'A Universally Acknowledged Truth'

Boswell recalls several observations made by Johnson on September 22, 1777: “Dr. Johnson advised me to-day to have as many books about me as I could; that I might read upon any subject upon which I had a desire for instruction at the time. ‘What you have read then (said he,) you will remember; but if you have not a book immediately ready, and the subject moulds in your mind, it is a chance if you again have a desire to study it.’ He added, ‘[I]f a man never has an eager desire for instruction, he should prescribe a task for himself. But it is better if a man reads from immediate inclination.’” 

It’s less of a problem now than it would have been two and a half centuries ago. We have digitalized texts, public and university libraries, e-books and online book dealers, which occasionally offer same-day delivery. Never have I been unable to find a book I wanted to read. Best of all, of course, are the books you find serendipitously in used-book stores. For me, this is the source of the problem identified by Gail White in her poem “The Space Dilemma”:

 

“A universally acknowledged truth

is that one cannot have too many books.

But one can have too little space. A booth

or two would help. I’ve filled up all the nooks,

 

“the space beneath the stairs, stacks by the doors,

the staggered piles on tables by the bed,

corners of rooms, boxes on closet floors…

I separate the read from the unread,

 

“I look for ways to prune them, give away

the surplus, start to read them all again,

can’t part with my old favorites, what the hey,

they’re so much better company than men…

 

“Storage be damned. As long as there’s a track

just wide enough for me and my cat’s tail,

I can edge my way from stack to stack.

Want to browse with me at the library sale?”

 

I’m impulsive only about books, though I’ve learned , on occasion, to exercise discipline. I limit myself to four quarterly visits to Kaboom Books, the best in Houston. This is where I found an early edition of Charles Montagu Doughty’s Travel in Arabia Deserta in hardcover, a book I had wanted for decades. The ratio of horizontally shelved to vertically shelved books has grown alarmingly. I don’t like stacking books, even on shelves. I haven’t been to a good library sale in a long time.

 

[White’s poem is published in the Fall/Winter issue of the journal Light.]