![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Oct. 23rd, 2018 07:26 pm
Week 3: Tsundoku
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
murielleLJ IDOL PRESENTS: LITERARY PRIZE FIGHT
Week 3: Tsundoku
“Two weeks? I can’t do it in two weeks. I simply can’t.”
“Till the end of the month, then.”
Okay, not the swiftest bird in the flock, but not the slowest either. The end of the month was two weeks away.
“Can I have until the end of the year?” I countered.
He wasn’t happy, but he agreed.
Let me explain.
Last fall, there was a bedbug scare in my building. Management put notices under all our doors informing us that one of the apartments had bedbugs and giving a detailed description of their plans to deal with the problem. It involved tenants cleaning out all drawers, cupboards, bookcases, etc., and then having each “naked” suite sprayed for the pests three times over the course of the next few months. I won’t go into all the details because it will give you a headache. More importantly, it will give me a headache and I’ve already had one today. Also, I want to let you know before going any further that I did not have bedbugs. (Whew!) There were none found in my suite, and there was no sign of there ever having been any. (Again, whew!)
A few things you should know about me before I proceed.
1. I have lived in this apartment for over eight years, this building for thirty-seven years, and this complex for forty years. I have stuff.
2. I am a bibliophile. This is something I’m fairly sure we all share.
3. My dream has always been to have my very own library. I have books.
4. I’m disabled, and while this was going on I was also injured. I’m slow, physically and sometimes mentally.
5. My apartment has a yard and that yard has a patio.
After lengthy discussion with a trusted friend, it was decided I would move everything but the bare essentials out to the patio until the bedbug debacle (as I came to call it) was concluded. Because I’m very sensitive to chemicals I had to vacate my apartment for forty-eight hours each time the pesticide was being administered. I moved in with family for those forty-eight hour periods.
And so, I filled box after box with my belongings, mostly books. Some of those boxes of books had moved downstairs with me and never been unpacked. All were moved outdoors, stacked and covered with tarps until I had a tarp-covered structure in my yard I came to think of as tarp-city. Tarp-city took up about a third of my yard. It takes up a little less space because I retrieved my clothes the majority of which were also moved outside. Now tarp-city takes up about a fifth of the yard.
And that’s the problem. The manager’s boss was doing a routine inspection of the property, saw tarp-city and wasn’t impressed, hence the discussion with the manager. I now have until the end of the year to reduce the mess to a much smaller mess.
I do have a plan. It involves plastic totes and massive donations to thrift stores and deposits to the dumpster. It is to be ruthless. It’s going to hurt, especially the books, that’s going to hurt bad, but it has to be.
I used to cull my books yearly before I got sick. In fact, I used to cull everything before I got sick. I’d seen what could happen to a home when thing were allowed to accumulate and I was determined that it wasn’t going to happen to me. But I got sick, and culling was not a priority. Things accumulated—big time--especially, my books.
Honestly, I can’t tell you when my love of books began or decided that the ultimate goal was my own library, but I have, over the years amassed hundreds of books. I’m also a collector. If I read a book I like I have to have all the books by that author and I have to read them in the order they were written. If I stumble across a subject that interests me I begin assembling books about it until I have a comprehensive study on the hobby, historical incident, zoological topic (whatever!) within arm’s reach. The truth I am reluctant to admit is that very often my interest exhausts before I’ve read the books I’ve acquired on the matter and so I have a myriad of books I haven’t even opened, and am unlikely to maybe ever.
All this compounded when one of my friends, a picker, began providing me with more and more and more books. His plan was that I would become so overwhelmed that I’d give my books to him to sell. It didn’t work out that way. The books he brought were just added to the books I had and my library grew to gargantuan proportions, gathering dust and being neglected.
There was a time when I treasured my books. I still do, but not quite the same way. My books used to be placed in bookshelves by subject, author, chronological order of release, and alphabetized. My most loved books were right next to my bed and I read and reread them many, many times. They were worn out with love. I underlined passages, I wrote in the margins and on the blank pages at the end of the book. I doted on them. They were beloved friends, are still beloved friends.
And so, I have until the end of December to go through all of those books that have been exiled to the patio, sort them for saving or sharing, and get control of the horde I allowed them to become over three decades. It will be challenging for me, physically and emotionally, but there’s part of me that’s actually looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to having a more manageable library of treasures, a more manageable home, and life, and having room for new books, because I will always love books, and collecting books.
AN: Concrit welcome!
Week 3: Tsundoku
“Two weeks? I can’t do it in two weeks. I simply can’t.”
“Till the end of the month, then.”
Okay, not the swiftest bird in the flock, but not the slowest either. The end of the month was two weeks away.
“Can I have until the end of the year?” I countered.
He wasn’t happy, but he agreed.
