The Great Bookcase Weedout of 2010

[icepixie]

I am entirely unpacked. Hurrah! As promised, here are photos of the Great Bookcase Weedout of 2010.

This is what I was up against:



There was a double row of books on each of the shelves. The narrow white bookcase you'll see later was piled even deeper.

In order to rearrange and figure out what I wanted to sell to the used bookstore, I had to take everything down. Because I am a fool, I decided to start this process at 6:30 at night. Once I started, I had to finish, because, well:







The two boxes quickly filled up with used bookstore fodder. By 10:30, I had finally finished. Behold:





Of course, it helped that we moved one of the bookcases I brought back into the dining room, and I got to take it over entirely:



My anthologies and such wound up on yet another bookcase in the den, which I haven't taken a picture of because it's kind of hidden behind a chair, and I figure this is self-indulgent enough.

Anyway. Yaaaay, it's done! Now I just have to hope that my cunning plan of using the two sets of bookends as a kind of barometer of Hey, You Need to Sell Some Books will work out for me. Once they get within a couple inches of the edge, it's time to chuck the ones I don't want anymore? We'll see.

Comments

[foursweatervests]

No problem! For Borges, try Death and the Compass, and for Cortázar, try...Autopista del Sur. Um. It might be translated as Motorcyclist from the South? Both gorgeous modern pieces, both short stories, and seriously amazing. I'm actually more of a fan of Marquez's short stories as well (though his novels are excellent), and my favorite is A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings (I'm pretty sure that's the translation in use). Un día de estos is very good as well, but I've never seen an English translation of it, whereas AVOMWEW is one of the most commonly translated even though it was only published in one printing of one book of short stories in Spanish. Funny, that.

[foursweatervests]

re: Autopista del Sur

Technically it means Southern Highway, but I seem to recall something about Motorcyclists in the translation. It's hiding somewhere in my notes but I'm way too tired to drag them out and find it. Sorry!

[icepixie]

I'll look them up! Thanks. (I'd say I'd try to read one in the original Spanish, but I don't think my skills are good enough for much beyond a picture book anymore...)

[foursweatervests]

There are some books I think should only be read in the original language because they lose almost everything that makes them unique in translation. Quijote, for example. These? Not nearly as difficult a translation project. I'm sure you'll be able to find an awesome English version of each.