Friday, December 9, 2011

I love books.


This is the most recent photo of my nightstand. This is the stack of books I do not have time to read because I'm reading another stack of books that is piled high on the floor beneath my nightstand.

The other pile, not pictured obviously, is mostly of Mary Oliver (have I mentioned how much I am loving her? Oh. I have? Silly me.) with a bit of Erica Jong thrown in for variety. While at the library stalking Mary Oliver books gathering up every Oliver book I could find I came across a book of poetry by Erica Jong. I thought the cover was lovely so I pulled it out...flipped to a page, found what I read intriguing, added it to the borrow pile.

Apparently, Ms. Jong was quite the racy writer in the 70's according to my mom. She never read any of Jong's smut writing, of course. She just heard about it. Ahem. (Hi Mom!) I didn't find the bit of her poetry I did read to be racy or inappropriate...but I haven't read it all. So...I'll throw out a disclaimer, an advisory, that should you opt to read Jong, it's at your own risk. :)

I made this silly little lady about 10 years ago...and she really has nothing to do with poetry other than she's dangling on my wall above my nightstand so I figured she was worth a mention.


I'm pretty sure the idea came from Home Companion...remember the Mary Engelbreit magazine? Of all the magazines I was obsessed with...I miss this one the most. Well...and Country Living. But CL is still in print so I can at least go to the library and look at it if I need to. I heard rumors that HC is coming back...anyone else heard that?

I used to spend a lot of money on magazines...I had stacks and stacks. And I would save them...because you never know when you may need to reference something fabulous in one of them. You know...a project, a recipe, whatever. So the magazines piled up...but of course I never knew where each very fabulous idea was within that stack. But they were in there somewhere!

Eventually, I stopped buying magazines. Partly because our finances changed drastically and partly because I realized I could borrow the mags from the library then photo copy anything fabulous I needed to remember. So now all of those copies of great ideas are stacked...patiently awaiting a moment of organized inspiration to be placed neatly and lovingly in a plastic-sleeved binder.

Don't hold your breath.

Because the reality is the floor needs mopping, the baseboards need dusting, the class projects need doing, the Christmas shopping needs finishing, meals need preparing, laundry needs washing....and a partridge in a pear treeeeeee!

This is why the books on the nightstand aren't being read.

But the nice thing about books is that they wait patiently, looking lovely, and are ready whenever you are.
I love books...

4 comments:

Jennifer said...

I also have stacks of borrowed books and, unfortunately, they are due back and I owe a fine on two of them. I never seem to get around to reading all that I borrow. I also have a few books I own that I haven't been able to make time for. When it comes to books, my eyes are bigger than my spare time. It's nice to have them there to look at, lol. I have read some Erica Jong and enjoyed her writing very much. I don't recall finding her writing racy but I do think I remember a poem about sex with her husband that would've probably been considered racy when it was written.

Have a great weekend!

nancy said...

my nightstand is loaded w/books. and there's a bag of books next to it. all of which need reading. one book at a time, right?

i culled all my magazines tonight, went thru them and tore out what I wanted to keep. filed the recipes, etc. mags went to the recycle box. got rid of a lot! feels good.

Jennifer said...

i too have the pile of "to be reads" on the bedroom floor. no time these days.

i'm glad i'm not the only mary oliver "stalker" at the library, i think they might cut me off of her and Kahlil Gibran (have you read him?) except my sister is the librarian. i know when i check out though they must be sitting there thinking, she should just go buy the darn book already!

magazines...there with you, but I don't think Country Living is as good as it once was, I have a subscription that apparently doesn't end, so I send them off to my grandmother.

i clip all the little bits that i think i might want again to put in binders but as of right now they are all piled up on the floor with the books, hahahahaha.

Don't you think in a way Pinterest is such a better method of doing that? I was obsessed and up until almost 1:00 am last night on that stupid site.

Erica Jong huh? Hmmm, look out library.

Anonymous said...

Loved your comments on the books! I too also revel in books! I love that they are tangible and always there without the worry of a battery dying or the wifi not working. In today's world of technology a book is still a treasure to behold. It is also something that you can pass on from generation to generation and always gets better with age!