A curious thought

[alexpgp]

As I have doubtless mentioned before, there is a two-piece bookshelf/credenza kind of article along one wall of my office. It also has the appropriate features to make it a desk as well, but overall, I think the combination makes for a fine bookshelf and filing cabinet, if you get my drift.

I removed all of the books from the bookshelf part the other day, in preparation for moving the assembly out of my office (as I thought we had discussed with Galina and Natalie, now that Natalie is living with us), but after all the books were gone, the idea was deep-sixed.

I've been (slowly) taking books out of storage boxes and replacing them on the shelves, but a curious thought crossed my mind: Am I putting up the right books?

You see, a lot of what determined what books went into that bookshelf - and consequently, which other books disappeared into the bookshelves I shoehorned into the closet - was initially based on stuff that was useful to me in my translation work. And indeed, there is a core of books in the room that I refer to often, though by the same token, there are a lot of books that, frankly, I haven't cracked in years.

I'm thinking... there's no real utility in keeping such books "at hand," so to speak (and yes, there are those who would say there is no utility in keeping such books at all, except that I've wanted to refer to individual volumes "currently in Pagosa" often enough to know that there is utility in keeping 'em). Certainly, if I ever entertained ideas of impressing people with the fact that I have books (and to do so, I'd have to let them into my office), simply having books on shelves will do the trick, as experience has shown.

I think I will do a little shuffling to bring out some "fun" books and stuff some of the "stuffy" tomes into the closet.

When I'm up to shlepping books around, that it.

Cheers...

Comments

[skipperja.livejournal.com]

I need to do what you're contemplating. I built a bookshelf/TV unit across one wall years ago and loaded it with books current at that time. Now I never use most of them and the shelves have become a catch-all. I need to empty the whole thing and make it more useful.