And even now a large number are in boxes, but I have swapped out the urban books for most of the literature. I think I'll see if I can get the majority of the literature, history and environmental writing on the shelves, with just a few core urban books (that I am actually somewhat likely to read). I am trying to put the urban books about Africa or China in one place, so I can access them if I decide to actually write this academic piece. Perhaps by the next move, the fact that I have lived for so long without cracking them open, will inspire me to part with the majority of boxed up urban books (again, after checking to see that they are in a library and that I can check them out if necessary).
That works for a lot of things, though I find there are still some fiction books that really call to me, and I have unburied a number of them. For instance, I can't seem to find Fuentes' Terra Nostra, and I'll probably give up and order another copy. There are a couple of other things that still haven't turned up, and it is quite annoying. But I need to do a major purge of these boxes or something, as I just still have to move a box to look into another box and so forth. I just don't have space to look through everything. Getting the literature properly sorted out should help to some degree.
So last night I got much of the way through R-Z (I usually work backwards to see how much shelf space I need), but I realized I was missing a lot of Rilke. This morning I found there were two main boxes left with literature, and I discovered Sexton was in there as well. I am sure eventually I would have missed the Sexton (and for certain I would have missed the Borges) but for some reason it was the Rilke that was calling attention to itself by its absence.
I do need to start parting with more stuff. I did sell off a few books already and donated a couple more. I need to get back on track with the VHS and cassette tape transfer. At the same time, I have to figure out just how I am going to back up stuff. I seem to have suffered another catastrophic hard drive failure, though I don't have any idea what is on this drive. Perhaps it is mostly music files and maybe the backups of the BBC radio shows that I was so diligently taping for 5 years or so. Now that I have gone cold turkey, I don't listen to any of them. That's probably the same with all the CDs and DVDs I own. I want them around in case I suddenly want them, but then I never get around to watching or listening to them. And if they vanished, I basically would hardly notice, aside from my super core collection of jazz CDs. That isn't the case with the books, however. I notice their absence much more.
Anyway, this is as far as I have gotten today (still quite chaotic and many things out of place).
Hopefully, the next photo I take of the basement will show that I have finally turned the corner and made it a nice space in which to work.
Edit: So I am now finished with I-Z, so the Great Sort is coming to a close. After G, things really speed up. Unfortunately, I know there are some Shapiro's missing (Karl and Harvey) and at least one or two of Aaron Kramer's books. I really don't want to dig through the boxes again, particularly the ones underneath the printer, but it is something that will bug me quite a bit. I'll probably finish up what I am doing so there are no books on the floor at least and then look through the most convenient boxes. If I can't find them, I may dig a bit deeper tomorrow.
Edit #2: So I have stopped at D-Z. I am so close, but it looks like I am missing space for 3 largish books, maybe 8 inches total. I could probably turn a couple of books sideways or move one to the TBRD pile. However, I also know that DeLillo's White Noise is missing (and this is the extended version with the critical commentary). I know since this is one I ordered quite recently hoping to get to it this year (or early in the new year). So I think I have to turn this up before the final push. And obviously a few other books must be missing, but I think I should be able to be more or less done with this tonight.
Edit #3: I tracked down the missing Aaron Kramer collections (even Indigo and Other Poems), but only one Karl Shapiro collection. I think I'll probably look in two more boxes tomorrow and then basically just forget it. Of course, I turned up another eight books that belong on the shelves (including the Complete Poems of Frank O'Hara, Allen Ginsberg's Collected Poems and Susan Swann's The Biggest Modern Woman of the World, which I was thinking of just earlier today*) but still not White Noise. I have a sense that that is someplace completely random. I have to admit it wasn't the best copy (more underlining than I normally accept), so I may ultimately just replace the book with a cleaner copy if I haven't found it by next week.) Anyway, I guess I should just push through as I am quite close now.
* I am still sort of trying to get the inspiration to get started on my creative writing, and I look for inspiration all over the place. Certainly the highest priority is to cut down on the clutter in the basement, and today has seen some big improvement. I have most of the research from Maclean's (and will probably blog about that fairly soon). Anyway, one thing is that I find it helpful to name characters, so that they can start taking on more substance. So just a day or two ago the papers were carrying the sordid details of a female RCMP officer who had sex in her car with her supervisor. (This actually happened several years ago but she was back in the news as the last remaining charges against her were dropped.) Her name was Susan Gastaldo, and somehow I thought of combining her with the giantess in Susan Swan's novel (as this character is a bit formidable and kind of manhandles the main character towards the end of the novel). I briefly thought of Susan Eagle or Susan Hawk, as in 'I'm watching you like a hawk' but decided that was just too cliched. I've sort of narrowed it down to Susan Crane, Susan Sparrow, Susan Starling and Susan Swallow, with a slight preference for the last name.
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