8 posts tagged “books”

A box of books waiting for me.

Amazon said I wouldn't get them until the 5th at the earliest. So nice to see they were wrong. Lately I've felt I need more philosophical texts in my reading diet so as you can see most of these books are of that strain. I read The Passions by Robert C. Solomon as part of a senior seminar back when I was in school. I seemed to have misplace that copy so I bought another. That and I was buying his latest (and sadly last since he died recently) True to Our Feelings.  I actually didn't study any Schopenhauer in college and feel I am lacking in that respect, hence the two volumes of The World as Will and Idea. As I mentioned in a previous post I came across The Lazy Environmentalist while I was surfing the web. Said surfing happened just as I was ordering the others so it got thrown in for the fun of it.

A couple of days ago I was at my sister's apartment and noticed an old copy of Franz Kafka's The Castle sitting on a shelve across the room. I was curious to have a look at it, and since my sister was standing by it I asked her to bring it over. As she carried it over she mentioned she had bought it with me at Sam Weller's, perhaps better known as my favorite place to buy books. I took the book from her and noticed on the cover that it contained an homage to Kafka by Thomas Mann. Because I have been reading The Magic Mountain by him recently I thought it would be interesting to see what he had to say about Kafka. Through it was only a few pages, I didn't get a chance to then and there as we were leaving to see one of our brothers perform in a couple of one act plays. My sister knowing my lust for the printed word said I could borrow the book which I did.

As I write this it seems so mundane. I saw this she did that. Nothing worthy of a post perhaps. But what I found in the homage hit me in such a way it added meaning to the mundane events that lead to reading it. In fact when I went to write this post I looked for the publication date of the book. February 1969. The month and year of my birth. That only added more to the feeling I was "meant" to read this homage. Specifically a certain passage. Mann quoting Kafka:

"For a few days I have been writing. May it go on! My life has some justification. Once more I am able to converse with myself, and not gaze into the utter vacancy. Only in this way can I hope to find improvement."

Mann goes on to say Kafka could have very well used the word "salvation" instead of improvement. Reading this I thought, "Yes. That's what writing is for me. Justification and salvation." Only when I am writing do I feel like I am doing something with my life. Using my talents the way they should be used. I have no illusions that my writing will ever be good enough for publication. A few fantasies sure, but no illusions. But that is not what is important. It is the act of writing that is important. Putting word to page. I shouldn't get discouraged because no one will read it. The writing is more for me anyway.

So two dead men inspire me to keep at it. It's no wonder I love books. Now if there was someway to thank Mr. Kafka and Mr. Mann. Wait there is: Writing.

What's your dream career? 
Submitted by Something.

My dream career would be to get paid to read books in a library. No not researching anything, just reading what I wanted. Question didn't ask for an actual career did it?

Lately I've thought I would like to open a movie house that only showed movies from before 1969. Movies are meant to be seen on the big screen, and even the biggest TVs don't do them justice. I'd love to take some place and turn it into one of those old movie palaces. It may be more realistic than the "book job" but it probably wont happen either. Ah well still dreaming...

What's your favorite thing to shop for? 
Submitted by JadedButterfly.

Books, books, books, and yeah books. I get a tingle when I buy a book. Maybe more than a tingle. Crackhead hitting the pipe feeling? Yeah that's it. The tingle is more of a movies and music thing.

There should be a companion question here. What do you hate to shop for? The answer is clothes. Truly hate shopping for clothes. Even more so since the Causal Male closed around here. It was a big and tall store full of clothes this big guy actually liked, unlike most stores that sell to the larger crowd.

What books are on your nightstand?

I dont actually have a nightstand just a little shelf by my reading chair. There is a huge stack from the library on it at the moment. I'm in the middle of these two; a bit of an odd pair to be reading at the same time. This the first of Austen I've ever read. Seeing the mores of the time is more interesting to me than the romance in the book. However, I will admit to being enough of a girly-man to enjoy the romance as well. The Gilbert book is pretty much what I expected, Germans behaving badly. The best parts of the book for me are the stories of people standing up to the thugs or helping Jews escape the country.

 

Whilst cleaning up some boxes that have sat in the living room for far too long I came across some "treasures." There was a fifty pack of blank CD's, a USB toy microscope, a brand new LAN card, miles of cable, and a very nice backpack Mark misplaced sometime ago. Also found: a used up compact, some slippers, and two crochet hooks, all of which he got when his grandmother died. It was rather an eclectic mix of odds and ends that made the evening's work actually enjoyable. I couldn't wait to see what was in the next box.

By far my favorite find was the set of books that were behind the boxes. They are Mark's and have been here since we moved in, but I never really noticed them before. Each book is bound in brown cloth with gold lettering. The lettering, however, is pretty well worn off. That's why I had only noticed them before as a brown mass of book spine. It wasn't until I was down on the floor removing the boxes in front of them that I could see them for what they were—a time capsule from the past.

The whole bottom shelf of a bookcase is lined with these books. They are all part of a set published in 1924 entitled The Outline of Knowledge. The knowledge outlined appears to cover the whole range of human thought. Take the first volume is Evolution and Romance Through the Ages. As far as I can tell the first half of it explains evolution up to the coming of man. The second half then tries "to make the actual human life of the past understandable and interesting from the romantic angle." And this is only the first book! There are books on philosophy, religion, all the sciences of the time, poetry, art. A little of everything from everything. All the stuff that was considered knowledge. Or at least everything J. A. Richards, the editor, considered knowledge. I can't wait to thumb through all this stuff.

It's crazy how the more books I read the number books I want to read grows exponentially. When will there be an end? When I am finished.

I want recommend a book that I finished a couple of days ago, Sara Gran's noir novel Dope. The story takes place in 1950 New York. Josephine Flannigan, the protagonist and narrator, is an ex-junkie and petty thief. The book starts with her being hired to find a wealthy couple's daughter. But as in any good noir story, things are not what they seem. No I'm not going to give away the ending, unlike one reviewer on Amazon. The book rolls along with some nice twists and turns as Josephine works her way through the underbelly of 50's New York. If you get a hold of a copy, give it a read.

The Desert News reports Joseph Vogel has written a book about Michael Moore's visit to Utah Valley State College in October 2004. He was the student body vice president at the time. From the story: 

"The book is not about Michael Moore or his visit to campus," he said. "It's about issues about free speech (at colleges and) universities — which are supposed to be places for free exchange of ideas — being held to the strings by legislators and donors and things like that," he said.

Sounds like something I need to read; get an insider's view rather then watching the craziness from the outside. There is of course the Steven Greenstreet documentary This Divided State I need to get a copy of (cough Cassandra cough) and watch. It deals with the same material.