Collecting Books
Title
Collecting Books
Creator
Jacob Schlitt
Description
"For years, a lot of years, I have been acquiring books with the intention of reading them—when I have the time."
Date
2011-04-30/2012-10-19
Format
application/pdf
Type
text
Language
en
Identifier
Collecting_Books_revised
Text
Collecting Books
For years, a lot of years, I have been acquiring books with the intention of reading them—when I have the time. Of course, I did read some of them, and when I finished them, I sometimes passed them on to others, or they remained on a pile, or were put on a book shelf. But the fact is, I collect more books than I read. On my bookcase, is a New Yorker cartoon showing a man pointing to two bookcases, saying. “Those are the books I never had a chance to finish, and those are the books I never had a chance to start.”
I wrote about books a long time ago: About going to the Hunts Point library when I was a kid; about the first books I owned; about books that made a powerful impression on me growing up, about my mother’s comment that a writer of books becomes immortal.
I started collecting books in college, mostly remaindered, in addition to the text books I wanted to keep. I couldn’t believe that a book that originally sold for $5.95 was being sold for one-tenth the price. And they were books I wanted. Over the years, my library kept expanding—with books I never finished, and many more books I never started.
I suspect that one reason I wasn’t reading the books I owned was because I kept taking out books from the library, and had to finish and return them before they were overdue. There wasn’t the same urgency with my own books.
When Fran and I married, we discovered that our libraries were very similar, so part
of our first year was spent deciding whose copy was in better condition. All kinds of books: novels, short stories, poetry, biography, politics, history. Fran’s areas of interest and mine were similar: Jewish, labor, politics, civil rights. Fran also had a lot of books dealing with women’s issues. We had the same weakness for book stores, and could browse for hours.
Until a few years ago, I never was part of a book group. Perhaps I thought it was a woman’s thing. Why is it necessary to have a group tell me what book to read, and then come together to discuss it? I will pick my own books, and if, in the course of a conversation, someone mentions the book, we can talk about it. It happened that I was reading a book that the Workmen’s Circle Book Group was reading, so I decided to give it a shot. Nice people; nice discussion. And since the group reads books with Jewish content, and I read books with Jewish content, it works just fine. And since I have a lot of books with Jewish content, many of the books we have chosen over the past couple years, are in my bookcase—either among the books I never finished or those I never started.
When we moved from Greenough Street to our condo, it was clear that we had to downsize. We went through our books and made the heart-wrenching decision regarding books to part with. Fran had a number of first editions, and I had some wonderful old books that I thought were valuable. We called the Brattle Book Store. The owner came, looked at our collection, and said disdainfully, there was nothing of value among them. He would take them off our hands for $50. I found another dealer who looked through our books and selected a bunch and paid us $75. I then called Brattle to come for the rest. We brought a great many books to the Brandeis Book Store, the same place where we had acquired books earlier. Other books went to the Workmen’s Circle Library. A few years later, I worked with the leader of our Book Group, a librarian, to organize the library and to encourage its use.
Despite our promise not to buy any more books, Fran and I can’t help ourselves, especially if they are remaindered, or being sold at the Brookline Public Library. Our condo has a shelf in the laundry room where tenants can take or leave books. I am afraid we take more than we leave. Damn it. Despite everything, I am still collecting books.
10-19-12
For years, a lot of years, I have been acquiring books with the intention of reading them—when I have the time. Of course, I did read some of them, and when I finished them, I sometimes passed them on to others, or they remained on a pile, or were put on a book shelf. But the fact is, I collect more books than I read. On my bookcase, is a New Yorker cartoon showing a man pointing to two bookcases, saying. “Those are the books I never had a chance to finish, and those are the books I never had a chance to start.”
I wrote about books a long time ago: About going to the Hunts Point library when I was a kid; about the first books I owned; about books that made a powerful impression on me growing up, about my mother’s comment that a writer of books becomes immortal.
I started collecting books in college, mostly remaindered, in addition to the text books I wanted to keep. I couldn’t believe that a book that originally sold for $5.95 was being sold for one-tenth the price. And they were books I wanted. Over the years, my library kept expanding—with books I never finished, and many more books I never started.
I suspect that one reason I wasn’t reading the books I owned was because I kept taking out books from the library, and had to finish and return them before they were overdue. There wasn’t the same urgency with my own books.
When Fran and I married, we discovered that our libraries were very similar, so part
of our first year was spent deciding whose copy was in better condition. All kinds of books: novels, short stories, poetry, biography, politics, history. Fran’s areas of interest and mine were similar: Jewish, labor, politics, civil rights. Fran also had a lot of books dealing with women’s issues. We had the same weakness for book stores, and could browse for hours.
Until a few years ago, I never was part of a book group. Perhaps I thought it was a woman’s thing. Why is it necessary to have a group tell me what book to read, and then come together to discuss it? I will pick my own books, and if, in the course of a conversation, someone mentions the book, we can talk about it. It happened that I was reading a book that the Workmen’s Circle Book Group was reading, so I decided to give it a shot. Nice people; nice discussion. And since the group reads books with Jewish content, and I read books with Jewish content, it works just fine. And since I have a lot of books with Jewish content, many of the books we have chosen over the past couple years, are in my bookcase—either among the books I never finished or those I never started.
When we moved from Greenough Street to our condo, it was clear that we had to downsize. We went through our books and made the heart-wrenching decision regarding books to part with. Fran had a number of first editions, and I had some wonderful old books that I thought were valuable. We called the Brattle Book Store. The owner came, looked at our collection, and said disdainfully, there was nothing of value among them. He would take them off our hands for $50. I found another dealer who looked through our books and selected a bunch and paid us $75. I then called Brattle to come for the rest. We brought a great many books to the Brandeis Book Store, the same place where we had acquired books earlier. Other books went to the Workmen’s Circle Library. A few years later, I worked with the leader of our Book Group, a librarian, to organize the library and to encourage its use.
Despite our promise not to buy any more books, Fran and I can’t help ourselves, especially if they are remaindered, or being sold at the Brookline Public Library. Our condo has a shelf in the laundry room where tenants can take or leave books. I am afraid we take more than we leave. Damn it. Despite everything, I am still collecting books.
10-19-12
Original Format
application/msword
Collection
Citation
Jacob Schlitt, “Collecting Books,” Autobiographical stories & other writing by Jacob Schlitt, accessed April 26, 2024, https://tsirlson.omeka.net/items/show/165.