Sunday, December 6, 2015

In which Primo and I discuss the importance of books and of bookshelves

Me: Please let Ted have the bookcase.

Primo: But I want it!

Me: It will cost an arm and a leg to ship and it will take up all the space in the living room. It will loom.

Primo: It would be a nice place to put our books.

NB. There is almost no "our" to the books in this house. I travel light. I borrow books. I cannot afford to buy all that I read and I have no interest in owning books. Primo has a ton of books he has not read.

Me: We do not need all those books.

Primo: But what if civilization starts to collapse? And there are no books? Don't you want to have some?

Me: If civilization is collapsing, the last thing I will be worrying about is something to read. I will be trying to find someone who can hunt and I will be learning how to purify water.

8 comments:

  1. I get the sentimental attachment to something from his parent's home. Can you do a trade - like "Yes, we can take that bookcase, but it has to go in your office, and within two weeks of the delivery of the bookcase, you have to throw out 15 boxes of stuff from the basement? And, you also agree that if you haven't thrown out those 15 boxes within 2 weeks of delivery, then I get to decide which ones go and which ones stay?"

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  2. I would find out what it would cost to ship and let Primo spend that much on a new bookcase. One that would work better with your home.

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    1. Great idea - it would be hundreds of dollars and it wouldn't even work in our house. (Not to mention it would be a constant looming reminder.)

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  3. My daughter, who lives across the country, wanted all her grandparents' furniture and was upset with us that we were setting aside small, sentimental things (and some nice jewelry). That is, until she came for a visit and tried to ship back a couple of lamps and some other things in a box. She is very happy to take back a few small things each visit. She also needed more time to process saying her goodbyes to the old days.

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  4. Emma has got it right. Clearly she gets negotiation!

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  5. Burgess Meredith would disagree....

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  6. Goldie, you may not get 15 boxes... maybe you can get 10 boxes of stuff out of your basement?! Something equal to the volume of the bookcase plus a bonus for the $$$ spent to ship it! Good luck!

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