librorum

I went to the bookstore the other day while my sisters were clothes shopping.  I used to be a bit of a book addict when I was younger, in fact I would often be grounded from reading because I would opt to read a book rather than do my chores or homework or sleep...
But it had been a long time since I had stepped foot in a bookstore (not including the university bookstore, because that doesn't count since every book in there is heinously overpriced and written by some presumptuous professor...) and at first, I was a little unsure of what to do there.  

Obviously, my tastes in literature have changed since I was a young girl scurrying excitedly around the fiction shelves, so I took my time to peruse the shelves, pausing in the philosophy and religion section, then moving toward the sport section to see what kinds of soccer books they had, then finding myself in the leather-bound journal section (which is a section that involves looking at ALL the books, and feeling them and smelling them and loving them...Every book should be leather-bound.) But I did reconnect with my dormant bibliophile.

Unfortunately, I did not end up taking any books home with me, as I'm at university right now, and don't really have much money or space for all the books I want to have.

Plus there's a lending library that I frequent.

But one day, I do plan to obtain a large and beautiful library of my own, with a cozy chair by the fire.  And a dumbwaiter, because it's quaint, and because I'll probably spend hours in that library, and someone will need to send me sustenance without disturbing me.

How to obtain a library

That might just be the way to go, really.  Because his books are old, and old books, in addition to being relatively hard to find, are THE BEST.

This brings me to the slight dilemma called: what kinds of books will I put in my beastly library?

Well, there are three kinds of books:

"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and a few to be chewed and digested."
    -Francis Bacon

So we have those books that look interesting, and you pick them up and get a few chapters in, and find that they're really not that interesting or worthwhile, and you don't even finish them.  They don't have to taste bad, they're just not something you want to finish, for whatever reason.  Maybe you're even too full already.
Then the books that you read entirely, and you get something out of them, but then you're done with that book (and possibly that author) and you won't necessarily choose to read it again until you're obligated to do so.  They're like vegetables.  They're probably good for you, but you have to grow up with people making you eat them before you really care for them.
Finally, we have the books that you can never really get tired of. The authors you always turn to. They take you forever to read because you enjoy them so much, and continually pause to go "aaaaahhhhh" and revel in the sentence you just read.  They're books that are made out of pure bacon.

And really, I would want to select bacon-quality books for my library.  And get multiple copies, too, so I can annotate them, and then annotate them again, and then other people can annotate them...

The only problem here was already identified by our friend Francis Bacon.  Only a few books are bacon books.
And yes, I can list plenty of books right now that I would consider to be literary bacon, but  when you think of the outrageous number of books there are in the world (even if you're only counting those printed in languages you can read)...there is an unfortunate bacon shortage.

Which is why being well-read and having an extensive library means having vegetable books too.
Vegetables are not inherently unenjoyable, they're just not bacon.  And as delicious as it might be, having an entire library filled with copies of The Great Gatsby and the works of Oscar Wilde wouldn't necessarily be the best of libraries.

But there will definitely be two copies of Gatsby.

bibliothecarius

Today I did many things, but perhaps my two favorite deeds were these:

1) I ate an avocado sandwich, which I got for free :D

2) I read An Ideal Husband, by Oscar Wilde. (which I also got for free, via the Library.)

And in doing these, I realized that both Oscar Wilde and avocados are very tasty.  Indulgences, even.

So, first of all, If you've never read Oscar Wilde before, you are contributing to the problems of society today. Go and educate yourself, please.  Really any of his plays are witty and meaningful (although Salome is more serious) But I especially love An Ideal Husband.  

Secondly, I have been enjoying reading the plays of Oscar Wilde so thoroughly, that the book now looks like this:

...okay, so it's not that bad, but still.  I wrote in the book because I love it so much, and then I dog-eared all the best pages (which are many) and the whole time, I can just imagine Madam Pince, the librarian from Harry Potter over my shoulder, shrieking..

"WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING TO THAT BOOK, YOU DISHEVELED BOY!?"

(it's from when she gets a glimpse of the Half-Blood Prince's potions book and nearly dies on the spot...)

I almost think I should go to the library and just get them to let me keep the book.
Sigh.  Here's my dilemma: Books are so much better than e-readers.  But books take up space, and for now, I don't have an entire room in my house dedicated to housing books.

Just one of many trials that college students today face.

And I have so much that I wish to say about Oscar Wilde, and his writing, and libraries and books and avocados...that unfortunately this post is going nowhere fast, because it wants to go everywhere.  Silly post, make up your mind.

So be prepared for more on our good friend Mr. Wilde, and avocados.  :)

cuniculum

It's been a while since my thoughts have been organized enough to compose poetry from them.

But I was arbitrarily not sleeping last night, and decided to push one out.  I don't think it's necessarily my best poem, and I'm not really sure whether I want to revisit this later and polish it, or just leave it raw, but I figured perhaps I would share some poetry today.

---

"I am Tunnelling."

I have entered a tunnel,

Which I am creating.

Both to find, and to hide.

It takes not much to find.

Only enter the tunnel,

Barely beginning to dig,

And there you are. Found.

But to hide,

I must go deeper.

An hundred miles-

But not quite,

Before another found finds me.

I cannot give my findings away any longer.

Just as I have entered the tunnel to hide,

You must enter my tunnel to find.

I am no longer your gift,

Until you come to me

And we are both found.

But isn't it peculiar,

How we turn to those we hope to love

And bury those we love already.

We make gods of men, and they leave us

Alone in the dirt,

Where all we can do is tunnel

And return to being found.

---

There you are.  By far, my favorite stanza is the last one.

And if you notice the Oscar Wilde quote, congratulations!  I was reading Lady Windermere's Fan last night and finished it shortly before deciding to write this.
(Very good play, I definitely recommend it.)

census

Time for a quote:

"I don't know whether there is anything particularly exciting about the air in this particular part of Hertfordshire, but the number of engagements that go on seem to me to be considerably above the proper average that statistics have laid down for our guidance."

This is probably my favorite quote from Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, which is a wonderful piece of literature.  I wish I had written my AP essay on it, rather than Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, in which readers are thoroughly beaten by phrases including "heart", "darkness", and "heart of darkness".  But alas, I chose the latter.  It's okay, though, because I got a 5 on the test...

Back to statistics.

Statistics are fascinating "guidelines", as Lady Bracknell calls them, and I was just musing over how nifty it would be to have statistics on my blog here.  To see how many times I write the word "ten", for example.  Or the average number of links included in posts...

Of course, I'm able to see statistics about people viewing my blog, including where they're from and what browser they use.  I have a surprisingly large following from Brazil and Russia, for example.  And these statistics are intriguing...

Baugh.  Perhaps I should switch my major to Statistics.

Or, better yet, attend Brown University, meet Emma Watson, and take whatever classes I want, because Brown doesn't have a core curriculum, and if you don't know of a major you like, you can invent your own.

:D

Anyway.  I think I'm going to head off to the library and check out some Oscar Wilde books or something.

Statistics books, maybe.

.