I'm pleased to announce that this week I read the last book in my library. With a satisfied smile on my face, I closed the book and set it on the Goodwill donation stack. Then I promptly recorded my thoughts about the book in my reading journal. As fate would have it, the two pages allotted for that book were the last two pages of my last reading journal — and my pen used its last drops of ink for my review.
It was so satisfying, but if you've been reading this blog for a while you know that the preceding paragraph is an utter lie. And I'm not sure at all that it would actually be satisfying to have read every book in my house. I'd imagine that it would be terrifying. What would I do next? What would I read next? Would I have to start all over again?
Illustration of Jorge Luis Borges' "The Library of Babel," by Erik Desmazieres
To be honest, I have no idea how many books I have. It would probably take me at least one full day to count them. And do I count my kids' books, almost all of which I have purchased for them? They aren't reading them, but I bought them. Does that make them mine?
Several of my books are from my parents' library, and a few of my books are from my grandfather's library. The rest of the thousands are books I was given, books I bought new, books I bought used, and books I rescued from — shudder — horrible fates.
Illustration of Jorge Luis Borges' "The Library of Babel," by Jean-Francois Rauzier
This weekend I brought my reading journal up to date, at least in the sense that there are now two pages allotted in the layout for every book that I started reading in January through June (so far), and every book that I started last year and finished this year. (Books that I began before 2022 and actually finish in 2023 will receive a very special asterisk and a place of privilege at the end of the journal.)
Illustration of Jorge Luis Borges' "The Library of Babel," by Andrew DeGraff
While updating the journal, I used it in two ways. First, I used it to motivate myself to make progress on a few stalled books. I hadn't read anything from Grimms' Fairy Tales for a while, so it was easy to sit down in the big green chair and knock out "The Three Spinners" and "Hansel and Grethel." Second, I used it to reward myself for the reading I've already done. I recently finished three books that I started about a year ago. That's great! I also noted the entries for books that I read in just one or two days. That's great!
Illustration of Jorge Luis Borges' "The Library of Babel," by Derek Philip Au
I'm trying to be consistent about writing down when I start reading a book and when I finish it, even if I don't meticulously record the progress I make along the way. I'm not consistent yet, but updating the reading journal gives me a chance to do better. And making progress in one area gives me the strength to try to make progress in the areas of my life that are much less enjoyable — like cleaning the bathroom. (I don't plan to start a cleaning journal, but I would give myself a couple of gold stars for scrubbing the toilet and cleaning the floor.)
Illustration for Jorge Luis Borges' "The Library of Babel," artist unknown
There is no feeling of progress in tasks like washing the dishes or doing the laundry. The same items come around again and again and again, and you must be well practiced at cultivating Beginner's Mind to enjoy the task for its own sake. But books can be recommended, sought, discovered, bought, received, stored, admired, begun, enjoyed, savored, finished, re-read, saved, sold, and given away. What on earth can compare to them?
Knitwise, I made a bit more progress on Red Scarf. I wondered whether I was slipping the first stitch of each row knitwise or purlwise, decided that it didn't matter, went forth as I felt like it, and figured that I would rip back and re-knit the piece if one technique seemed clearly superior to the other.
I didn't get much further before I started to think that maybe a double-knitted scarf would be a better design for the recipient. So I paused the work to think about things, and I won't go either forward or backwards until I've come to a conclusion. Maybe I'll even ask the recipient what is preferred (or if they want a scarf in the first place). I think I'll also be well off to choose a printed pattern, note any modifications on it, and keep it close at hand as I do the work.
Just because I want to be knitting something doesn't mean that my head is in the right space to do knitting right now. Maybe it would be enough, for now, to be reading about knitting.
No comments:
Post a Comment