The Book Blitz
01/04/2019 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaIt was just over 4 weeks ago when I attended an antiques auction on a mission to rescue some of Petunia’s precious possessions which miserable grinch Vernon Dursley was too mean to even offer to any of his offspring.
He acts as if all material acquisitions were due solely to his extraordinary work ethic when truth be told, if not for Petunia he would have long ago lost the fruits of his 8 day weeks and 25 hour days on hare brained get rich quick schemes.
So the attitude was “It’s now all MINE to do whatever I want with it” with no regard whatsoever for any of Petunia’s wishes. If she had not specifically stated that we could have one china service each, we would have ended up with absolutely nothing at all except bric a brac and the contents of the pantry.
I suspected lots of her furniture would go at fire sale prices, I just had no idea that they would be so ridiculously low that even I could afford to buy several pieces.
One of these was a magnificent mahogany side board that used to take pride of place in the dining room of Number 4 Privet Drive. She used to sit at the table in front of it when eating her meals so more than anything (except maybe her cast iron pots and cauldrons) this was the thing I most associated with her.
But there was a slight problem. There was only one room in the house suitable for such a masterpiece on account of both size and accessibility. And that room was unofficially the library and there were book shelves right in the very spot where the new piece of furniture would be going when it arrived on Friday 8th March.
So after all those years of planning to sort out and do something with the Serpent Library, here I was with a deadline of less than one week.
So lots of books got put in boxes and I then dragged the empty book cases upstairs, one for each room except the bathroom.
I also took this opportunity to clear off the writing desk in the library since I would be using it in future for sipping cups of tea out of bone china tea cups and nibbling cucumber sandwiches and cakes on porcelain plates.
For now that Petunia was moving in, I would need to make the room worthy of her presence. Of course the family photo albums would go back into the very same bottom right drawer they had been taken out of and the other drawers would be used for storing Christmas decorations and other family memorabilia just like in its last life.
So in the process of moving piles of books from one place to the next, I realised that it was finally time to get back to the Mari Kondo cleaning blitz. I had great success with clothes, shoes, bags, hats and other accessories but baulked at the next step.
The book blitz. For while Marie Kondo herself is a total minimalist and culled her collection down to less than 20, there is no way I could be so cruel to my precious babies. But I had to face facts. Book shelves breed like elephants while books breed like rabbits and at some point I would have to call a halt to the collection.
Then of course there is the whole guilt thing attached to hoarding. Books like money need to be out and about in the world circulating to do the greatest good instead of hiding in corners gathering dust.
So I finally started sorting the stash. In theory there are supposed to be 4 piles
The first for very precious special books of sentimental value, the next for books containing useful information. Then there are the books that I will get around to reading one day or have already read but loved so much that I don’t want to part with them but not sufficiently so to get them in the precious pile and then the last are the stash that need to go
I decided to part with them in the same way I acquired them, bit by bit.
At some stage there will be a stash that I can bring to the charity shops but there are others that would not sell but still have a bit of life left in them and not quite ready for the recycling bin.
So I have had the inspired idea of leaving them lying around at bus stops or donating them to the local “little libraries” dotted around the suburbs where people bring a book and take a book.
Even the two cemetery cafes have shelves and shelves of books. They are supposed to be ‘bring a book, take a book’ book exchanges too but just on a much bigger scale than the little wooden houses
I started sending serpent books on their way some 3 weeks ago but have decided that April is the perfect month to do a proper sorting, have a big box with books ready to go and to make sure that at least one leaves the house every single day
Some of the goblin porn that has no use whatsoever such as the 2013 tax code will end up either in the recycling bin along with its cousins the old fashioned phone directories or maybe I could find some way of making a WALL with them in the garden.
So far, all my books on Donald, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and of course Vladimir Putin are still sitting smugly on the book shelves knowing that they are quite safe for the moment. They have to compete with Michael Woolfe, Brian Klaas and Bob Woodward borrowed from the library.
Doing voluntary work as a shelver in the library and also doing the books section in two different charity shops has made me realize that it is safe to let a lot of books go out into the big bad world because if I ever want to read them again, they are easily found.
Those that I have never seen in book stores or libraries will get their death sentences commuted to life.
I knew once I hit 50 that I had more time behind than ahead of me and so I should start lightening up, letting go and downsizing. I had been putting it off all those years but now that Petunia is gone and I am next in line, the impermanence of possessions is becoming more real and how having too much stuff just weighs you down and gets in the way of life
I have been taking pictures of some of the books as I send them on their new adventures out into the big bad world. At some stage I should also put little messages or notes in them for the new owners to find.
