What's It Like To Throw Away Books?

Since I'm moving, I'm up against the wall on the quantity of stuff I have. And something had to give. Meaning I needed to pare down drastically and quickly.

Over several days I was cleaning my basement and some of the other rooms of stuff. Most of my excess stuff, stuff that's not kept in more accessible rooms, was in the basement. My basement was like a thicket or swamp of stuff. Crazy thick.

In all that time I managed to sort out what became a little over ¾ a ton, over 1500 pounds of books, plus such an assortment of other things that it was literally over 3000 pounds besides the books. The over 3000 pounds worth of stuff I took to a recycling center nearby.

Today it was time to get rid of the books. I was trying to sell them in the want ads but no one called. I took a couple carloads to a thrift store, a carload and three more boxes to a book sale coming up, then they were overwhelmed, so instead of messing around with the last remaining thrift store, I took them to the recycling center. The grand total poundage on the books that ended up at the center was 1060 pounds. I'm thinking the three carloads was at least 500 pounds, probably more like a thousand. Meaning it'd be literally a ton of books I got rid of today!

That's tough. I'm the kind of guy, had I seen the ad in the paper, I would've been right there to buy them ... at least that'd be the temptation. Now, though, I'm starting to live in a different way, where I think it'd be best for me to pare down and keep paring until I have barely anything. If at all possible.

So what's it like to throw books away? And to have them be shoved up among the other garbage, very unceremoniously, and to eventually go up the chute and be spat off into the recycled paper bin? It feels terrible. But I was running out of options, and I needed something now.

A Book About Pirates

I got a book about pirates tonight at Goodwill. 50 cents, I always think How could I go wrong?

It looks like one of those good historic books, called "Under The Black Flag," by David Cordingly.

The first chapter is called "Wooden Legs and Parrots." So, let's say I eventually read it, perhaps I'll learn that they didn't really have parrots. I hope not. Or I might learn that they loved parrots. Just like we imagine.

But it seems like it'd be bad to have a parrot sitting on your shoulder all day. I know other birds go to the bathroom a lot, and it seems like it'd be nasty to have too much poop on your chest, or, if its facing the other way, on your back.

Probably though a pirate had lots of other stuff to worry about, like getting caught.

The Call Of The Wild

I might get it done. I might read the book "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London.

It's been a long time. They told us to read this book in the summer between 6th and 7th grade. I never got it done. But I did start it a dozen times or more.

The subject's come up again lately, talking with some folks I know about books. So I went to the basement and got my copies of it (I have 2) and sat down and read the first five or six pages. I can see why I never got it accomplished as a kid. The language is a little tough, the phrasing, and even now as an adult, I've come across a couple of things that I had to read a few times to get.

I might accomplish it. I looked and it's not even 100 pages. That shouldn't be so bad even if I don't care for it. And it would be nice to finally finish it, then Google my seventh grade teacher (I can't remember which one it was though) and let her know I'm finally ready for the discussion.

The thing about this is they told us we'd be responsible for it, that when we got to 7th grade we'd be doing something with it. So I had anxiety and fretted about it all that summer, still never getting it read. Then when I got to 7th grade there wasn't one single mention of the book. The subject never came up again! So for me, all that worry for nothing!

A Quick Waking Dream

While I was watching a movie a little while ago, there was about 15 seconds where I felt like I was having a waking dream.

I don't think I closed my eyes, but my mind sort of drifted in a real strange way, and I was suddenly thinking of a scene from a book I read once.

I mentioned it to someone sitting there ... which of course sounded odd.

I read an old book one time a couple years ago, "Agent Nine Solves His First Case," or a title very similar to that. In the book he's followed by thugs in big cars and is threatened by them, chasing him, or something. For these few seconds, that whole thing was foremost in my mind. Then I must've cleared it out, because it all passed.

It might be kind of like that little bit of confusion just before you fall asleep. Except I was in a chair watching a movie. Why I was suddenly thinking of that book, I don't know.

My Next Corelli Book

I'm on a Marie Corelli reading jag. I've finished two books and started a third.

This one is called "The Soul of Lilith." I'm only up around page 50 so I don't know exactly where it's going to go. But it's pretty interesting so far.

There's a mysterious guy, seems like he's something of a hypnotist, searching out the secrets of life and existence. So far he's searching them out by questioning a young woman he has asleep in a room. He has her drugged or something. She doesn't open her eyes, but she responds to questions he gives her.

