Desert Dust

Book Quote of the Day - 6/5/10

"One of the things that the violence-obsessed media coverage conceals is that nonviolence is and has always been integral to Palestinian resistance.  The word for it in Arabic is sumud - steadfastness.  When Israeli walls and roadblocks prevent people from moving, and yet children and old women, workers, students, mothers each day, every day, climb hills and mountains to get where they need to go, that is sumud.  When Israeli occupation forces uproot trees and farmers replant them, that is sumud.  When Israel uses every administrative and legalistic means to force Palestinian Jerusalemites to leave the city for good, but instead they stay, even if it means being painfully separated from family members in the West Bank, that is sumud.  Millions of Palestinians practice nonviolence every day, yet it is ignored by the media and by politicians and is totally invisible to the vast majority of Israelis."

From One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse by Ali Abunimah.

 

Let the Purging Begin

Since deciding to jumpstart my de-cluttering by tackling my overflow of reading material, I've determined that there is no easy place to begin.  Part of the difficulty lies with my desire to actually read most of it before purging it.  This presents a bit of a time management problem if I don't start with a well-thought-out plan. After sitting in the middle of the spare bedroom/library floor for several minutes, I've come up with the following:

1. Allow No More Books In.  This may seem obvious, but even though I've promised numerous loved ones that I won't spend any more money on books, I still regularly accept ARCs/galleys for review and have a bit of an obsession checking out books from the library. (I contend this last bit is not completely my fault because the Phoenix Public Library system is amazing!  As long as I have Internet access and they allow me to search their online catalog, place holds for up to 3 books at a time, and pick them up at the library of my choice, they are just contributing to my book-hoarding behavior.  Two other PPL policies that don't help are (1) you can check out a ghastly quantity of books at one time - 30! - and (2) each can be renewed for up to 100 2-week periods - unless someone else wants the book and no other copies are available, but still...I'm not even going to get into their ability to allow me to pilfer the Arizona State and University of Arizona libraries.)
2. Set a Reasonable Timeline for Progress.  The timeline is somewhat easy, since by mid-July I'm off on an extended vacation.  I would like to accomplish at least steps 3 - 5 below before I leave.
3. Read and/or Return All Library Materials.  Let's face it, I'm keeping materials that other people could be enjoying.  I currently have 28 books checked out (two of which are already in the car for me to return).  I need to decide which ones I really want to read and return the rest as soon as possible.
4. Divest Cookbooks/Knitting Books.  I love to cook and knit, but I am much more likely to turn to the Internet for new sources of inspiration than I am to pull one of my books off the shelf.  With allrecipes.com, Ravelry, and Knitty, the need for shelves of cookbooks and knitting books is greatly diminished.  I've decided I can keep 10 of each (really wanted to say 5, but need to go step-by-step here).  The ones I don't keep will be sold on eBay, since it's usually easier to get a fair price for these categories.
5. Recycle Old Magazines.  Anything with a date before January 1, 2010, needs to go in the recycle bin with the exception of The New Yorker and anything book review-related (i.e., BookForum, London Times Review of Books, The New York Review of Books, etc.).
6. Decide on The Rest.  The plan above is just the beginning...I still have over 1000 books to disposition after taking care of the above categories.  I may have to call in some help on this one.

Wish me luck...

moment-of-joy: realizing this was the biggest problem in my life right now; said an immediate prayer of thanks for that...

What would you do differently if you were in my situation?  Anyone tried this before?  Any "novel" ideas out there?

Towards An Unbearable Lightness...

Since college, I've moved 7 times.  That's 7 moves in 12 years.  My family and friends will no longer volunteer to help me move for one simple reason and it's not because they don't love me.  It's because of my books.  Books are heavy.  The only way to make them not so heavy is to put fewer of them in each box, which means more boxes.  And I have over 1000 books...that's too many boxes for even my parents to consider helping me move.

[Note: My parents are amazing; that being said, they helped me physically move out of my apartment in St. Louis when I was relocating to Chicago and have only volunteered to pack boxes ever since.  They schlepped book boxes one time and that was enough for them!]

My hoarding tendencies start and stop with books (and some other reading-related media, including back issues of The New Yorker - more on that "love affair" later).  Books are like air; I have virtually no self-control in bookstores.  If I'm in one, you can be sure I'm coming out with something.  Garage sales, estate sales, the semi-annual Friends of the Library sale...all consider me an excellent customer.  I'm mortally afraid of being stuck somewhere waiting and not have reading material with me.

In elementary school I faked a stomachache to stay home and read some books my mom brought from my aunt's house.  I have belonged to as many as 6 mail-order book clubs at the same time.  I once rented an apartment solely because of it's entire wall of built-in bookshelves.  Even with all the reading choices ensconced in my home, I still consider obtaining a library card among my top priorities when I move to a new city.

Refresh, Renew...

Recently, I've experienced a few life changes that have me re-evaluating my book-hoarding issues, including the necessity of sharing living space with the one I care about the most.  Our shared goals include building a life that is way more mobile than a 1000+ book library would allow.  So I find myself on the edge of letting go...and I couldn't feel more relieved.

The truly odd thing about the library I've built is that I haven't read most of the books that I own.  I collect them, hold them, re-organize them, but I've only read a small fraction.  Since books won't feed us or keep us safe in the event of nuclear war, zombie apocalypse, or pandemic, their continued usefulness is questionable.  So I've started the process of divestment - I'll read and sell or donate all but a small, way-more-manageable fraction of that my very significant other and I have agreed on.  There will likely be some book give-aways on this site in the future, so be on the lookout for those.  And wish me some luck...this may be a bit of an emotional breakup.

moment-of-joy: realizing that life can be different than it currently is...and I will survive it.

 

What about you?  Are you clinging to things that prevent you from imagining a different life?