Packing Books

(Posted May 21, 09:36 PM)

After almost seven years, I will soon be wishing farewell to Birmingham and relocating to the fine city of Leeds. As a result, I’m spending my time stuffing endless piles of books (the maxim that one can never have too many books begins to look questionable when one has to move house) into cardboard boxes well in advance of the move.

The putting of books into boxes is a delicate thing because it is almost certain that the slim volume on the Black Death that you have never read will, the moment you seal it up at the bottom of one of the seven boxes marked ‘miscellaneous’, suddenly become essential reading. And do I consign Spinoza to the darkness for the next six weeks, or do I keep him on the shelf, just in case? What about that slim and foreboding book of essays by Quine? And how about my copy of The Implied Spider? One never knows when one might need an implied spider.

Such are the questions that I have been asking myself. At the same time, I have been trying to do what writing I can whilst my shelves empty. I’m now waiting to hear about the manuscript of a children’s book that I have been working on with an illustrator friend. The book is currently being looked at by a couple of publishers. I’m also still trying to get a draft of not one but two philosophy books – one popular (I hope) and one, I imagine, unpopular (or not even glamorous enough to be unpopular, but non-popular, in the way that academic books are: this one is not going to be hitting the best-sellers list any time soon); and there’s the Bulgarian novel, which is still in need of attention. So I’ll not packing my copy of Monumenta Bulgarica until the last minute, just in case.

Too many books? There’s no such thing as too many books…

 

  1. You probably don’t remember me, but I sat next to you at the recent talk you gave at Warwick Words.I did buy Cargo Fever and read it in Paris. I found it a real page-turner and also after finishing it i realised how much I had absorbed about Indonesian culture and the conflicting dynamics between people with different outlooks and philosophies yet how exposure to this can change some people, but not others. I also enjoyed your piece in the Elephant Anthology. Good luck in Leeds and know you would be welcome to visit my lovely little village if you have any nostalgia for the Midlands.Every best wish and thanks for the talk and your excellent writing. Anna.


    — Anna Corser    May 26, 05:59 PM    #

  2. Thanks very much for the comment, Anna. Yes, I do remember you from the Warwick group.

    Glad you enjoyed Cargo Fever. All the best,

    Will


    — Will    Jun 8, 12:14 PM    #
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