Category Archives: books

A Wall of Books

Oddly enough, doing my Chaucer homework tonight I found an interesting argument relating him to Flaubert. I am not sure I agree with it, nor have I before considered the connection. Which is probably why I stopped to look at it. Almost as if someone had announced that Chaucer makes them think of bubble gum.
I have to admit, I have not read very much Flaubert. In fact I have read more about him than by him, and mostly by Sartre who had a love/hate relationship with Flaubert’s work, and his life, for reasons quit unknown. But then again I have read more by Sartre, then about him, so these reasons may very well be common knowledge among his biographers.
Flaubert got me thinking about Mallarme, and then Llosa’s book, that I no longer have. Or have misplaced. So basically my little literary trail came to a dead end. I was too tired to come up with any other connections, so I sat by bookcase hoping something catches my attention.
I seem to have had some sort of fascination with period pieces at one point. The kind written by historian’s turned novelists, artistically piecing together a plot from otherwise mundane names and dates. Sure, it is a little embellished, but for the most part not completely inaccurate. I apparently have quite the Gregory and Elyot collections.
Half of the time I think I have misplaced a book it turns out it is at my parents’s house. I should just bring all those boxes home. Surprise hubby with them. Oh look, we need a new bookcase. Or five. I will have my books usurp the house. A coup of various natures. Just like that Tegan and Sara song. Munchie and Ducky can build a fort out of them, while I reinforce the walls.
I’ll get the ice cream!

The Library

The other day I was at a library. I won’t say which one as I don’t want to embarrass anyone. However, they seemed to be doing a fine job in that department on their own, and most certainly do not need me for it. I was looking for a book by Eliot. I went to the E section, and found an Eliot, but not the right one. However, in the same section I found Jane Austen’s Emma. I thought this was rather curious. Further down I located Eugene O’Neill’s work. Hrm. Most strange. I realized that their alphabetization system is most peculiar, and dare I say, haphazard.
So I went to the T section. No, the book I was looking for was not there. S? No, not there either. By now you must realize I was looking for T.S. Eliot. The Waste Land to be specific. So I looked under W, T again, and even L, for good measure. None of these places had what I was looking for. In consolation I managed to persuade myself that someone must have surely checked it out. Even a library that doesn’t seem to know how the alphabet works must have a copy of T.S. Eliot. Somewhere.
I know what you must be thinking. That these books were misplaced by patrons. And this would make the most sense, except the actual call numbers on the spines of the books indicated that their placement was indeed as it was. For example, Austen’s Emma had the call number that started with EMM, and was “properly” arranged in the E section.
I walked around some, and found Shakespeare under H, for Hamlet. George Orwell’s 1984 was in the X section, which I understood to be a snide commentary of his work on the part of the librarian. Meyer’s Twilight was under Y, for reasons unknown. Unless the librarian was asking “why was this ever written?” In which case that might just be the only accurate placement in the entire library.
I spent about half an hour perusing the various sections. Once in a while, whoever devised this system got it right, and the books were actually placed according to the author’s last name. But for the most part it appeared as though someone randomly picked letters from the middle of the author’s name, or title of the work, and stuck them on the book. It quickly became a game of “how did this book end up where it is?” Sometimes this was obvious, and other times I made up my own scenarios. Next time I am looking for a book, perhaps one that I don’t immediately need, I will try this library again. For amusement purposes. And pictures.