Jenny recently went on an epic weekend road trip with her Dad to Peace River, Alberta where the Williams grandparents live. Besides ascertaining that she and therefore we are eligible for Canadian citizenship (perhaps another post), J took advantage of the fact that they were passing through Calgary and initiated an IKEA pilgrimage. Having mentioned in passing that she might try to 'pop in and see what they have' J arrived back home with two large 'Expedit' storage cases, a coffee table, a cutting board, and a wok. Oh the allen wrench hand cramp.
The existence of more shelving allowed for a trip to storage and the opening of the last four massive boxes of books. Most of yesterday morning was spent unpacking, sorting, and trying to decide on the right organizational system (after much debate I decided I'm a chronological guy with respect to literature). It could be said that all the effort just to ensure access to the entire collection was a bit misguided. We havn't gained additional reading time since acquiring more shelves, and are still reading the same books as before (Jenny: The Hobbit and The Red Canoe; Me: Jean Hampton's 'The Intrinsic Worth of Persons', Nagel's 'Mortal Questions' and James Thurber: A Biography). Besides, we're living a bit month to month these days, the initial lease expires in December. The books may not remain on shelves for very long.
However our capability (even if this may never be fully realized) to read widely and richly is greatly increased. As a result of new shelving and a bit of effort I need only to put down the coffee mug and walk a few feet to have access to Aeschylus, Milton, Kafka, Woolf, Collins, Plath, Joyce, Plato, Eagleton, and Zizek, or peruse the Beardsley edition of 'Salome', or examine high quality plates of the Rothko catalogue. Potential for access and enrichment is everything.... even if we have to repack these old friends in a month or two.
4 comments:
I'm a chronological book organizer too!! :) Don't you just love getting new bookshelves? IKEA is the way to go!! Sounds like you guys are having fun getting settled. My books are always my favorite part of packing and unpacking. I always discover a new book that I had forgotten about--they are like old friends! It's my dream to have a house where I have a study with walls just lined with books, and maybe a ladder to get to some of them!! :)
I'd love to know more about a book entitled "The worth of persons". I do very little reading, but I am currently enjoying an 8 lecture series on Brahms, his life and music.
Thurber's "April Fool" New Yorker article was required reading for my Mass Media class.
I would like to read more of Thurber's work and I would certainly like to learn more about him.
sounds like you two are keeping busy. we just got an ikea here in orlando. it's been a mad house, so i've been avoiding it. also, it seems like everytime i go into one of those stores, i spend 3 hours getting lost, eating meatballs and leaving empty handed. i'm glad that you guys had success! merry christmas.
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