tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post3735041944899488006..comments2023-11-03T11:32:01.540+00:00Comments on Thought Experiments : The Blog: Books and BookmenBryan Appleyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08276787058430388582noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-49199747453853590422007-07-14T15:45:00.000+00:002007-07-14T15:45:00.000+00:00Ah yes Duck, books forgotten... Me I forget almost...Ah yes Duck, books forgotten... Me I forget almost everything I read these days, and yet it still seems worth it (if the book's good, that is) - I have to assume something's lodged there beyond the immediate reach of memory. There's a hilarious 'book' by Nicholson Baker, U And I, which purports to be his tribute to his literary mentor, John Updike. Baker lays his cards on the table right at the Nigehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13314891387515045404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-50781317554199225432007-07-14T14:49:00.000+00:002007-07-14T14:49:00.000+00:00What's even more maddening than books never read i...What's even more maddening than books never read is books read and then forgotten. Or misremembered. <BR/><BR/>I've narrowed my mania by only collecting non-fiction books. No writer since Shakespeare has been able to equal the strange and paradoxical beauty of reality in fictional form.Duckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08852569465893563139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-65747843189279923332007-07-13T20:05:00.000+00:002007-07-13T20:05:00.000+00:00Internet Ronin wrote: I'm not up to details at the...<I>Internet Ronin wrote: I'm not up to details at the moment, so the shelves bulge, sag, and on occasion, collapse.</I><BR/><BR/>For god's sake, man, firm action is needed! Been there done that with the bulgy, saggy stuff and the dreaming of Ebay. Confine yourself to keeping no more than a couple of hundred and be resolute in disposing of the rest. You will suffer some sleepless nights, painful Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06074816573442173758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-75101650733597687382007-07-13T18:24:00.000+00:002007-07-13T18:24:00.000+00:00There are a number of references in the postings t...There are a number of references in the postings to 'culling'. It sounds, well, so brutal, so final. Once the big chopper has fallen, there's no way back. What if that despatched former favourite eventually becomes a classic, but then goes out of print, where will you turn ? No, stick in there - build more bookcases. I have several. When my wife asks me "How many have you read (books, not John Halliwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12901514854360709519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-6843763049105226332007-07-13T17:47:00.000+00:002007-07-13T17:47:00.000+00:00Admittedly, I was an odd child who began reading t...Admittedly, I was an odd child who began reading the family World Book Encyclopedia for pleasure at about age 7. So it came as no great surprise that, while in college, I amassed a largish collection of some 200 volumes on East Asia (one of my majors).<BR/><BR/>While they did make for an impressive bookcase, a few years after graduation, I realized that I wasn't about to write a scholarly Randyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03071928294799081845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-86917980623615256442007-07-13T17:46:00.000+00:002007-07-13T17:46:00.000+00:00I must read "Three Men in a Boat" -- it shows up (...I must read "Three Men in a Boat" -- it shows up (as does Jerome) in Tom Stoppard's "The Invention of Love," one of my favorite plays.<BR/><BR/>As for book-purging, I need to do it chez nous. I've got thousands and, really, most of 'em are just dust-catchers. On the other hand, some I need to keep for research purposes (wisht I bought all those in hardback, but mostly didn't).<BR/><BR/>As ThoreauAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-49133773152837083602007-07-13T15:18:00.000+00:002007-07-13T15:18:00.000+00:00Jerome is a good example. It's all about plausibil...Jerome is a good example. It's all about plausibility. speciousness, that's the real art of writing.Ian russellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11106519805045337505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-27367710838082887442007-07-13T14:55:00.000+00:002007-07-13T14:55:00.000+00:00Ian, I'm sympathetic to Neil's point. You and I ap...Ian, I'm sympathetic to Neil's point. You and I appear to share a love of 'Three Men In A Boat'. What better example of that mixture of fact and imagination as Jerome takes us through the joys and miseries of negotiating the Thames in the late 19th century, regularly interrupting the journey, without warning, by launching his unfettered imagination into a glorious fantasy world, and then, John Halliwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12901514854360709519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-75877713135422371122007-07-13T14:00:00.000+00:002007-07-13T14:00:00.000+00:00Ian, books of fiction should be as factual as poss...Ian, books of fiction should be as factual as possible and factual books as close to fiction as possible.Neil Forsythhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00240393170374161007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-88526962504527160342007-07-13T13:13:00.000+00:002007-07-13T13:13:00.000+00:00an interesting perspective, dave lull. it reminds ...an interesting perspective, dave lull. it reminds me of the dichotomy about cleaning out the attic: is a storage space more useful empty than full?