She's denying that there's such a thing as death. He seems to think she's wrong. I'm hoping it stays good. This book is from the late 1800s sometime.

I'm Reading!

Hey. I'm reading these days. Actual books.

It's a good feeling to be back into it. I'm reading "The Prisoner of Zenda" now. I was looking for a different book in my basement and found an old hardback copy of this classic novel, so I'm into it.

I also have it in a paperback that includes the sequel. So I might switch over and look at that when I'm done with this one.

I've noticed some changes in spellings between the text of the old hardback and the newer paperback. "Coutesied" is "curtsied." And there's some others. And I only checked one or two pages. So I wonder what that's all about.

The Book I'm Reading

I've been reading a book. I mentioned it once already. It's called "A Romance of Two Worlds," by Marie Corelli. It's from around 1887.

I'm virtually done. Into the last few chapters. It's been enjoyable, more enjoyable than most books from the 1880s would be, thanks to the more mystical, magical, strange spirituality of it.

But I haven't been able to read any of it today yet, thanks to other duties. So I'd love to finish it off, like maybe tomorrow. It has a lot of socializing and entertaining in it, with the social customs of a bygone era. That's not terribly jarring. But it does make you remember it's an old book.

I'm right at some kind of climax chapter, I'm thinking. But I needed to put it down before I got to the whole thing. There's a storm. Intense lightning. And lightning -- or electricity -- are the key ingredient in the main man's whole spiritual revelation. There's something foreboding for him personally. And there's apparently something terrible about to happen to his sister. She's spoken of her death several times. Oooooo.

I've got my fingers crossed. Heh heh. Whatever happened to the sister happened in 1887, so whatever I'm hoping for, which I'm not really, has already been predetermined.

The book has some funky things in it, like what I wrote about before, that the moon isn't really there, that the sun was a planet, etc. But it's still interesting and compelling. It's compelling me to finish it, which is something!

Figuring Out The Kindle

As far as I'm concerned, the Kindle isn't all that intuitive. But thanks to the internet, I've been able to get most of my questions answered.

We have one in the family. It's not mine. And it's being put to good use.

But I wanted to know how to send documents to it. I had a little trouble when they didn't seem to be showing up. But a little bit of help, and we were back on track.

The Kindle is a nice thing. I don't know that it'll stand the test of time, though. Then what will you do with all the books you purchased when you can't access them.

I have plenty of books on my shelf that are around 100 years old. Will the Kindle still be chugging away 100 years from now?

Bought A Book At An Antique Store

I went to an antique store today where there was no one on duty. We were there, browsing and I found a book I wanted.

There was a back room, a big one, with a door open out the back. There seemed to be a complex back there. Who knows?

Way, way back somewhere I could hear some clunking around. So I gave it one holler ... and no one answered.

We went back up front. (The back door had a sign on it, something to the effect of if you want to see back here, ask the guy.)

No one ever came. And I didn't have exact change. So I wrote the fact that I bought a book and the item number on a card and left $5. (The book was marked $4.00).

Anyway, there's a first time for everything. A self-serve antique store!

The Lost Symbol

Well, friends, how's this? I, who am literate (let me tell that to you right up front), but hardly ever get a book all the way read, did indeed start and actually finish a book.

It was the popular book "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown. There's something else startling about this. I hardly ever buy a new book, since I inhabit thrift stores, garage sales, and used book sales (when there's one around).

But I got started. Then as I became familiar with the whole thing I was able to buzz through faster and faster.

I hate to describe anything about it, because I'd hate to ruin anything for anyone reading it currently or about to. There was one thing about it that I didn't find all that compelling (or as big a threat was it seemed to present in the book), but that's just me. I think the public could easily handle it.

I liked it. And because I have a problem finishing books, this is a gold star moment for me. Like back in 4th grade.

The Lost Symbol

I got the book by Dan Brown.

It's a little unusual for me. I don't usually buy books like this. But I decided to go for it.

I heard "The DaVinci Code" read on CD. This time I decided to give my ears a rest and use my eyes.

So we'll see how that goes. I'm up around chapter 4. It's supposed to be a page turner. So I'm hoping pretty soon I'll be reading a lot faster than I have been.

