A furor of cleaning or...

[charlottezweb]

if I have no feminist literature on my bookshelves, am I still a feminist?

Sortof rhetorical. But. I've been possessed by an overwhelming desire to delete items from my stuffed to the brim room and house. This includes everything, especially books. My community center is having a garage sale on April 12th so I'm getting a table, and have been packing things up in preparation.

It's not easy; I've been taking a hard look at why I own and keep some of the things I have. I realize that I have literary books on my shelves so people won't think I'm shallow, even though I never reread them. I'm worried that if I get rid of all my feminist writings, I'll somehow be less in the fight. For some reason, the presence of Faulkner and Porter and my shelves seem to balance out the enormous collection of Buffy novels, even if I hate Faulkner.

Damn it. Maybe I am shallow, and soon everyone will know by my bookshelves, but at least it'll be easier to pack.

Comments

[snippy]

It's what's in your head that counts, not what's on your bookshelves. Except for parents, because you have to be able to give your kid a book to read when they need it (I've done it over and over with my sons).

[porcinea.livejournal.com]

Wah!!

[king-tirian.livejournal.com]

You're over thirty now, it's time you stopped giving a crap about whether people think you're shallow or not.

That said, the last time I shed the majority of my possessions, the books were sorted by how easily they could be replaced if I felt I needed to read them again. Miss Manners, Steinbeck, C.S. Lewis, Dave Barry? They're in the library, or at Borders. My physics textbook, which I've _never_ read? Still with me.