Pressed pages
Photo by Majamom
Since just before moving, we have been battling with the concept known as minimalism.
We are not good at it.
Correction: I am not good at it.
Despite freecycling and donating enough clothes to fill several wardrobes, I still have what can only be termed as a lot of clothes. I am also rather fond of shoes. And yarn. And paper.
And books.
I think The Boy is coming to realise that the rest of the stuff is going to be a long war for me. I like repurposing and moving things around a little too much to just get rid of it all. I am taking baby steps and I have to get a little credit for that. But the books stump us both.
Our combined library entails books from four university reading lists in four different subjects (maths, computer science, literature and gender studies…plus some music theory for good measure), enough cook books to make sure we never really have to invent a meal ever for the rest of our lives, more craft projects than we could ever complete, a fair chunk of novels for both grown-ups and secondary school children and pretty much every book written on teaching English in the secondary school in the last twenty years. We also realise that technology is on the brink of us being able to scan all of these books into a computer and do the book equivalent of turning all our CDs into MP3s, releasing oodles of space and making one giant leap toward minimalism.
But I will have you know that we haven’t gotten rid of our CDs, despite having our entire music library in digital format. And I really like turning pages, so I can’t say that I will be first in line to scan them all then release them to the recycling.
Especially the old books. They are too precious. I love how the pages cling to one another for dear life and how the spines develop perfect creases, and how different pressings take the same book and make it look so different that I am compelled to read it again, just to see if the ending is the same.
Because truly, if I own six different editions of Through the Looking Glass, I am incapable of ever being a minimalist.
Click for print-sized card.
I do find hearing the favourite books of others to be so inspiring, for I shall never be without a non-minimal reading list. Do share yours, pretty please.
xlovesx
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