Let me explain.
Last fall, there was a bedbug scare in my building. Management put notices under all our doors informing us that one of the apartments had bedbugs and giving a detailed description of their plans to deal with the problem. It involved tenants cleaning out all drawers, cupboards, bookcases, etc., and then having each “naked” suite sprayed for the pests three times over the course of the next few months. I won’t go into all the details because it will give you a headache. More importantly, it will give me a headache and I’ve already had one today. Also, I want to let you know before going any further that I did not have bedbugs. (Whew!) There were none found in my suite, and there was no sign of there ever having been any. (Again, whew!)
A few things you should know about me before I proceed.
1. I have lived in this apartment for over eight years, this building for thirty-seven years, and this complex for forty years. I have stuff.
2. I am a bibliophile. This is something I’m fairly sure we all share.
3. My dream has always been to have my very own library. I have books.
4. I’m disabled, and while this was going on I was also injured. I’m slow, physically and sometimes mentally.
5. My apartment has a yard and that yard has a patio.
After lengthy discussion with a trusted friend, it was decided I would move everything but the bare essentials out to the patio until the bedbug debacle (as I came to call it) was concluded. Because I’m very sensitive to chemicals I had to vacate my apartment for forty-eight hours each time the pesticide was being administered. I moved in with family for those forty-eight hour periods.
And so, I filled box after box with my belongings, mostly books. Some of those boxes of books had moved downstairs with me and never been unpacked. All were moved outdoors, stacked and covered with tarps until I had a tarp-covered structure in my yard I came to think of as tarp-city. Tarp-city took up about a third of my yard. It takes up a little less space because I retrieved my clothes the majority of which were also moved outside. Now tarp-city takes up about a fifth of the yard.
And that’s the problem. The manager’s boss was doing a routine inspection of the property, saw tarp-city and wasn’t impressed, hence the discussion with the manager. I now have until the end of the year to reduce the mess to a much smaller mess.
I do have a plan. It involves plastic totes and massive donations to thrift stores and deposits to the dumpster. It is to be ruthless. It’s going to hurt, especially the books, that’s going to hurt bad, but it has to be.
I used to cull my books yearly before I got sick. In fact, I used to cull everything before I got sick. I’d seen what could happen to a home when thing were allowed to accumulate and I was determined that it wasn’t going to happen to me. But I got sick, and culling was not a priority. Things accumulated—big time--especially, my books.
Honestly, I can’t tell you when my love of books began or decided that the ultimate goal was my own library, but I have, over the years amassed hundreds of books. I’m also a collector. If I read a book I like I have to have all the books by that author and I have to read them in the order they were written. If I stumble across a subject that interests me I begin assembling books about it until I have a comprehensive study on the hobby, historical incident, zoological topic (whatever!) within arm’s reach. The truth I am reluctant to admit is that very often my interest exhausts before I’ve read the books I’ve acquired on the matter and so I have a myriad of books I haven’t even opened, and am unlikely to maybe ever.
All this compounded when one of my friends, a picker, began providing me with more and more and more books. His plan was that I would become so overwhelmed that I’d give my books to him to sell. It didn’t work out that way. The books he brought were just added to the books I had and my library grew to gargantuan proportions, gathering dust and being neglected.
There was a time when I treasured my books. I still do, but not quite the same way. My books used to be placed in bookshelves by subject, author, chronological order of release, and alphabetized. My most loved books were right next to my bed and I read and reread them many, many times. They were worn out with love. I underlined passages, I wrote in the margins and on the blank pages at the end of the book. I doted on them. They were beloved friends, are still beloved friends.
And so, I have until the end of December to go through all of those books that have been exiled to the patio, sort them for saving or sharing, and get control of the horde I allowed them to become over three decades. It will be challenging for me, physically and emotionally, but there’s part of me that’s actually looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to having a more manageable library of treasures, a more manageable home, and life, and having room for new books, because I will always love books, and collecting books.
AN: Concrit welcome!
no subject
I'm confused why these books didn't end up back in the house on shelves.
Other than of course you're illness I mean. Once the scare was over why was stuff still on the patio? Equally, the building caused this problem without a proper solution. They should buy you more bookshelves for the hassle you ended up with.
If my building made this request, I would demand they pay for the storage. That's me though... NYC tenant rights are bit stronger than many places.
no subject
While there are laws in place to protect tenants this particular (huge) company makes sport of them. I can't afford to move, physically or financially, at this point. Many people who have M.E. (or CFIDS) end up homeless because they can't deal with just this kind of thing. I'm pretty sure they would find some way to evict me if I made a fuss, and I haven't a clue how I would even begin to cope with that.
Thank you so much for reading my offering, and commenting. Do you think I should try to make some changes before the deadline? :-)
no subject
no subject
I'm so sorry you had to go through this with your mother--twice! That is a huge, huge deal!
