Obsessions
I have an odd relationship with literature. When I was little, with my dad in gradschool trying to raise two little kids, we didn’t have a lot. I know kids are big on asking for everything under the sun, and in our family, the rule was basically “no” unless it was a book. My parents ALWAYS said yes to books. Even if it meant tuna-noodle-bake for dinner again.
As I grew up, I loved going through my Dad’s old books. My mom set up bookshelves in the basement for all of his old stuff, and I would go downstairs to read his highschool textbooks on “New Math” and “Economics for the Second Half of the 20th Century.” My dad never threw away or got rid of his books.
Which is all a long way of saying that I don’t either. I hoard books. I buy them all of the time. I never give them up. I saw Mark throwing out old paperbacks once in our first year of marriage and freaked out. I’m pretty sure it was one of those “Oh my God, I’ve married a crazy woman!” moments for Mark.
So, when Matt tagged me with this cute little question, I realized it was actually going to be a bit hard to answer.
Go to your nearest bookshelf. On the top shelf (or highest shelf with books) what book is fifth from the right and why did you love it? Now go to the bottom shelf (or lowest shelf with books). Tell us about the fifth book from the left. Then tag five of your blog buddies – link please! – to do the same. Be sure to link to the person who tagged you too.
So, if I were going to go to the nearest book-holding-place, it might be the pile next to the couch, or on the stairs. The nearest bookshelves comprise my little “library” up in the loft. Here are my problems. Does bottom shelf mean of all three bookcases? Do I pick the nearest case to the stairs? How do you count from left or right if the books are stacked bottom to top? Or packed in double deep?
Other gems you will find on my bookshelves (see if you can find them in the picture) a cribbage board made out of an antler, my rock collection (I call them geologic samples), pressed flowers from our wedding, an old wireless weather station, DVD backups of my photos, and a map of Mt Everest.
So to answer the question: Fifth from the right on the top shelf (I’m going with right-most case and counting bottom to top) is I’m Just Here For MORE FOOD by Alton Brown. Why do I love this book? Because Alton Brown is both Mark’s and my food hero. His scientific breakdown of cooking processes have lead to many good eats. This book is actually Mark’s. I believe he got it for Christmas a few years back.
Fifth from the left of the bottom shelf? (I’m going with left-most case here) This one is cute. UFO: The Continuing Enigma which is part of the Reader’s Digest Quest for the Unknown series. This is another of Mark’s books. It was actually part of the pile that I climbed into the dumpster to save. Yes, I am completely insane. Because the book is BAD. I’ve never read it, but flipping through it gives me the giggles. I don’t know why or how Mark ended up with every title in this 10-part series, but we use them around the house as nice hard surfaces to write on, or to cover up lights blinking on the humidifier. Maybe someday our daughter will be bored and will get a kick out of flipping through these.
So, on to tagging! Who should do this next? Well, if your still reading, I suggest Doug and/or Liz, Dylan if he wants to, Sean, Lizzy and/or Luke, and Sara. Tag! You’re it!
Man, you’re good! I tag you and you’ve got a post up the same day. It took me about 2 months to get mine up (and I think that I can’t tell my right from my left, but don’t tell anyone). I’m the same way about books – or I used to be until I moved into an apartment that was < 800 sq. ft.; and I married a woman who would throw a yearbook out if she got the urge. Now, I just have those books that I truly cherish and the ones that I might read.
I like the picture that you have for some reason – the subject seems like it should be nothing special but the tone is just right.
“Never say “no” to a book!” How many wonderful hours did we spend reading together? When you were a baby, I read medical books out loud to you. Everything I read (past tense), I read out loud. But one of my dearest memories, as a mother, was sitting in the hall between your bedrooms reading the “Little House On The Prairie” series to you at bedtime…one book after the other. Reading the original old english version of “Peter Pan” to Tj….reading “Little Women” to you. Always reading and reading and reading……the beat goes on, my sweet!
I was reading through the blogroll on the new and improved site and saw responses on other blogs for the bookshelf question. As I do not have a blog, I thought I’d leave my thoughts here.
Top shelf, 5th from the right. It was kind of like wheel of fortune where the contestants excitement rises and falls with each click of the wheel. Book 1, 2, 3, 4 (excited now, it’s a good one!), and 5… It’s “Idoru” from William Gibson. My excitement fails, as though I just spun “Lose a turn”. I’m sort of a loyal reader of science fiction. I didn’t actually love this book. I really don’t remember this book. I mostly put it out on the shelf just to fill out my Gibson section. The big prize on the wheel was book #4. Schismatrix from Bruce Sterling. That is actually one of my favorites. If we could have kept spinning we would have wandered into JRR Tolkien, another favorite. Ah well. Why did it have to be 5. If I could spin the wheel the other way, it would have landed on the Dresden novels from Jim Butcher, which are some of my favorite fun reads.
The bottom shelf is old college books and reference books. The 5th book in is “The Art of Programming : Volume 3 : Sorting and Searching” from Knuth. I have tried to just read these books from the beginning, but they are giant and erudite. I think I appreciate Knuth for the humbling one receives from it. I can go to Knuth thinking, I’m pretty talented with these computer doodads (he would never say that) and then discover that Knuth is in a league of understanding that is beyond my horizon. I can understand some of these ideas, but never in the way he approaches them. His symbolic math proofs method of argument and conclusion leaves me scratching my head.
Perhaps I’ll crack those Knuth tomes open again and see if I can make my brain grow. More than likely, though I will be forced to take the advice of a clown from Shakespeare: “Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for your dull ass will not mend his pace with beating”
-Bruce