One of the great pleasures of working in an dissertation study for more than three years was that it gave me a lot of time to browse the stacks when going to/from the study in the morning or evening or while taking a break from my exquisite prose. The result of my perambulations was inevitably that I would thumb across one or more volume that was unrelated to my research but that spoke to another interest. I would cart these books back to my study, thinking that I would find time during a lunch break or at some undefined point in the future to leaf through them.
Now that I’m moving from one institution to another, I find myself with an office full of books to be returned. Some are certainly related to my research (every book by Virilio that our library owned, plus much of its Hemingwayiana). But many of the volumes fall into the category of the books that I fantasized I would have time to read. Some of them did indeed get read in part; yet most did not. This, then, is a makeshift and incomplete memorial to these books (as well as a handy list to return to in the future, should I ever find some time).
- Lewis, Great Ikea! A Brand For All The People
- McLeod, Freedom of Expression®
- Berger, Ads, Fads, & Consumer Culture
- Walker, Buying In
- Moretti, ed. The Novel, 2 vols.
- Keene, Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America
- Cole, Modernism, Male Friendship, and the First World War
- Samet, Soldier’s Heart
- Zizek, Looking Awry
- McNair, Striptease Culture: Sex, Media, and the Democratisation of Desire
- Frederic, The Damnation of Theron Ware
- Rotman, Becoming Beside Ourselves
- Watts, Blindsight
- Calvino, Cosmicomics
- Juul, Half-Real
- Ronell, The Telephone Book
- Fitzpatrick, The Anxiety of Obsolescence
- Rotman, Becoming Beside Ourselves
- Bousquet, How the University Works
#1 by Aubrey Harley on August 24, 2009 - 6:29 pm
I find it somewhat strange that at least two of those authors are familiar to me and that Half-Real is on my reading list. By any chance have you read Calvino’s Invisible Cities?
This quixotic affliction seems similar to mine, albeit the daunting list of works I have written for myself is not restricted by one medium (e.g. I carry far too many video games with me where ever I travel). Unlike Don Quixote’s insanity, however, I suspect this madness of having a huge, unread library can be cured without causing a tragic and poignant death afterward. Creating the antidote requires about one pound of daily planner, a few tablespoons of pencil, a cup of motivation, a carton of luck, and a gallon of free time. Unfortunately, the latter two ingredients cost far too much to cure out-of-control wishlists (I’m sure this has something to do with inflation), and as a result less potent recipes are often substituted. I recommend coffee.
I do hope you find free time (at a reasonable price), and are able to remove some names off of that memorial.
P.S., I really do not know why I felt compelled to write here instead of posting on the read/write/read blog. There are far better ways to spend my free time!
#2 by Brian on August 24, 2009 - 7:54 pm
Thanks for your thoughts, Aubrey. I have in fact read Calvino’s Invisible Cities. It was rather beautiful and surreal. Wasn’t sure what to do with it afterward. If on a winter’s night a traveler… is my favorite of his.
If you haven’t read Walter Benjamin’s essay, “Unpacking My Library”–from which this post’s title comes–I think you might find a nice way to express what you’re feeling.