At my buddy's place. I could stay here forever. I'd of course pop out for a daily run along the canal and maybe lunch in the Market. But under these circumstances I really could just read forever. Not even blog. Handblog. No. Just read. Not even masturbate. Well...Maybe the Blonde Woman would be part of this Reading Heaven. Maybe I'd read a bit. I could shag her. Then read some more. Then lunch with her at the Market. Then back to the flat to read some more. Maybe a nap. Then some coffee. Maybe a run along the canal in the evening light. Then a nice meal. Then drinking wine. Then reading in bed with a lamp glowing beside me. But what would I do with my noisy, troublesome dependents? Clearly they can have no part in this Reading Heaven. Anyone want to buy Two Kids A House And A Ministry of Education Job from me? All I want is a modern well lit flat full books in canadascapital and the time to read them...would be a fine way to live and die...
Nothing quite like a beautiful bookshelf. Maybe a shelf full of vinyl LPs. A buddy of mine 20 yrs ago coined the phrase, "spinal value," to denote how good (or "impressive," if you care about that kind of thing)a book's spine looked when on a shelf. Eg, "How about that I Ching--great spinal value..."
ReplyDeleteAnd yet my new reading technique - dismembereading - if it became widespread - would change the face of bookshelves. I'm going to tackle this problem of "spinal value" when I'm done IJ (whenever that is). I had thought of maybe a funeral pyre (very Indian! (didn't they burn Shelley when he died?)) but haven't I gone far enough in choosing to dismember this book without now feeding it to the flames and reducing it to ash? There would be utterly no spinal value...unless...we were to then put the ashes into an urn...The ashes wouldn't need to be spread anywhere ever. They could just sit in the urn - back on your shelf - with the other spines. I will of course return your book...ah pages...um...novel...hmm...literary game...mmm...1000 page dfw suicide letter complete with errata - as soon as I am done...spinal value to be determined...
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