<BR/><BR/>which brings me to ponder the issue as to whether it is the collection of knowledge that is not worth the time and effort. It is a fact that facts hinder imagination. and it is imagination which got us thus far, not facts. (okay, by now we Ian russellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11106519805045337505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-87300245534631452092007-07-13T12:14:00.000+00:002007-07-13T12:14:00.000+00:00Except for the wife and kids part, you have me mor...Except for the wife and kids part, you have me more or less pegged, Elberry. And if it isn't the books she's complaining about it's the feckin goat. What is it with women? If she doesn't leave me alone, I'll trade the children for another goat.Neil Forsythhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00240393170374161007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-11126315479017668622007-07-13T12:11:00.000+00:002007-07-13T12:11:00.000+00:00In my never-ending quest to be humble I might neve...In my never-ending quest to be humble I might never get rid of another book: <A HREF="http://petrona.typepad.com/petrona/2007/07/dave-asks-about.html#comment-75650016" REL="nofollow">The Antilibrary.</A>Dave Lullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01053227199985293516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-74111159609440986112007-07-13T11:33:00.000+00:002007-07-13T11:33:00.000+00:00I see from Wikimeejig that "bibliophily, is the le...I see from Wikimeejig that "bibliophily, is the legitimate love of books... is not considered a clinical psychological disorder."<BR/>Which presumably infers that bibliomania is the illegitimate love of books. Someday, no doubt, a tabloid front page will tastefully declaim, "I am the bastard offspring of one man & his books." Though not in so many words.<BR/>Biblioquiniophagus: Short-sighted Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11708539533684206357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-34767293141784157672007-07-13T11:24:00.000+00:002007-07-13T11:24:00.000+00:00Neil, the thought of you have not only a wife but ...Neil, the thought of you have not only a wife but children too scares the hell out of me. i imagined you living in a cave somewhere under a volcano, clad wholly in briars & human remains, perhaps accompanied by a goat or wyvern. Next you'll turn out to have a job and a car.<BR/><BR/>It should be disappointing, but instead it's terrifying.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-41722472812418923052007-07-13T10:57:00.000+00:002007-07-13T10:57:00.000+00:00So many books now aren't made to last - paper yell...So many books now aren't made to last - paper yellows, cover fades, binding cracks in about five years, though those from US publishers are much better made ime. The essentially throw-away production values of the modern book made it easier for me to dispose of nine-tenths of my own collection. Even so, it took several years. Not for everyone, but too many books can get you stuck in life just as Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06074816573442173758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-16325460870683243362007-07-13T10:55:00.000+00:002007-07-13T10:55:00.000+00:00Much of it is self-projection, I agree. They procl...Much of it is self-projection, I agree. They proclaim to the world: this is who I am. Aren't I a clever chap? However, I also find my books comforting to have around me - I can't suck my thumb anymore, drink or take drugs, so I read and smoke cigarettes to help me cope with life. They are also like a record of my life, as I remember when and where I bought most of them. And I don't want to edit Neil Forsythhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00240393170374161007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-20299463513685512122007-07-13T10:54:00.000+00:002007-07-13T10:54:00.000+00:00The same goes for records really. At college, a st...The same goes for records really. At college, a student was fixing up his spare room to house his collection. He boasted he owned over 5000 albums! How could anyone even listen to 5000 albums?! His argument was they're there if he needed to hear them not that he intended to ever listen to most of them again. <BR/><BR/>I read that John Peel had millions of the things which he'd bung in his shed - Ian russellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11106519805045337505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-20272969596664048502007-07-13T10:40:00.000+00:002007-07-13T10:40:00.000+00:00i had a severe asthma attack when trying to move o...i had a severe asthma attack when trying to move out of my last flat, and threw about 200 books in the bins, or rather ordered/wheezed at my henchman to do so. It's very liberating even if it feels wrong.<BR/><BR/>Modern books tend to be shit. i try and buy 2nd hand books from the old days. i found two George Steiners for about 50p each, hardback, ex-library copies from the 70s in good condition.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-17472304657598757182007-07-13T10:15:00.000+00:002007-07-13T10:15:00.000+00:00...a bit like public libraries - for capitalists. ......a bit like public libraries - for capitalists. ;o)<BR/><BR/>It's not just books. Those damnable magazine subscriptions! there are only a finite number of GP surgeries, veterinarian waiting rooms and barbers shops on the planet and space is fast running out. Who reads Reader's Digest anyway and, once secondhand, isn't it Reader's Regurgitation?<BR/><BR/>I hear The Economist is going audio whichIan russellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11106519805045337505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-6386306794918613972007-07-13T10:01:00.000+00:002007-07-13T10:01:00.000+00:00I've found a great way of recycling books for my p...I've found a great way of recycling books for my pleasure. Barter Books, in the old Alnwick station building takes them from you, gives you a fair price, whch you can then use to 'buy' books from their, what seem like, miles of shelves. Of course living near Alnwick helps.Richard Havershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15309594787689405779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-40454759643797712302007-07-13T09:58:00.000+00:002007-07-13T09:58:00.000+00:00"...representing things we would read if we were r..."...representing things we would read if we were really the person we like to pretend we might be."<BR/><BR/>That's why I've never bought any Salman Rushdie.Richard Havershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15309594787689405779noreply@blogger.com