On Saturday I dusted and reorganized my bookshelves. This was necessary because 1. The books and shelves had gotten mighty dusty, 2. Livia had borrowed a bunch of books and then returned them after I’d filled in all the gaps with new books, and 3. I took back the books that Marshall had borrowed. Even with the space left empty when I disposed of my stereo, there wasn’t enough room for all the books. My stomach sank as I realized that, once again, I have to get rid of some books.
With that thought in mind, I picked up a small book that I’d had for a while but hadn’t read yet. It was The Lump of Coal by Lemony Snicket. It only took a few minutes to read.
In this odd little Christmas book, a lump of coal dreams of being an artist and of cooking barbecue–typical dreams for coal, I’d say–but the world doesn’t welcome him in those roles. When he settles for being a lump of coal in a kid’s stocking, his wishes finally start to come true. It’s a cute story, and only a tiny bit annoying in the Snickety way (by defining words for the reader), but I don’t love it. I put it in the donation pile. Whew. I feel so much better now. That’s one whole tiny sliver of space cleared on my shelf.
On Sunday, as we were out shopping for lake houses, we passed by a used-book store and couldn’t resist stopping in. I came home with four books. <sigh> I can’t help myself.