I am in the middle of having foundation work done on my house. I live in the middle of three townhouses, and my neighbor to the right has had issues with his foundation that are dragging my house down on his side (literally by about three inches). We have finally been able to coordinate the work. The delays have been beyond frustrating, with big cracks in my walls and a leak in the garage/downstairs every time it rains (this is Houston, it rains a lot even when we aren't hit by hurricanes).
Most of the first floor is in the construction zone, though the kitchen has been spared.
Getting ready for this work meant packing up five bookcases of books (there are four bookcases in that pile of furniture). Much like moving houses has in the past, taking the books off the shelves has made me realize that I don't need all of these books. I was much more of a "completist" in the past, I collected the complete works of my favorite authors. I've come to realize that other than Jane Austen, there are no authors whose entire body of work I like or will want to re-read in the future. (And even with Austen, I rarely re-read Northanger Abbey). I've been culling my bookshelves over the past year or so, and this will give me another push. When it's time to put the books back on the shelves, I'm guessing a few more will go to the library sales.
In the past I also collected more than one edition of some authors' books, Dorothy Dunnett in particular. I had already decided to let some of those go. And speaking of Jane Austen, I might not need all the books about Jane Austen that I have. The same might be true for the many, many books about Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. This will be an ongoing project.
The cats and I are living upstairs while this is going on, with forays down to the kitchen. I know people who've lived out of their second floor after hurricanes, while waiting for repairs downstairs. It's an odd, unsettled feeling. Despite the days of free time (NOT how I wanted to blow through my accumulated vacation days), I have had trouble focusing on reading, between the noise of the drilling and the other work. As usual in times of stress, I have turned to re-reading favorite authors: Georgette Heyer (The Talisman Ring), Becky Chambers (Record of a Spaceborn Few), Lois McMaster Bujold (Cryoburn), Helen Dore Boylston (Sue Barton, Rural Nurse). I did give up on one new book, Sarina Bowen's Golden Touch. It is a suspenseful romance, with a woman on the run from a violent drug-dealing ex, who runs a motorcycle gang. I wasn't in the place for violence or the level of suspense in this book, or for a MMC who keeps making decisions for the FMC. I may come back to it later. It's a sequel to her Good as Gold, which I did enjoy.
Hopefully, the project will be completed early this week.
I'm so sorry you're living in a construction zone. Those foundation issues are never fun. And how do you fix those cracks? At least it's given you an opportunity to go through all your books and weed out the ones you no longer feel a need to keep. When all the work gets done you'll have space on your shelves! That's a good thing, right? Good luck with it all.
ReplyDeleteI have another big box of books to take to the library sale, and I know there will be more.
DeleteSome of the cracks are small, so apparently they can be patched easily. My neighbor's husband assures me I can find all the information I need to do it myself on YouTube, but we'll see. I think I'll need a professional to install new drywall in a couple of sections.
Sorry you're having to deal with this! I hope it gets completed quickly. Re-reads are perfect when you're feeling too stressed to concentrate.
ReplyDeleteThe finish date changes every day, but I have hopes that it will be done by Wednesday at least (knock wood)
ReplyDeleteI think it's partly the familiarity of the story that is comforting, and as you say, not having to concentrate as much as with a new-to-me plot and characters.
Oh, no... I hope they finish quickly so you can get things back to normal! For some reason I thought you had stopped blogging, but am pleased to see that I was mistaken. Look forward to catching up with you again :)
ReplyDeleteI did take a long break, and then a shorter one, but this summer I felt like I needed a place to talk about my reading again, so here I am. Thank you for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog
ReplyDeleteThank you, it's probably obvious how much I like talking about books, and hearing what other people are reading.
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