Thursday, June 18, 2020

Finding a Good Book

I received a gift certificate for books from Powell's Books and now I'm trying to figure out which books to buy.   The ephemeral nature of e-books prevents me from converting my library to electronic holdings -- and besides, the physical nature of holding a book, turning the pages, and looking at the layout brings a pleasure to reading that pixels on a small LCD doesn't.

Perhaps some day, when I am very, very old and reaching the top shelves of my library is physically beyond me, I'll convert.  One can only hope that robotic assistants able to pull books from the top shelves will be within the means of the moribund.  (And now I'm getting sad imagining 90-something me, alone in a room full of books, unable to stand without a cane, much less raise my arms above my head to pull down the red-bound, ten pound six-book volume of "The Lord of the Rings."  Obviously, I need to design a circular bed that is on a central axis pivot, surrounded seven eighths of the way around with vertical carousel bookshelves.)

But back to the present.  I started searching for the kinds of books I'd want and came to the conclusion that it was easier to find the kinds of books that I didn't want.   I didn't need any more Wicca 101 books; or Coming Out books; and searching with keywords like "Gay Witchcraft" only brought up one book, which I already own.   I already have an extensive collection of Ronald Hutton's works -- and there really is such a thing as Too Many Dion Fortune books (no, I'm not getting rid of any).  I could fill out my Ursula Le Guin holdings, but it would feel like checking off a bird-watcher's list.  And I think I've already got all the charming Wooden Books on Geometry that haven't gone over the edge into woo-woo "the Golden Mean is Magic!" drivel.  Perhaps I could get an updated and revised 2005 edition of Jane Yolen's Touch Magic (to round out the 1981 first edition currently in my folklore section).

I want a book (or books) that will feed my soul.  Or at least be wonderful.  Or Sparkly.  Maybe a book on the Lady and the Unicorn tapestry (okay, I've got a MET publication on the unicorn tapestry), or an art book on mediaeval tiles, or a history of typeface (although, now that I think about, I already have three).    I'm thinking "Reynard the Fox," by Anne Louise Avery, might fit the bill, but it won't be released until November 2020.   I'm thinking Jung's Red Book, except the only copy currently at Powell's is almost $300.  

Or maybe...  I can't help shake the feeling that this is a CS Lewis moth unconsumed by the flame / unsatiated feaster situation.  That what I'm looking for isn't a book so much as the solace of reading from a well-crafted book a story that resonates with words of truth.  It's possible that in order to address this feeling, I have to make my own miraculous book.

Perhaps I'll have to take up book binding.

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