Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Drowning in books

The cartoon in this earlier post sums up how I feel at the moment.  I have to be careful that I don't do anything drastic like purge any book that won't fit on a shelf.

I think or at least strongly hope that I have unpacked the last of the art books.  Those go upstairs, which was a bit of a relief, though I think with this last batch, I will have totally filled up the bookcases in the living room.  However, at the back of my mind, I am thinking I have at least one more book on De Chirico...

Any book on transportation, planning, suburban sprawl and even environmental justice goes onto my bookcase at work.  While it is a total pain hauling them to work on the streetcar, it is great getting them out of the house.  I'll probably be done with these in another week or so, which will free up some more room.

Still, I just don't see how everything that used to fit on the shelves will go there now.  I guess I have to remember that I had 6 or 7 boxes of overflow books even then, and I've probably added about a half box since coming to Toronto (but how could I pass up the complete Greek tragedies, I ask you?).  So some triage is called for.  I think I will take all the marginal books that I know I won't read for another year, box them up and stick them under the printer (as before).  The books on the TBR pile that I expect are read once and then donate will go on a brand new bookcase to be bought next week.  And then I'll see if I can get the rest of the books on the main shelves.  I'm definitely going to have to go through another round of selling off CDs and DVDs.  Hopefully, I can get at least a little something something for them in Toronto.  I wasn't able to get much in Vancouver, often just ending up with trade credit.  (It is a shame that it costs so much to mail to the U.S., as it really rules out eBay and even selling through Amazon.)

The good news is that I did manage to find the modernism in the Pacific Northwest book, so I think I can wrap up the post on the Seattle Art Museum exhibit tonight or tomorrow.  What I am still looking for is a notebook or series of notebooks with two short stories written out in longhand (one nearly done and the other mostly an outline).  I am slowly retraining myself to spend less time on the internet, and it is time to start back on the creative writing.  I was able to retrieve the last versions of my novel in progress and my plays (thankfully I wasn't keeping the only copy on that damaged hard drive), but I want to start with some short stories as a way of easing myself back in.  Hopefully it will be an easy win that will lead me to revise the plays and start in on a new chapter.  That's the plan anyway, though I think I need to clear out a few more boxes to make this a space a bit more conducive to creative work.

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