Losing things
Oh, getting rid of books is sooo difficult. In preparation for moving I am trying to cut my book collection from five bookshelves to two bookshelves (Well, plus half a bookshelf of maths/science books which will be stored at work). There's some difficult trade offs. What to keep? (The other books are, hopefully, going to good homes).
Sorry, Dostoyevsky, Jane Austen, you didn't make it. If you'd paid more attention to timeless themes rather than warbling on about the petty concerns of your own time and society I might have had more sympathy. As it was, I needed the space for the complete set of Elric novels, those are timeless classics (well, actually, I am getting rid of the post 1990 ones, those, as it turns out, are not timeless classics but are more, dreadful hackwork).
Scott's journals or Bridget Joneses diary? Went with Bridget here because it is a tale of true heroism and battling the odds. (Bridget II, "The edge of reason" can fuck right off though. That's right out. At least Scott never wrote an inferior sequel.)
Jackie Stewart's "The principles of performance driving" or "365 vegetarian recipes"? Jackie Stewart won out here, I'm more likely to need to be able to drive a formula one car well than to be able to cook 365 different vegetarian things (in a 1970s style).
A nearly unlimited amount of Terry Pratchett or pretty much the entire back catalog of George MacDonald Frasier? Sorry, Flashman wins out here easily. Terry who? The only Frasier I parted with was his dreadful autobiography which makes you realise he's some kind of rabid telegraph reader who just happens by unfortunate coincidence to be witty and erudite. Awful really. It's like that unfortunate thing when people like Boris Johnson or Hitler are charismatic and you feel it's such a waste and that gift could have been given to poor bloody Neil Kinnock or Michael Foot who would have done something useful with it. But I digress. (However, if anyone would like to invent a charisma transplant I'm full of bright ideas for using it!)
Michael Shea's "Nifft the Lean" versus George Orwell's "The Road to Wigan Pier". Michael Shae won out here simply because of the far higher number of people disembowelled by demons in his masterpiece. While Orwell produced a compelling piece of social commentary, almost nobody was dragged to suffer eternal torment by colourfully described devils.
Richard Rhodes' "Dark Sun" (about the making of the H bomb) versus Julian Cope's "Head On" (about the liverpool punk scene in the late 70s and early 80s). My guru, the Archdrude Julian wins easily here. There's only so much I need to know about H bombs. A bombs are the interesting bit, H bombs are just showing off.
The Pop Up Karma Sutra versus Autocourse 1997. Richard F. Burton's text stylings embellished with papercraft won out here because I think I'm more likely to need that knowledge than an exact detailed description of how Jacques Villeneuve won his world title.
Marilyn Manson's "The long hard road out of hell" versus "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" -- sorry Tess, no contest.
Similar fights were going on with the videos and DVDs which had to share shelf space with books. Two series of Allo Allo lost out to a Two Ronnies best of and in a controversial decision, the Usual Suspects was ditched in favour of Eyes Wide Shut -- but at least part of my reasoning here is that almost everyone has a copy of the Usual Suspects anyway.
Game for York types. Can you name any pubs within the city walls that I haven't been in (counts if i went in before they changed names). They must be PUBS, not wine bars, bars, clubs or WMC (so I'm excused Yate's Wine Lodge and similar horrors). I can only think of The Snickleways Inn, the Living Room (not sure if that counts, it looks sort of wine-barry) and the Three Cranes right now. Anyone apart from blue_condition got them all?
Sorry, Dostoyevsky, Jane Austen, you didn't make it. If you'd paid more attention to timeless themes rather than warbling on about the petty concerns of your own time and society I might have had more sympathy. As it was, I needed the space for the complete set of Elric novels, those are timeless classics (well, actually, I am getting rid of the post 1990 ones, those, as it turns out, are not timeless classics but are more, dreadful hackwork).
Scott's journals or Bridget Joneses diary? Went with Bridget here because it is a tale of true heroism and battling the odds. (Bridget II, "The edge of reason" can fuck right off though. That's right out. At least Scott never wrote an inferior sequel.)
Jackie Stewart's "The principles of performance driving" or "365 vegetarian recipes"? Jackie Stewart won out here, I'm more likely to need to be able to drive a formula one car well than to be able to cook 365 different vegetarian things (in a 1970s style).
A nearly unlimited amount of Terry Pratchett or pretty much the entire back catalog of George MacDonald Frasier? Sorry, Flashman wins out here easily. Terry who? The only Frasier I parted with was his dreadful autobiography which makes you realise he's some kind of rabid telegraph reader who just happens by unfortunate coincidence to be witty and erudite. Awful really. It's like that unfortunate thing when people like Boris Johnson or Hitler are charismatic and you feel it's such a waste and that gift could have been given to poor bloody Neil Kinnock or Michael Foot who would have done something useful with it. But I digress. (However, if anyone would like to invent a charisma transplant I'm full of bright ideas for using it!)
Michael Shea's "Nifft the Lean" versus George Orwell's "The Road to Wigan Pier". Michael Shae won out here simply because of the far higher number of people disembowelled by demons in his masterpiece. While Orwell produced a compelling piece of social commentary, almost nobody was dragged to suffer eternal torment by colourfully described devils.
Richard Rhodes' "Dark Sun" (about the making of the H bomb) versus Julian Cope's "Head On" (about the liverpool punk scene in the late 70s and early 80s). My guru, the Archdrude Julian wins easily here. There's only so much I need to know about H bombs. A bombs are the interesting bit, H bombs are just showing off.
The Pop Up Karma Sutra versus Autocourse 1997. Richard F. Burton's text stylings embellished with papercraft won out here because I think I'm more likely to need that knowledge than an exact detailed description of how Jacques Villeneuve won his world title.
Marilyn Manson's "The long hard road out of hell" versus "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" -- sorry Tess, no contest.
Similar fights were going on with the videos and DVDs which had to share shelf space with books. Two series of Allo Allo lost out to a Two Ronnies best of and in a controversial decision, the Usual Suspects was ditched in favour of Eyes Wide Shut -- but at least part of my reasoning here is that almost everyone has a copy of the Usual Suspects anyway.
Game for York types. Can you name any pubs within the city walls that I haven't been in (counts if i went in before they changed names). They must be PUBS, not wine bars, bars, clubs or WMC (so I'm excused Yate's Wine Lodge and similar horrors). I can only think of The Snickleways Inn, the Living Room (not sure if that counts, it looks sort of wine-barry) and the Three Cranes right now. Anyone apart from blue_condition got them all?