, there would be no room to eat in our dining room. We need to regularly purge the shelves in order to avoid an untimely death.
Here's some expert advice on books that can you live without.
Hitler bios aren't that bad. If you want to avoid repeat guests, you should get "Blue eyes and thick thighs: Hermann Goering's guide to attracting Aryan women."
Posted by: MH | December 28, 2009 at 07:02 PM
We have the Big Black Book of Communism mixed in with all our books. It's stopped several of the kid's friends when they are looking for a new book. Rory always explains to them "My dad used to be a hippie." The kid shrugs and moves on.
Posted by: Lisa V | December 28, 2009 at 09:32 PM
other famous deaths, crushed by falling books: fictitiously, Leonard Bast, in Howard's End (EM Forster); apocryphally, Charles-Valentin Alkan, a reclusive virtuoso pianist, who composed Symphony for a Solo Piano among many others. Sorry, random trivia..
We moved house - most of the boxes seemed to be Lego or books. The last time my parents moved, the moving company charged extra for the many boxes of books. It must be genetic.
Posted by: Doug K | December 28, 2009 at 11:47 PM
Having gone to school in earthquake-prone California, it always gives me the heeby-jeebies to see interior designers recommend putting a shelf of books right over the head of a bed.
And speaking of books and design, I'm starting to think that designers hate books. I've got a mental collection of lousy ideas for things to do with books that I've seen in actual national magazines and coffee table books:
--hang pictures on book case, blocking access to books
--arrange your books by size
--arrange your books by color
--put white jackets on all your books
--turn the spines to the wall (yes, I really saw this one!)
--gut a hardback book to create a handbag
--gut a whole bunch of books of various colors to make a headboard
Posted by: Amy P | December 29, 2009 at 12:57 AM
Does Steve have a birthday coming up soon? If so, how about Dead Snow? It has zombie Nazis! And it's a foreign film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-KQh87_V2Q
Posted by: Amy P | December 29, 2009 at 05:54 PM