One thing I'm looking for when I read these days is where to put commas and other punctuation. Commas is my main concern, since I'm always writing these little blog entries and wondering if I'm getting the commas in the right places.

I think I'm doing better.

Went To Harry Potter

I went to the new Harry Potter movie the other day.

I liked it even though I don't know all the ins and outs of Harry Potter. I haven't read any of the books, but I've seen all the movies ... once.

Since then I've had someone who's completely in the know explain to me some of the details, which makes it make better sense, including what relation Snape has in all this, whether he's a good guy or bad guy.

By the way, I love seeing Snape on the screen. That's a completely great looking guy, not just for the part but in general.

And Dumbledore. What a fantastic beard, and I love the beard cincher. I don't have a beard but if I did I'd want one to the max. Nothing small and trim, nothing like a Van Dyke like we used to see in movie magazines. But one that made ZZ Top look essentially clean shaven. I would want a beard like Dumbledore. That'd do something for your personality.

Things I'm not sure about, what made Tom Riddle so out and out evil and so out and out powerful. It seems like the wizards along the way would've kept him in check a little better. And why Snape being the Half-Blood Prince was a big deal. He says, "I'm the Half Blood Prince," and that's it.

As far as his book, the potions textbook with all the added notes, that's the kind of book to get ahold of! Ever since I've been thinking of my own private library stash (heh heh) having all kinds of hidden meanings and things that only the most astute reader (experimenter) could discern and note. It's all a daydream.

Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels

I got an interesting book today at the thrift store, "A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits." It's written by Carol K. Mack and Dinah Mack. Published by Owl Books, 1999.

It's all about the various devils, demons and fairies worldwide. Lots of interesting line drawings of them.

Just glancing through it looks like two or three pages per being. 296 pages.

The Lady Of The Lake

On one of my blogs a month or so ago, I said that I was reading "The Lady of the Lake" by Sir Walter Scott, not to be confused with "The Lady of the Lake" in the King Arthur lore or the cute lady by the lake that I saw walking today.

I wanted to announce it -- as a matter of great pride, frankly -- that I managed to get the entire thing read. I know how to read, one. OK? I do know how. But I don't do that much reading, at least historically. I've been very faithful to read the first five pages of practically everything, and if it weren't for me, most bookmark companies would be out of business by now.

Be all that as it may, I did -- I repeat, I did manage to get this entire work by Walt Scott read.

At first I looked it up on Wikipedia to get my bearings. But after that, I was able to figure it out OK, for the most part. Some of the geographical references didn't mean much to me, and some of the poetic language is obscure, but I kept at it. There was two or three weeks in there when I wasn't keeping up with it. But then one day I decided, I'm up to the 5th Canto (out of 6), why not just give it a couple days of serious slogging and see what might happen?

So ... a big gold star for me. Seriously, I might go to Walmart, get myself some poster board and a container of gold stars, and do some serious reading. It was very motivational for me as a kid in Sunday School, memorizing verses and getting a gold star; now that I'm an adult and can afford all the gold stars I want, I could award myself multiple gold stars for things that are fairly difficult, like this "Lady of the Lake" work. It's surely a 10 star piece. Or six at the very least, one for each canto.

It was good, too. Some places were rough going, but for the most part, I give it from four to six stars, maybe up to 10.

My memory isn't that great. But it starts off with this guy separated from his mates. He's out on the hunt and ends up in what seems like a mystical fairyland. That's the impression you get at first. There's a woman, whose father turns out to be a guy banished from a particular realm. There's an old soothsayer kind of guy, who foretells things and interprets the signs of the times, etc. There's competing Scottish clans, heroes, battles, people in disguise, etc.

It's definitely worth reading. But you need to do what I did, look it up on Wiki first and get your bearings.

Writing Books

I wonder how to write books. Like let's say you wanted to write about 500 books in the next year. How would you go about doing it?

It would depend what they were about. But just doing research and saying something authoritative, you couldn't write 500 books from scratch in a year. I heard of some guy on Amazon who has written 200,000 books, I think it was. But obviously he didn't sit down and write 200,000 books. He had some kind of aggregator program that took information and churned out that many whatevers.

I suppose I could write 365 books of free form/crap poetry in a year. If it doesn't make any difference what it is, you could just sit here like this, blah blah blah. Then sell it on the internet, if there's anybody dumb enough to buy it. And there probably is.

