MORE ON TITLES AND STACKS

After I posted my previous entry, an awareness bubbled up in me regarding some alarming patterns. As I moved about the house I realized that I had stacks of books in every room--dare I admit--a pattern that teeters on the edge of clutter, which for me, is a form of the plague.

There they were: stacks in the office. Stacks in the living room next to my favorite chair (this particular pile reaches nearly two feet tall). Stacks in the family room and bedroom.

The more I looked, the more I found--and not just books. I found stacks of magazines. Afterall, I write articles for magazines and am constantly scoping out ideas, so I NEED lots of "pubs" on hand to glean from. A writing teacher once said that this was a must for being a magazine writer. The problem is...when do you actually recycle the old ones? Isn't there always a golden nugget somewhere between the pages that may pop out at me? One that I might have missed before???

Then there were more stacks: writing books, cookbooks, a stack from my 50th birthday party--a "literary tea."

I hate clutter, so my problem with stacks is a dilemma to me. I either have to read these books and give them away, or resign myself to being a book/magazine/cookbook hoarder.

I think I'll work on the latter because there's comfort in being surrounded by the words of others, whether these words come in the form of inspiration, writing technique or a fabulous recipe.

So here's to books!

Below are some titles from one of my stacks: These were hand-picked by my beloved girlfriends, and I'm slowly but surely plucking from the pile:

The Good Earth, by Pearl Buck
Kitchen Table Wisdom, by Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.
The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
Open House, by Elizabeth Berg
Message in a Bottle, by Nicholas Sparks
Pigs in Heaven, by Barbara Kingsolver
The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan
Range of Motion, by Elizabeth Berg
Walking the Bible, by Bruce Feiler
House of Sand and Fog, by Andre Dubus III
Brick Lane, by Monica Ali