The Book Ark
Tuesday, 16 November, 2004
Yesterday I booked removalists so we have a date and therefore a deadline: everything has to be packed and ready by Thursday 16th December. I don't know if we'll be ready—in fact, I've been dreading the packing process so much so that I've been procrastinating about it for several weeks. Part of the problem is that it's not just a matter of transporting the entire contents of the Beilharz household to a new location; our worldly possessions are being scattered around southern Sydney because the house we're moving into is already fully-furnished and there are other complications involved I can't go into.
So I have to pack and plan wisely. I hope to start this week. On the bookshelves. The last time we moved, we had around 24 boxes of books. I'm sure this time we're going to break that record. All the theological books and some reference books are coming with us but most of my fiction collection is going to be stored.
Which leaves me wondering what I should keep with me. My favourite novels? What's my limit?
The list so far
- Beauty (Robin McKinley): I own three copies so I'll take the sturdiest and pack the other two;
- The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword (Robin McKinley): they are such fun to read and re-read. But I could live without them for a couple of years perhaps ...
- The entire Harry Potter series (J.K. Rowling): five books. Lots of fun to read and re-read;
- The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass Aged 37½ (Adrian Plass): to remind me of weakness;
- Howl's Moving Castle and Castle in the Air (Diana Wynne Jones): I know I'll want to reread them when the movie comes out;
- The Sandman Vol 3: Dream Country (Neil Gaiman et al): because it's the only Sandman I own;
- American Gods (Neil Gaiman): I must have something new to read that doesn't have anything to do with Bible college;
- The entire Enchanted Forest series (Patricia C. Wrede): four books (five if you count the story in Book of Enchantments.
Hmm, maybe I should include more new things to read ... must re-think the list.
So I put the challenge to you: If you had to pack up your entire library for two years and you could only take 10 books with you (I know I've listed more than 10 in what I wrote before but let's just say 10 for the sake of the exercise), what would you take? (Series may only be included if they are part of the one volume, eg. The Collected Works of Jane Austen.)
Blinks:
A way of funding writing in the future: pitch and idea and get people to support it.
Place where you can hire play equipment for parties, etc.
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
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If it was me, I would pack the books I most favoured, needed and would refer back to. The others I would chuck out, maybe give them to the salvos or have a garage sale.
Hi Karen
And my spelling dictionary. Gosh, I really took a lot of books! But I think that’s it…I miss some of my books. In fact, when the new Jasper Fforde book, Something Rotten came out, I went out and bought the other 3 books in the series so I could re-read them, even though I had them in Oz. I’ve bought other books over here because they are cheap but I’m not expecting to bring them home. I even had to jettison some books at the airport, because I was over luggage weight. I jettisoned Lonely Planet Europe (the brick!) and one or two others that I can’t remember, so they mustn’t have been that important. And on other unrelated Dymocks news, Neil closed Hurstville! And Stephen Potts at main store (remember him? Rosie and Marc had a small altercation with him over returning a computer book from Miranda) has left after being at Dymocks for 17 years!!!
I had to do this when I moved to London. I was able to take 32kg of stuff with me, including clothes, shoes, computer, books. So I took books I wanted to read. I took Sabriel and Lireal and the Lonely Planet to London. And my most mini Bible, not my study Bible with the cheat notes. And publishing books like my Style Manual (that’s really heavy) and my Roger’s dinosaur book (that’s still my favourite Dymocks in-joke
Erin xx
Hmm, understand the dilemma Karen. We’re at the other end of the equation - trying to recover friends and families unwanted furniture from all over Sydney to furnish our flat. We got the keys yesterday and so the move has started. However, currently there is no furniture in the place, so we’re just filling one of the rooms with boxes. We are moving our stuff in and not sleeping there or even really living there at all - so lack of furniture is currently not the biggest disaster. We move in after the honeymoon.
I hate the idea (as I’m sure you guys do) of getting rid of books, and storing them somewhere oh so far away doesn’t seem much better!!
Too hard.
Oh, please give it a go, Deb! I want to see what you’d write
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