I promised pictures of my current book piles. Litlove inspired me with her beautiful stacks of future pleasures.

bed side, reading chair #1

I should tell you that I have a very small apartment that is crammed with books and the detritus of my life so far. What that means is that there are odd stacks in the various corners. The one above is my beside table.

I buy a lot of books. A lot of books. The problem is that I have just run out of money, and tend to do that periodically so I also have to control myself to some degree. One way I do that is to pre-read books before I decide if I want to buy them. I simply cannot afford to buy everything I read. I’d be eating paper if I did that. So I get a library copy then start reading. Sometimes I make a mistake, and it goes back unfinished. Sometimes I can read it once and am pretty sure I’ll never read it again and so I finish it and then return it. Other times I know I’ll read, re-read, and consult a book over and over so I order a copy.

Dorothy Wordsworth (thanks litlove for the review!) is currently a library book, but is already ordered. I find reading her journal entries late at night a clean moonlit path into dreaming. One night after slipping into sleep after reading Dorothy I dreamt of yellow daffodils dancing with the white moon to Mozart’s Symphony No 35. Coming to the Edge of the Circle and Dark Green Religion are academic books (but not at all dry) about current religions (witchcraft and nature religions). The little book under Fry’s wonderful, poetic “how to” is a book of verse called Conjugated Visits. It’s by Diane Kirsten Martin. The only book missing from that pile that is normally there is another book of verse by Henry Real Bird, called Horse Tracks. Of the bottom two, one is a book of philosophical essays on the mind. I have a number of these kinds of collections. I bought this one because it had an article in it by Ned Block called “Wittgenstein and Qualia.” Love Wittgenstein and did find other essays of interest in the book. The last book is a list of archives in the region where I live. I love archives. You know how some people read travel books to plan where they might go? I read archive lists and plan 3 or 4 day trips so I can go browse collections. I especially love small (tiny) town archives where old journals, letters and family pictures have found their way after the extinction of the family itself.

book pile reading chair #2

If you read here more than once or twice you will find out that I am a bit obsessed with esotericism, Jungian thought, images, imagination, Asian philosophy and the development of the esoteric components of religion in North America. So most of the books here are along that line. Well except for Blink. I haven’t started that yet. It just came two days ago and I’m a bit sick right now, and mentally tied up by Cowan’s book Tracking the White Rabbit (bedside pile).

The book on the top left is Dogen (Asian philosophy, Zen). Below that is a book that goes with the deck of tarot cards. It’s rather interesting reading. I use the cards and have done for decades but I didn’t learn to read tarot through books so I haven’t read his meanings. The gender assumptions in the book are telling. Not that I mind that, but I have to say the in-built misogynism is wearing, even if enlightening. Below Thoth is a youth book called A Vampires Watcher’s Handbook: A guide for slayers. This one is my daughter’s actually. She asked me to read it primarily for the layout. She wants me to write something similar for her about the solar and lunar celebrations. I’m thinking about it. In that same pile there is Luhrmann’s PhD thesis on becoming a witch. Below that is WJT Mitchell. I’ve written quite a bit about him here. Then, a “wilderness almanac” called Chasing Clayoquot which I also haven’t read yet. I’ve been meaning to but just haven’t wanted that kind of meditation. I’ll get to it, because I understand it is really good, but probably closer to spring when winter has gone on too long.

In the right hand pile are two academic books by Catherine Albanese on religion in America. She’s good and since I keep coming back to her, I expect I’ll replace these library copies with ones I order through my book seller. The fat grey one in the middle is call The Female Trickster: The Mask That Reveals: Post Jungian and Postmodern Psychological Perspectives on Women in Contemporary Culture. If you think the title is long you should read some of her sentences. A bit dry, but wonderful information. She was a lawyer before getting a PhD in depth psychology, so that may explain the writing style.

book pile lower level desk

This little stack is on the lower level of my desk, close at hand to the key board. Of the books here there is a duplicate. Spot it? W.S. Merwin. I have two copies. A friend of mine has come to the region and I intend to give her a copy plus a copy of Cowan’s book. Under the top copy of Merwin there is Katagiri. That’s a library book. I have ordered my own copy but it hasn’t got here yet so I don’t want to send this one back. I love this book; it’s like a cool bath on a hot day. I find that I am reading it very slowly. Partly this is to prolong the pleasure of it, but also it is because I find the thought system profoundly difficult to “grock.” It is utterly alien in its assumptions. But of course this is part of what makes it so pleasurable to read and absorb. Butler is wonderful. It’s academic but boy can the guy write. It’s another book on American religion. The bottom book is poetry (Pat Lowther.)

double book pile upper desk

This is the upper level of my desk. Here are books that I have finished reading but may want to refer to as I digest their effect on me. The other kind of book there is the real reference type.  I intermix them because all the other spots in my house are already full and I don’t want to start piling books on the freezer or the kitchen cabinets and the bookshelves are already double-rowed, with tomes slid in between the top of the row and the shelf above. Anyway, as you can see there is stuff on alchemy, a novel called Swann (oh so wonderful), books on story and writing. These are part of my attempt to understand the language of visual communication and narrative. (I am so not a fiction writer.) The notebooks are books printed from Gutenberg.

And I didn’t show you the pile of ASL material and books on signing, ASL poetry, international sign. Oh well.

I’m, like you, a voracious reader.