Every once in a while I hear of some romance author who has written 300 or 400 published books, those crap romance novels that you see. I see them at garage sales and they're the cockroaches of books. Matching covers, all that. They look like junk at 50 paces. But someone buys them ... and obviously the people putting them out make a living off it.

I don't know if I could write a romance novel. It would definitely pay to read a few first to get down the basic pattern. But what would it be? Girl goes to college, meets a guy. He's involved with someone else, but circumstance keep throwing them together. There's conflict between her and the other girl. Then the second girl's family, a band of vigilante hillbillies on a Jethro truck rides into town and shoots the first girl. So the guy and the second girl live happily ever after. Sounds about right.

Packing Books

I'm going out of town for a couple days, to visit family.

I usually have the habit of packing about 15 books in a briefcase, to give myself a wide variety of stuff to read from when I'm away. But this time I'm thinking to limit myself to two or three. One will be my volume of poetry by Sir Walter Scott. I'm still working on it, but very very slowly, since I have lots of other tasks to accomplish.

If I limit myself like that I'll be more focused and not just picking here and there.

Lately I've been of the mind to thin down my collection considerably. Maybe I'm not of that mind totally or as much now, but the thought is still there. Why do I need so many shelves of books? OK, I can think of several reasons, but the reasons are starting to give way to ... actual reason.

If I didn't have them I'd survive just fine!

Donated Some Books

I have it firmly in mind, probably because of spring, that I need to do some downsizing. I wrote about my clutter a few days ago and someone actually commented, telling me they would sell it for me. I don't want to do that.

Today I looked at it again and it was all still there. Plus, there's a place going to have a book sale for a worthy cause, coming up. So I loaded up three empty boxes and hauled them over. Must have been a couple hundred pounds. I'm never going to get to these books anyway. And some of them were even books I bought at the same book sale last year. Still in the box.

It looks good to see the empty space. But I still have lots more to get rid of. There were some in those areas that I spared. Including an old Boy Scout manual. In case I need to learn how to do a knot, which I don't know many of. Also a falling apart paperback called "The Hoods" by Harry Grey. Looks like one of those good old pulp novels from the '50s.

Downsizing is going to be nice ... as long as spring cleaning fever holds out.

How To Stop Accumulating Books

One of the wikiHow "How to do it" things of the day was "How to Stop Accumulating Books."

This is a subject of great interest to me, since I'm about buried in books and compact discs (not literally). I have a bunch and keep accumulating more, especially CDs. But this is about books.

I read through it earlier this morning so I'll have to review it ...

OK, here's a sentence from it: "You're a book hoarder. How do you stop the insanity?"

Some of the steps include:

1. Cull your existing collection. - This has to do with giving your books to the library, to charity, or book lovers. That's a good idea. Except I don't suppose the library wants people's books, especially, since they want to order what they want. If I gave my books and then saw them sitting on their dime table the next day, that would be offensive. Philanthropists deserve better.

2. Sell your books. They suggest Amazon and Half.com. Of course there's eBay. But that's a lot of work, I mean a lot of work. Then you have dissatisfied customers. There's all the work of grading everything, describing it. I'd rather see it on the library's table, except for the potential money you could make.

Skip to 4. Make a rule that you will read X number of books before buying another one. Wow, if I had that kind of restraint I wouldn't be buried in books. Plus, that one is only really relevant when you're buying new books for $24.95 apiece. Then you want to read it through, or at least not buy as many. But when you get them at thrift stores for 50 cents or a book sale for a dime or a garage sale for a dime for the box, you don't always have the luxury of waiting till you've read X number of books. The time to get them is now.

Skip to 8. Use the library. Check out books there. Yeah, please. The library's selection is worse than my own, at least for topics that I'm interested in. They generalize, they have a lot of crap ... I mean a lot of crap. Of course the library where you live might be a huge library or a university library, in which case the crap/non-crap ratio is different.

Here's some advice from the article:

If you are a person who likes to pen notes directly in a book, you might find it hard to find people who will buy or take a book that has been written in. Three things you can do: learn to make notes elsewhere so you can reference them without the book, jot things down on mini post-it notes and stick them in the pages, or just limit what books you write in and keep them. One thing you can do is scan the page and write your note on that and keep it in a file. Yes, there are laws against this, but only if you copy the entire book. Copying a page here and there isn't an issue especially if it is for personal use. There is nothing wrong with the practice of writing in a book so long as you understand that others will not want it afterward.

