1. I'm still here and still sorting. However, I was so encouraged by the response to my post on weeding books that I went back and managed to eliminate several hundred more books. They were all delivered to our local library this past weekend and I am relieved to note that the remaining books will all fit in the available space once the process is complete.
2. My step-son and his wife were here last weekend and we had a lovely and relaxing visit, with some interesting excursions, much companionable visiting time, good food, a gift exchange and a shot of pineapple tequila. I was given this book, which I had been lusting after for some time, and there are several recipes that will be appearing on our dining table in the very near future.
3. The next weeding project is my cookbook collection, although I am still welcoming this new cookbook. There will not be as heavy of weeding here, but there still seems to be some chaff, and I will probably eliminate most of the bread-baking section as I no longer make bread and am not likely to resume doing so given my celiac status. This does not mean that I will eliminate all pastry and dessert options however.
4. One section of books that has been isolated from the rest is a cabinet of books to read, mostly books that I have purchased in the last couple of years with full intentions of reading, as well as a group of books that I wish to reread before giving them away. The latter group included Isak Dineson's Out of Africa, which I just finished reading and sent it on its way, although I did have a few moments of regret following that move. I only had a paperback copy though so it pains me less than some books, and I feel certain that I shall be able to find it again should the desire to read it recur. Of course this is the big point for me now, that there is no reason, unless a book is difficult to find or personally meaningful in some way, to keep books which I can get digitally or from a public library.
But back to Dineson. As was true the first time I read this book, 30 some-odd years ago, I initially found it hard to get into the flow of the story, but eventually Dineson's prose, her lyrical way with words, and her charming observations and descriptions won me over. The high point of this particular reading occurred one morning when I found myself sitting out on the edge of the deck watching the sunrise with a cup of coffee as I was reading Dineson's description of coming across a lion and and killing it in the dark, only to return at sunrise and find another lion. When I write it here, it all sounds brutal and cold, but it is not so in the book, and as I read that passage I was linked through sunrise in the Hudson Valley with a sunrise in Africa in a time long ago, all through the magic of words and imagination.
5. Today I washed the front door, the door frame and the front porch, then moved on to cleaning the windows above and around the front door. Now everything is welcoming and sparkly clean and I feel a certain lightness in my spirits.
Comments
7 responses to “Monday Miscellany”
I’ll be interested to hear about your cookbook clear-out.
I have a cookbook that nothing I make out of it ever comes out right, at least not the first time. Do you have any of those? Would they stay or would they go?
Out of Africa is one of my all-time favorites. I don’t own many books, but this is one I would buy if I came across a nice hardcover copy. I would describe it as one of those books that you can’t (and wouldn’t want to) read in a hurry.
How do you pronounce the title of the small plates book? Looks so tempting!
Yours is the last pleasure before I return to more big closets to sort and donate. I appreciate your example!
Duchesse, In northern Spain it is pronounced peen chos with a very hard ch sound and accent on the second syllable. I once heard a Basque from further north, along the Pyrenees pronounce it in a softer manner, peen tschos where the t and s were softly heard and the ch was softer, kind of all blurred together. I wonder if this is more of a French influence, or if the version I heard was Basque with a stronger Spanish influence. I have not traveled much in the Basque regions so I am less familiar.
Ms. M, I would certainly buy Out of Africa someday as it also seems like something one can savor again and again. But for now, no new books until our life is more sorted out and we make some decisions about our nest stage.
Rose, those books would be right out the door. I have no interest in things that dont come out right or recipes I dont like.
I never read Out of Africa. It sounds fascinating. I did love the movie.