books

Three (ahem) years ago I published a post on Decluttering Books. I still haven’t finished reading the Felt—Fluxus, Joseph Beuys, and the Dalai Lama by Chris Thompson. Which isn’t necessarily an inditement on the book, but a reflection of how tough it is to get into the long form these days. Besides that pesky pandemic, there have been re-readings of Sherlock Holmes (perhaps the 19th re-reading?), Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God (definitely worth a deep dive, Armada by Ernest Cline (better known for Ready Player One), and countless mysteries.

At the time of this writing, on the solstice, I can’t think of a book that has grabbed my soul out of my heart and made me want to pass it on to everyone I know. That doesn’t mean I haven’t read one, it might mean I wasn’t paying attention.

What I have been doing is letting go of (gasp!) some books. 100 to be precise. 92 books donated to the wonderful, delightful free libraries scattered about town, and 7 books sold for the princely sum of $10 each.

Each book donated did feel like it was stealing a bit of my soul or character or something like that. Now that’s it done, I can hardly recall the titles. The whole process took about 3 months.

Not sold or donated yet. Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky – Heritage Press, 1949

Was getting ready to Marie Kondo* some more books, to schlep them to the bookstore (one that specializes in rare books) and get the princely sum of $12.50 for which expeditionary result would likely be $150 worth of chiropractic fees lugging rare dusty tones to said store.

Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky – Heritage Press, 1949

But before I embark on the actual lugging, I start to read one of the philosophy books I bought on a trip to New York 8 years ago.
Felt—Fluxus, Joseph Beuys, and the Dalai Lama by Chris Thompson. The title was what plucked those American dollars ($27.50 + tax) out of my pocket . BTW this is not a review. I’ve only read the first 20-30 pages. It’s quite dense. One of those academic books that unless you’re in grad school, or a scholar, might sit on your shelf for quite a few moons, only imbuing you with its gifts via some kind of dust telepathy.

But I did reach a section – FRIVOLITY AND DANGER – where he mentions the philosopher Levinas’s work Totality and Infinity -“is very much an elaboration of a particular passage from Dosotyevsky’s novel…” which is lo and behold one of the dusty tomes – Brothers Karamazov that I’ve set aside to earn peanuts.

So I immediately rebel against letting go of all the dust. And I start to finally read the Brothers Karamazov, except I’m reading on my phone, not the actual precious paper tome. A limited edition I may ad. Published before I was born.

Which opens a vortex in the universe and creates a parallel reality where I am selling my artwork for $18,000 a pop.

Another option is to re-print the book (it must be in the public domain ?) with my own illustrations because hey, I think all these things might benefit from being revised by a gal’s touch such as mine.

But first I’ll have to finish the BK. Either on my phone, or in the tome.

p.s. I know that Marie Kondoing books is heresy to some. And I was in that camp for a long time. Recently though, I don’t have the shelf space, could use the extra cash, and want to either engage in the knowledge or liberate myself from the unfinished list. After all, it’s now a free download.