Very bad idea. If you're getting rid of the book, you don't really care if anyone wants it or not. For instance, if you're giving it to the library or to a book sale. Yes, if you're trying to sell it on Amazon you want it to be in as nice a condition as possible. But there's no way in this life or any life to come that I'm going to be copying pages of books and putting the copies in files and then getting rid of the book. If it's that important to you, keep the book.

Anyway, it's not really true that if you write in a book no one will want it afterward. I have lots of books that people have written in, and some of the margin notes are fun to read. I have a really old copy of some of Emerson's essays and I like seeing the things that the owner from 100 years ago circled and marked and made notes about. I have a book somewhere by Teilhard de Chardin, a cheap paperback, where someone had a strenuous knock down drag out debate with Teilhard that he never had to see. That's kind of fun.

Will I stop accumulating books? I think I've already slowed down in recent years. I'm pickier. But I do have lots of books that I don't really need or want, and when spring gets here, some of them will definitely be going somewhere. One good sign of a book you don't especially need is if it's in the basement in a box or plastic tote.

The Sedona Method

I never heard of the Sedona Method till today. I was at a thrift store looking at the books and saw this book, "The Sedona Method," and glanced to see what it was. It might have had to do with knitting, cooking, exercise, I didn't know.

But it is subtitled, "Your Key to Lasting Happiness, Success, Peace and Emotional Well-being." What we each want, really. The categories on the back cover, top, are Self-Help and Spirituality. So that's appealing.

It's by a guy named Hale Dwoskin, no one I've ever heard of. But it has Jack Canfield's name at the top, and it seems like Jack's name is on every third book I see. An exaggeration there. He's the Chicken Soup guy and apparently a Book Blurb Guy About Town. Debbie Ford has a blurb on the back ... I think she's an up and coming Book Blurb Person, too. You get some of these Book Blurb people on your book and you've got a hit.

I've only glanced through the book less than five minutes. But it looks like the Sedona Method has to do with releasing some of your hold on emotions and seeking the approval of people. I saw one little bit about holding on and letting go. I'm a holder, that's for sure. So maybe if I can, I'll try to give this book a chance.

Gargantua

I should be thinning down on possessions -- books -- but I'm still fattening up. Anyway, life goes on...

I got a couple books today at the library, off the close-out, discard table. I was looking at the table a couple days ago and this book about Gargantua wasn't there then. So it's a newbie to the discards!

The book is called Gargantua -- Circus Star of the Century, by Gene Plowden, published by Bonanza Books, 1972, hardback, a slender book at 96 pages.

According to the blurb, once upon a time, Gargantua was a household name throughout the country. Millions paid admission to see "this ugliest member of the ape family ever seen outside the jungles of Africa." From chapter one: He was "The mightiest monster ever captured by man."

The book is a biography of sorts and tells of Gargantua's handling and his career with the circus. I've only been looking at the pictures and reading a few snippets here and there. And there are lots of pictures.

There's a few pages in color. First is a circus poster from Dec. 1937 that shows an African warrior in Gargantua's clutches. Second, Gargantua with M'Toto (another gorilla) who were "married" in Feb. 1941, then billed as Mr. and Mrs. Gargantua. Third, a rather touching Christmas sentiment, with Mr. and Mrs. Gargantua framed inside a wreath, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, in 1941. Fourth, a general publicity poster of the gorilla couple, with Mrs. Gargantua holding a "Buy War Bonds" sign. (The illustration on this blog posting is from the Google somewhere, not a graphic in the book.)

Getting toward the end, there's two pages that show the front pages of newspaper from the time when Gargantua died. The Miami Herald from Nov. 26, 1949, has him on the front page, and headlines it that he was "happy" to the end, dying "With A Snarl On His Face." The other page is from the Miami Daily News, Nov. 25, with a big black headline, "GARGANTUA DIES" and a picture of him in his cage. This news article beat other news that day in significance, including "Mad Dog Killer Loses Last Plea," with a federal district judge refusing to intervene in the scheduled execution of James Morelli, "mad dog" killer.

Page 94, the last picture page, has Gargantua's stripped-down skeleton hung on a wooden frame, with a guy assembling it for putting it on display.