Even with the decision to slowly and steadily diminish the collection of books, I would still need another 3 life times to read all the books that I do have left
Petunia would be so proud of me for finally seeing the light.
He acts as if all material acquisitions were due solely to his extraordinary work ethic when truth be told, if not for Petunia he would have long ago lost the fruits of his 8 day weeks and 25 hour days on hare brained get rich quick schemes.
So the attitude was “It’s now all MINE to do whatever I want with it” with no regard whatsoever for any of Petunia’s wishes. If she had not specifically stated that we could have one china service each, we would have ended up with absolutely nothing at all except bric a brac and the contents of the pantry.
I suspected lots of her furniture would go at fire sale prices, I just had no idea that they would be so ridiculously low that even I could afford to buy several pieces.
One of these was a magnificent mahogany side board that used to take pride of place in the dining room of Number 4 Privet Drive. She used to sit at the table in front of it when eating her meals so more than anything (except maybe her cast iron pots and cauldrons) this was the thing I most associated with her.
But there was a slight problem. There was only one room in the house suitable for such a masterpiece on account of both size and accessibility. And that room was unofficially the library and there were book shelves right in the very spot where the new piece of furniture would be going when it arrived on Friday 8th March.
So after all those years of planning to sort out and do something with the Serpent Library, here I was with a deadline of less than one week.
So lots of books got put in boxes and I then dragged the empty book cases upstairs, one for each room except the bathroom.
I also took this opportunity to clear off the writing desk in the library since I would be using it in future for sipping cups of tea out of bone china tea cups and nibbling cucumber sandwiches and cakes on porcelain plates.
For now that Petunia was moving in, I would need to make the room worthy of her presence. Of course the family photo albums would go back into the very same bottom right drawer they had been taken out of and the other drawers would be used for storing Christmas decorations and other family memorabilia just like in its last life.
So in the process of moving piles of books from one place to the next, I realised that it was finally time to get back to the Mari Kondo cleaning blitz. I had great success with clothes, shoes, bags, hats and other accessories but baulked at the next step.
The book blitz. For while Marie Kondo herself is a total minimalist and culled her collection down to less than 20, there is no way I could be so cruel to my precious babies. But I had to face facts. Book shelves breed like elephants while books breed like rabbits and at some point I would have to call a halt to the collection.
Then of course there is the whole guilt thing attached to hoarding. Books like money need to be out and about in the world circulating to do the greatest good instead of hiding in corners gathering dust.
So I finally started sorting the stash. In theory there are supposed to be 4 piles
The first for very precious special books of sentimental value, the next for books containing useful information. Then there are the books that I will get around to reading one day or have already read but loved so much that I don’t want to part with them but not sufficiently so to get them in the precious pile and then the last are the stash that need to go
I decided to part with them in the same way I acquired them, bit by bit.
At some stage there will be a stash that I can bring to the charity shops but there are others that would not sell but still have a bit of life left in them and not quite ready for the recycling bin.
So I have had the inspired idea of leaving them lying around at bus stops or donating them to the local “little libraries” dotted around the suburbs where people bring a book and take a book.
Even the two cemetery cafes have shelves and shelves of books. They are supposed to be ‘bring a book, take a book’ book exchanges too but just on a much bigger scale than the little wooden houses
I started sending serpent books on their way some 3 weeks ago but have decided that April is the perfect month to do a proper sorting, have a big box with books ready to go and to make sure that at least one leaves the house every single day
Some of the goblin porn that has no use whatsoever such as the 2013 tax code will end up either in the recycling bin along with its cousins the old fashioned phone directories or maybe I could find some way of making a WALL with them in the garden.
So far, all my books on Donald, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and of course Vladimir Putin are still sitting smugly on the book shelves knowing that they are quite safe for the moment. They have to compete with Michael Woolfe, Brian Klaas and Bob Woodward borrowed from the library.
Doing voluntary work as a shelver in the library and also doing the books section in two different charity shops has made me realize that it is safe to let a lot of books go out into the big bad world because if I ever want to read them again, they are easily found.
Those that I have never seen in book stores or libraries will get their death sentences commuted to life.
I knew once I hit 50 that I had more time behind than ahead of me and so I should start lightening up, letting go and downsizing. I had been putting it off all those years but now that Petunia is gone and I am next in line, the impermanence of possessions is becoming more real and how having too much stuff just weighs you down and gets in the way of life
I have been taking pictures of some of the books as I send them on their new adventures out into the big bad world. At some stage I should also put little messages or notes in them for the new owners to find.
Even with the decision to slowly and steadily diminish the collection of books, I would still need another 3 life times to read all the books that I do have left
Petunia would be so proud of me for finally seeing the light.
