Defining Oneself By The Books
24 Aug 2005, 9:46:35 am
2 Comments
Sam Allis of the Boston Globe took one morning to cast books from his shelves, littering the scene like corpses.
Because it's time. I no longer want to define myself by my books. (Just how I want to define myself remains unclear.) I've always held that books reveal great mysteries about a person. You can discern the shapes of their minds. You can glimpse their tastes and passions. So what was I doing? Refining or obscuring?
I suppose, like any collection, the items are kept because they remind the owner who they are: Shelves full of Green Bay Packers paraphrenalia remind a person of their religious affiliation, shoeboxes of shells show a person where they've been. Books, uniquely, contain knowledge -- ideas that really do shape who a person is.
I'd suggest to my wife tossing out all but the most defining books, but...well...nothing good will come of it. While I have numerous books in boxes in the basement (mostly technical references), none of my wife's books are allowed to be boxed up -- they can't breathe in there! is the reasoning. Like a treasured pet, my wife treats her books with the utmost dignity, never to be banished to remote parts of the house nor tossed away without proper circumstances.
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User Comments
 Your comment about Packer fans showing their religious affiliation with paraphrenalia is HILARIOUS!!! Posted by ann-marie, 04/08/2008 19:47:00 |