Thank you so much for reading and commenting.
no subject
no subject
Thank you for your encouraging words!
no subject
no subject
no subject
Yeah. Me, too. That line stopped me - maybe that's a silly place to be stopped, but that's what got me - and I thought, "Yeah. This is how we end up once we get sick in whatever way we ARE sick." My sicknesses are both physical and mental, and both stop me from culling now. So unless something pushes me (like an infestation, which hasn't happened), things... collect. Or, with my memory issues, I'm afraid I'll forget something, and then never let it go.
This was so relatable and I truly enjoyed the way it was written. I'm sorry for the things you've experienced, but the piece wasn't a "feel sorry for me" sort of piece. I just... I feel it, and I liked it greatly.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
I had to thin my book collection down quite a bit when I moved unexpectedly about two years ago. (Long story, not worth recounting.) I went from owning almost a thousand books to about a hundred. It can be done! :)
no subject
I'm so sorry you had to part with so many of your "friends."
Thank you for reading and commenting!
no subject
no subject
I had a friend from another city who actually had them and had to get rid of everything she owned, all her clothes and books--everything!
Horrible!
Thank you for reading and commenting!
no subject
Great way to describe the deep love for books, words, the experience of books that we share. I'm sad your organized shelves are not the norm for your collection right now but I'm happy that your best-loved books, with their marginalia, will still be close to hand.
Do you have a Craigslist up there? Could you give the books away in batches?
Wonderful non-fic entry from you!
no subject
What a great idea! Thank you.
Truth be told, I am more than a little ashamed of myself for not being able to deal with it all sooner, but we do what we can when we can, right?
Thank you SO much for your kindness and encouragement--you will never know how much it means to me, dear friend. Thank you!
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
As I can barely cope with my own stuff I shudder to think what it would be like if I was having to organize for more than myself. Hat's off to you! :-)
no subject
no subject
It has been a challenge, but you know what they say, "what doesn't kill us..."
:-D
no subject
Getting rid of books is really challenging. I can relate to your difficulties. I definitely grow attached to books or find excuses to save them. I have a shelf on my wall that I filled with books whose spines match the red/silver/white aesthetic of my room. Do they need to be there? No, but it's a good reason to hold on to them even though I'll likely never read them again. And then there's the row of books in my bookcase that have pure sentimental value - the Richard Scarry 'Lion Book' that my great grandmother would read to me, the book all about the ~changes girls go through witha note from my mom written on the front page, the big picture book about taking care of a pet cat that was given to me on my 9th birthday right before I also got my kitty, Oliver. I don't think I'll ever part with them, even if I can't remember the last time I pulled them from the bookshelf.
Although, I suppose your entry has inspired me to think about those books, so maybe I'll just head down there now and give them some love. I haven't looked through them in ages!
Thank you for sharing this very relatable piece! :)
no subject
Seriously though, your books sound wonderful. I too have a few books that hold that kind of sentimental value for me. They are precious beyond words.
no subject
Good luck as you clean your things down to the treasures.
no subject
no subject
Do you have friends to help? Where you could wade in a bit at a time with boxes, one for what to keep and the others for what to give away, slowly eating your way through the huge pile? A friend could periodically help you get the 'saved' box upstairs and take the 'donate' boxes away. You'd being repeating the process several times over, but not doing the whole thing at once. And then it wouldn't be so daunting.
You'll probably want a plastic chair down there-- sitting down will take less out of you!
no subject
I moved the stuff out November through January, so snow isn't much of a deterrent. Will be getting more totes on Monday, and plan to get out there this week to start.
Thanks again for your kindness and advice!
no subject
I also love books and totally feel your pain. You know, your story reminded me of what tonithegreat wrote last week: her having to leave "just a house" in the path of a storm to go stay with her parents.
Your situations are not the same, perhaps, but similarly painful :).
Why did you not bring the the rest of the trap city back when the bug debacle was over?
no subject
I do need to keep telling myself it's just stuff, they're just books, and take a leaf out of
As to why I couldn't deal with all this sooner...my disability is chronic fatigue syndrome. Moving everything out over a three month period took every bit of strength I had, then there was another extremely draining crisis that took me seven months to get through. I just did not have the physical ability to address it sooner. Horrible fact is, I am in relapse again right now, and must find the strength to work through it.
Life is never boring! And I do look forward to a better life once it's all done.
Thank you so much for reading and leaving me such thoughtful comments.
no subject
Bugs !!! Ought to terminated ... forever !!!
no subject
Yeah! Definitely bugs terminated forever!
Sometimes the only way is through. I'll get there. Maybe not as fast as management would like, but I will get there.
Thanks so much for reading and commenting.