The Joys of Buying and Taking Care of Books

Unfortunately, or fortunately, I have a weakness for book catalogues, book reviews, book ads in magazines, bookstores, book clubs, reading groups, piles of books everywhere, bookshelves that have run out of room, books that I have read, books that I haven't read but plan to read, and, most of all, new books to add to the mix. One of the most egregious things I ever did when I retired and moved into retirement condo living was to follow the advice of "experts" who said the key to successful retirement was to simplify, simplify, simplify. That meant getting rid of countless books. Some were fine to get rid of, but I have regretted every day getting rid of others that I wish I still had. I ran out of bookshelf space last year, so I ordered some new ones. Somehow the seller sent the wrong ones and then told me it was cheaper for them to send out the new ones and for me to keep the old ones at no extra charge. "Well, why can't the delivery guy who brings out the new ones take the old ones back to the store, " I innocently asked. "Well, because we have a different contractor for picking up stuff than the one for delivering stuff and it costs too much to have the other contractor pick up the other stuff." Net result: I ended up with a total of five unassembled book shelves, two of which I put together and which are now full, and three more which remain in their boxes in the furnace room waiting for me to find some wall space so I can assemble them.

I always figure that books are an innocent and relatively inexpensive vice or addiction. I can buy all the books I can think of in a year for less than what one cruise ticket would cost me. I don't buy guns, fishing gear, hunting and fishing licenses, booze, flat-screen TVs (yet), organic fruits and vegetables for $5 a pound (though maybe I should), iPhones, iPods, and my wife frowns on my trips to Costco because, according to her, we don't need anything. That logic misses the Point: The Point is, how do you know what you need until you see it at Costco? For sure. So I buy books. My wife should be happy because I buy her numerous new books every year and she has a huge stack of unread books and a shelf full of books she has read in the storeroom. And both of us are bonding with our Kindle which is always handy when you see something and don't want to bother going to B & N or waiting several days to get something from Amazon.com.

Books can cause marital rifts when left in disorderly piles. My wife waits for as long as she possibly can, biting her tongue and remaining sweetly calm, until, occasionally, my arrangement and scattering of books has once more gotten out of line. The most critical place for book storage is on the lamp table between our two recliner chairs. I usually start out with one book that I am currently reading, gradually add several other books that I definitely plan to read immediately, add a couple of issues of the New Yorker, several issues of Time, Newsweek, and Business Week, and then throw in three or four partially completed crossword puzzles. By then, we can scarcely see each other. But wait, as the infomercial ads always say to hook a reluctant customer for green bags that will keep your veggies from going bad, there is more. Add to this a Kleenex box and a couple of dozen ball point pens that have been hauled to the lamp stand one at a time. My wife thinks she is entitled to enough room for a coaster to put her water glass on, which does cause some minor dissension from time to time. Now include a few items of junk mail, some book bills, a few book club monthly announcements with many enticing new possibilities, a bowl that once had some grapes in it, and an issue of the Powell Tribune that I have been trying to read to my wife for several days so she will appreciate what is going on in my home town.

I have never heard of a couple going to divorce court on grounds that one or the other spouse was an inconsiderate, disorderly, and messy distributor of piles of books around the house. I like to think that if book orderliness is my worst vice, then I should be on fairly solid ground. Once in awhile I clean off the lamp stand, down to the bare wood. But, alas, dear reader, one at a time, once or twice or three times a day, the books start piling up again. I remain oblivious to any immediate threat or objection to such messiness, but sooner or later a crisis is reached. So then I start over again, once more.

Comments

[Elizabeth B. Gage]

Purchasing reading material is one of the joys of life. I have a library of art books in my art room, quilting books and sewing books in my sewing room, and wonderful books of all sorts to read in every other room in the house. We were happy when our Preston home proved to have built-in bookshelves in all but one of the bedrooms - and five bookshelves of various sizes went into that room. About the problem of the table between your recliners - we solved that by getting each of us our own individual narrow table from Levengers, so that I can have my stacks, and Ron has his neatness. Works every time. I can put my cup on top of the latest catalog - not book - because I know there's a coaster somewhere underneath all that reading material. Happy reading!