Organizing your books

Well, Piffka, at least you don't have an entire toad family living in one of your shoes. I can't bear to tell them to buzz off!

I felt the same way about TX until I got hooked! I think it was the sense of humor I find here -- not the wry, suspicious kind one finds in New England!

Toads in the toes of your boots? Sounds like a country-western song.

You'll just have to wait until they croak.

Sense of humor = good. Will never forget the comment of a man met on the road who said, "Hell no, I'm not from Texas. I'm from Amarillo."

I posted a picture of the toads in the US UN Iraq thread, Piff.

Wait till they croak...!!!

I'll go look for the toads. (sigh... it would have to be the longest thread here.............)

Here ya go, Piff: http://66.98.158.38/~a2kname/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11225&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=270&sid=55796ef27f1d423611fa01cd2ab100ae

Organizing your books
When I worked in a bookstore I had to edge the books - bring them right up to the very edge of the shelves, no space in front of them. But although that looks nice, most libraries don't require that frill. On the other hand, I tend to do that while working in our local private library because it does look nice.

I never had the mouse problem - probably because I had so many books that I had to arrange them in double rows on each shelf. This is a little reduced now, but since I keep on buying new ones (or new old ones) it may happen again.

I just acquired the Lloyd Goodrich definitive collection of Edward Hopper's work and it won't fit on any shelf, even lying flat (not to mention it weighs a ton). Now my problem is where to put it - I don't have a coffee table, and I really need a small derrick to lift it when I want to look at the pictures...

Awwwwwww. The toads look so happy & snuggled in! Thanks for the link... the US/UN/Iraq discussion has gotten so long! When I look at it, I feel I ought to start reading it with full comprehension, pulling my head out of the sand. I don't even WANT to know or discuss the outrages.*

I can now go back to being happy and ignorant. (If only *I* had a good boot to snuggle in.)


*My solution to assuage my own outrage... my kids & their friends -- ALL of whom will be voters in 2004 and despise what is going on. All I have to do is make sure they are registered to vote.

Okay, but what do I do about the toads? What are they doing in there (they do come and go)? In the other boots on the rack in the garage are squidges of aluminum foil because if I don't put 'em there, wrens nest in the boots. Is there a book I can buy with hints about situations like this? Or just go shoeless? (No, these are not shoes and boots one particularly wants in the house.)

Well, Danskos are on sale right now.

I definitely don't think you should boot 'em out. Too cruel. You could try putting an alternate pair of shoes there and see whether they go exploring. Drop a few dead flies in there....

<As you can see, I know next to nothing about toads. All we have are tree frogs -- they seem to like to nest in rose blossoms.>

I love tree frogs, the noise they make. I always feel I've been transplanted to Costa Rica or similar when I hear them!

I notice, Piff, that you aren't talking about Manolo Blahniks. They'd be a nice change from Ecco boots.

Blahniks? You notice correctly. They don't appeal to me, way too frou-frou as well as being way too expensive. My tastes are more pedestrian -- comfort being my main criterion. But you go ahead. Poor little toads won't have a place to lay their heads inside those pointy little shoes.

I'm kidding of course. I wouldn't know what to do with a heel higher than 1/2"! Blahniks (the little I've seen) strike me as being the ultimate in pretension and idiocy.

Oh good. Not much there but heels and price. I think they look silly, too, but then, I have more clogs than dress shoes, and more boots than clogs. I do have some outrageously high heels... I don't wear 'em much, but they're there, just in case.

Guess what I got in the mail today? You'll never guess so I'll tell you. I was interested in your name, Tartarin, but despite a wealth of trivia in this poor brain, it didn't ring a bell, even after much thought. Hope you don't mind... I finally googled it a while back and was pleased to find it came from a somewhat obscure, but humorous book.

(Pleased, at least, that it was humorous.)

So I searched around & found a hardback copy I thought I'd like of the first book. It's not in the greatest shape, the cover has sun-bleaching... but it arrived today. I'm so pleased -- thanks!

Nice town, too, Tarascon. Enjoy that really old-fashioned, funny book!

I'm hoping it will be in a similar vein to the Mapp & Lucia series.

I thoroughly recommend shifting house as an excellent way of organizing your books, Tartarin. Preferably to a smaller home. After the pain of the first cull it becomes quite liberating. Why hold onto so many books that you'll probably never read again, you find yourself wondering during the back-breaking task of shifting them around & sorting through them. And (once you've shifted) it means you can now go out & by some more, because you have the space for them!

Culling Books??? arggggghhhhh

But...but... if you get rid of a book, then you'll immediately need it.

Organizing your books
Piffka - I re-read the Mapp and Lucia books every couple of years - I have them on tape, (very well read by Prunella Scales, BTW). The only one I don't like is the last - after Lucia becomes Mayor and loses all her friends, even Georgie, because of her extreme self-righteous behavior including living practially on bread and water so as not to appear to be enjoying a more luxurious life than her constituents!

Tomkitten! I should read them again, it's been a while. I devoured them and loved it all: the bad piano playing... the fake Italian... the machinations about the gardens... all the wonderful pretensions, the annoying guests, the eccentricities. I guess there was some wobbliness about the stories, but I can forgive that for those lasting images Benson conjured up. Maybe if I re-read them, I'll be more discerning.

For me, it also helps to keep those books firmly in mind when I'm dealing with my own small town. There's a Mapp and a Lucia in nearly every group, don't you think?