Treasured possessions

[andrewducker]

I picked up the first Dragonlance book on holiday in Pitlochry. I was twelve. Can I really get rid of a trilogy of books I've been carrying around for nearly two thirds of my life?

Similarly, I have the complete Lensman series - I'm not sure I could ever bear to actually read them again. But get rid of them? After I tracked them down one by one through car boot sales and second-hand bookshops? Are you insane?

Anyone else got books they'll never read again, or films they'll never watch, but they can't bear to let go of? (Oooh - Paperhouse. I'm never watching that again, but I have to own it.)

Comments

[stormie.livejournal.com]

my first copy of 'lolita' which i purchased at the age of 11 is still with me. i don't think you could even call it a book anymore as the spine is held together with sellotape and the pages have so many rips, stains and burns that it is almost impossible to read.

i will never be able to bin it :D

[easterbunny.livejournal.com]

books they'll never read again

The Knot Guide to Wedding Planning and The Glass Bead Game.

[andrewducker]

I'm about 30 pages into The Glass Bead Game, which is so far a paen to modernism. Is it worth it?

[thishardenedarm.livejournal.com]

is it about modernism? I can only recall it, shrouded as it is in the mists of adolescence, but I have it filed under "apollonian versus dionysian" along with most of Hesse's work. Maybe that one was different.

why won't you watch paper house again? is it because it is really scary? I have never seen it.

and King Crimson had some stellar moments - Starless from Red is my favourite.

[andrewducker]

So far it's highly dependent on there being One True Ontology, the rise of reason and rationality over all, and a general movement towards Truth.

There's also a certain amount of Apollonianism going on - he's clearly heavily influenced by Eastern thinking, and inward development.

But I'm only 40 pages in so far, and just through the Historical Introduction. I'm hoping it'll show some awareness of the flaws of the system it's setting up.

Paperhouse isn't scary in a traditional "Ack! Monsters are eating my legs!" way - it's just incredibly creepy. It's based on the book Marianne Dreams and the plot (from Wikipedia) is:

Marianne is a young girl who is bedridden with a long-term illness. She draws a picture to fill her time, and finds that she spends her dreams within the picture she has drawn. As time goes by, she becomes sicker, and starts to spend more and more time trapped within her fantasy world, and her attempts to make things better by adding to and crossing out things in the drawing make things progressively worse.

I'll happily lend it to you if you're interested.

[thishardenedarm.livejournal.com]

i think Hesse always sets up Rationalism - the apollonian, the solar, so that he can then pit it against the dionysian - the rude life force, chaos, jouissance. Im sure something comes along to shatter the carefully constructed ontology of the glass beads. Keep reading. I remember enjoying Narziss and Goldmund the most of all his books.

I remember the orginal TV series (based om Mariannes dreams) not well but vividly. The little girl in bed drawing creepy, lumpy shapes that then appear on the horizon she can see from her room. Creeporama. I've been deferring watching paperhouse because i wanted to see the original first. Last time I checked it was not buyable.

[andrewducker]

Well, if you decide you do want to see Paperhouse I have it on video.

And I'm keeping up with Glass Bead Game - I'm determined to make it at least two hundred pages in :->

[sterlingspider.livejournal.com]

Find a local college sci fi library or (when age apropriate) an adolescent who could do with some escapism and mind broadening. That's what I do with all my stuff that I will never read again, but can't bear to send off into the wilds.

[wychwood]

I have quite a few books in that category. If it's still a "have to own", then I keep them, basically. Various series I spent ages collecting (like my almost-complete set of Alistair MacLean books; see my sad disillusionment when I re-read a couple, end of last year), some childrens' books with lots of memories attached... Symbolic value, mostly.

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

Not really. I have books and films that are painful to read/watch... but I still do. I don't have books/films that meant a lot in younger days so I keep - either they still mean a lot, or I don't mind not having them.

I don't ever want to watch Spider again, even though it's incredibly good but I can't see myself buying it just to have and not watch.

I've watched Paperhouse a good few times. It's pretty amazing.

Also, and I know you're just listening to it so someone like me calls you out... but King Crimson? What the fuck? Are you johnbobshaun?

