Reading material
Jul. 14th, 2006 01:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mayhapI have packed my clothing, or what passes for it, and am now attempting to decide on books, which are much more important, especially for a trip that involves an estimated 24-hours round trip driving time, not to mention the dubious charms of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.
The key here is to balance physical and metaphorical weight. Hardcovers tend to weigh too much and have fussy dustcovers to worry about, although some of my paperbacks, being largely used, are too fragile to travel with either. Books that will take me approximately fifteen minutes to read/reread are obviously not worth the space they take up, so, for example, my BSC collection is right out. On the other hand, books that I'm just not in the mood to read so I never make it past the first five pages won't do me any favors either, so it's safer to stick to books that appear to me to be the sort of thing I generally like to read. Rereading is tempting, and takes care of the guaranteed appeal, but also tends to tip the selection towards being too lightweight to be worth bringing along, especially when I have so many shiny unread books on my shelves making me feel guilty.
And then of course there are the books that I need to reread because of the porn I want to write. *eyes The Once and Future King speculatively*
So far, this is what I have stacked on my bed to bring, in no particular order:
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Fluke and Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore
Genius by James Gleick
Little, Big by John Crowley
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
Welcome to the Ark by Stephanie Tolan
Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Grand Complication by Allen Kurzweil
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
If anyone knows of any reason why I should definitely not bring any of these books with me by any means, now would probably be a good time to mention it. You could also, of course, make actual positive suggestions, but these would probably be of limited utility as you have no way of knowing what I have on my shelves.
The key here is to balance physical and metaphorical weight. Hardcovers tend to weigh too much and have fussy dustcovers to worry about, although some of my paperbacks, being largely used, are too fragile to travel with either. Books that will take me approximately fifteen minutes to read/reread are obviously not worth the space they take up, so, for example, my BSC collection is right out. On the other hand, books that I'm just not in the mood to read so I never make it past the first five pages won't do me any favors either, so it's safer to stick to books that appear to me to be the sort of thing I generally like to read. Rereading is tempting, and takes care of the guaranteed appeal, but also tends to tip the selection towards being too lightweight to be worth bringing along, especially when I have so many shiny unread books on my shelves making me feel guilty.
And then of course there are the books that I need to reread because of the porn I want to write. *eyes The Once and Future King speculatively*
So far, this is what I have stacked on my bed to bring, in no particular order:
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Fluke and Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore
Genius by James Gleick
Little, Big by John Crowley
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
Welcome to the Ark by Stephanie Tolan
Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Grand Complication by Allen Kurzweil
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
If anyone knows of any reason why I should definitely not bring any of these books with me by any means, now would probably be a good time to mention it. You could also, of course, make actual positive suggestions, but these would probably be of limited utility as you have no way of knowing what I have on my shelves.
