Moving, pt. 3

This organizing of my library is rather fraught. I’ve run out of shelves; worse, I must constantly say goodbye, for the time being, to this or that cherished volume. One of the books going into storage is called Ten Neglected Classics of Philosophy. They will continue to be neglected – which seems doubly cruel since, perhaps, they were on the verge of being attended to. … Also, the mere deciding is strenuous. Were I to pack away one book by Joyce Carey, I might as well pack them all. But what of, say, P.D. James? Should I keep available her omnibuses? If so, what of her mass-market paperbacks? And is my need for P.D. James lesser or greater than my need for, say, Colette or Ronald Firbank? Is this the year in which I begin to read through Dostoevsky? In philosophy, at least, things are more cut-and-dried. City of God and On the Plurality of Worlds must stay out no matter whether I manage to peek in them during the next couple of years.

On the familial front, little Samuel was just given a set of immunizations. He cried bitterly at this betrayal.