[andrewducker]

I'd never listened to it! And it was sitting there in my music folder taunting me! And the tinkly jazz-like bits were pretty cool.

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

Get the hell away from me you weirdo with your hep "jazz" music!

[andrewducker]

I am currently listening to the Fields of the Nephilim live album and there's nothing you can do about it!

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

That's better than the jazz.

Just.

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

Court of the Crimson King is a really good album, but for tinkly jazz bits Larks Tongues In Aspic is better

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

What's wrong with King Crimson anyway?

[sttatus-quo.livejournal.com]

I keep thinking that you and mb2u must be the twin sons of different mothers. Not only do you look enough alike to be brothers or cousins but given the number of long white boxes and boxes of books currently residing in our garage... you share more than a few interests and passions about collectibles.

[andrewducker]

Long white boxes?

No idea what you're talking about! None! Don't have any of those taking up cupboard space.

Oh, to have a garage to store stuff in...

[ninox.livejournal.com]

I'm not bad with books. I hoard non fiction more than fiction and use book crossing method of releasing paperbacks back into the wild on occasion. Never remember to track them though. Saying that I'm pretty sure I probably have a Hans Christian Anderson hardback, and a couple of Rupert the Bears (used to be my mum's) in a box in the attic (only 1 box and a small one at that). Books that remind me of childhood I no longer possess - Pear's Junior Encyclopaedia, AA Guide to the British Countryside. Fiction isn't something I really read until Uni.

I like the idea of hoarding books more than anything else, and I'm pretty sure I would love to own books by Charles De Lint, Muriel Grey, Paul Doherty etc but I've read them and wouldn't read them again. Closest I get is probably Sandman, probably in with Rupert and chums.

Films I get given as presents and don't tend to buy. I do have complete Twin Peaks on video that I bought second hand from the last library I worked in. Always meant to re-watch and then dispose. A video I treasure is probably Flight of the Condor but think my Mum nicked it anyway.

Ok I'm a wanna-be-hoarder!

CD's well that's different. I have some REALLY bad cd's I really should dispose off.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

My old junior Heinleins and Asimovs and Phil Dicks and Silverbergs and Clarkes - unlikely to re read most of em but I'd never toss em - they're part of my growing up.

[odheirre.livejournal.com]

After Man, if only because it took forever to get.

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

Er, no. In fact I need to winnow down again and get rid of stuff I will never re-read.

Never understood sentimental value, not at all.

*attempts to explain sentiment*

[andrewducker]

When people experience positive emotions at the same time as being around a thing, either because that thing caused the emotions (i.e. reading a book) or because it's uniquely associated with it (an unusual object obtained/experienced solely at that time) then they associate said object with the aforementioned emotions.

Seeing said object can, in fact, trigger memories of the original time, and emotions from it. Seeing a postcard picked up on an enjoyable holiday can bring back the feelings of happiness from that holiday, for instance. Thus getting rid of the object would be tantamount to getting rid of some of the memories associated with the pleasurable experience.

[yalovetz]

I still have my Hebrew Bible. I can't imagine I'm ever going to sit down and try to read/translate it again, but I don't want to throw it out. It was a major part of my degree and aside from that, I'm just plain proud of the fact that I learnt to read Hebrew and was able to translate interesting bits of text. The sections I studied are still underlined.

[cybik.livejournal.com]

I got rid of my copies of the Dragonlance books. You can do it too. They are RUBBISH. *nod*

[thadrin.livejournal.com]

I think pretty much anything by Terry Broks - I have the first three series of his - or David Eddings - all four series complete - falls into the "can't be chucked" category, along with most of my Discworld collection.

Hey There !!!

[vereybowring.livejournal.com]

If you are considering getting shot of the lensman series I would like to borrow them first, I haven't read them for ages (I was about 10 I think).

Since I now reside in the same city as you exchanges should be easy - you could borrow some of mine if you fancy ( I have about 200 dvd's too).

Re: Hey There !!!

[andrewducker]

Keeping them - but will happily lend you!

Where are you based now?

Re: Hey There !!!

[vereybowring.livejournal.com]

I'm just out of the center in newington. St Leonards Hill, lovely view of the rock. Must meet up some time I'm not job-huntint or flat sorting.