My books delight and depress me.
Today has been given over to a more serious sort out than the unsatisfactory tinkerings that I have attempted up till now. My aim was to bring some sort of order to my poetry collection and start on the Herculean task of sorting out the reference section.
The more I sort, the more I realize that I do not have. Whole sections of my books are languishing in storage, including some volumes that I thought I had managed to unpack. However, it is pointless in winging abut the volumes in exile, especially as the storage space is packed to the gunwales with boxes so it is not as if I have the luxury of sifting through with any degree of ease.
I know that I should be grateful for the books that I have and their restricted number should allow me to concentrate on those that I have and make interesting discoveries in books which have been overlooked for years in Rumney as they languished on the extensive shelves of yesteryear!
The rearrangement of the books has meant that I have been forced to work out new sections to accommodate the various subjects that my books cover.
The non fiction and reference section has been the most interesting to work through. These books are a combination of specific works of reference like dictionaries to more descriptive works like ‘100 years of science fiction’ and ‘The Faber Book of Vice!’
The most interesting juxtapositioning occurred when I noticed that Ray Tannerhill´s book on cannibalism was next to the Faber Book of Conservatism (with a cartoon of That Woman on the cover) which was in turn next to a book on crime, which in turn was next to a description of the Devil in popular culture. I can’t help feeling that there is a political comment to be made there, but I can’t for the life of me think what it might be!
I must truncate this writing so that I can get back to my book shuffling while Toni sleeps the uneasy sleep of the not very well.
He has struggled into work for the last two days while feeling very much under the weather while I have frittered my days away in loose living and cups of tea.
I have been reading a collection of British plays from the nineteenth century. The selection is an interesting one: ‘London Assurance’ by Dion Bouccicault; ‘The Bells’ by Leopold Lewis; ‘Patience’ by W S Gilbert; ‘The Second Mrs Tanqueray’ by Arthur Wing Pinero; ‘Arms and the Man’ by George Bernard Shaw and finally, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ by Oscar Wilde.
I’m now reading a book on Melodrama and I will keep my comments until I have thought a little more about them.
When I first read through ‘The Second Mrs Tanqueray’ I thought that it was an Important Play dealing with Real Life. Rereading it it seems to be a pale reflection of Ibsen.
Ah well, that is the sort of price you have to pay when you grow up!
Today has been given over to a more serious sort out than the unsatisfactory tinkerings that I have attempted up till now. My aim was to bring some sort of order to my poetry collection and start on the Herculean task of sorting out the reference section.
The more I sort, the more I realize that I do not have. Whole sections of my books are languishing in storage, including some volumes that I thought I had managed to unpack. However, it is pointless in winging abut the volumes in exile, especially as the storage space is packed to the gunwales with boxes so it is not as if I have the luxury of sifting through with any degree of ease.
I know that I should be grateful for the books that I have and their restricted number should allow me to concentrate on those that I have and make interesting discoveries in books which have been overlooked for years in Rumney as they languished on the extensive shelves of yesteryear!
The rearrangement of the books has meant that I have been forced to work out new sections to accommodate the various subjects that my books cover.
The non fiction and reference section has been the most interesting to work through. These books are a combination of specific works of reference like dictionaries to more descriptive works like ‘100 years of science fiction’ and ‘The Faber Book of Vice!’
The most interesting juxtapositioning occurred when I noticed that Ray Tannerhill´s book on cannibalism was next to the Faber Book of Conservatism (with a cartoon of That Woman on the cover) which was in turn next to a book on crime, which in turn was next to a description of the Devil in popular culture. I can’t help feeling that there is a political comment to be made there, but I can’t for the life of me think what it might be!
I must truncate this writing so that I can get back to my book shuffling while Toni sleeps the uneasy sleep of the not very well.
He has struggled into work for the last two days while feeling very much under the weather while I have frittered my days away in loose living and cups of tea.
I have been reading a collection of British plays from the nineteenth century. The selection is an interesting one: ‘London Assurance’ by Dion Bouccicault; ‘The Bells’ by Leopold Lewis; ‘Patience’ by W S Gilbert; ‘The Second Mrs Tanqueray’ by Arthur Wing Pinero; ‘Arms and the Man’ by George Bernard Shaw and finally, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ by Oscar Wilde.
I’m now reading a book on Melodrama and I will keep my comments until I have thought a little more about them.
When I first read through ‘The Second Mrs Tanqueray’ I thought that it was an Important Play dealing with Real Life. Rereading it it seems to be a pale reflection of Ibsen.
Ah well, that is the sort of price you have to pay when you grow up!
No comments:
Post a Comment