~I have a lot of books--not as many as some people I know, but still, a lot. I have bookshelves in almost every room in my house (yes, even the bathroom) and I have more bookshelves at work. I've tried to keep my books organized by categories, but it's not all that systematic, and they tend to travel around a bit:( But still I'm trying--all the fictions (well almost all) is in the living room; theology is mostly at work; psychology in the front hall; biblical studies --well, they're all over the place because I use them for sermon writing.
~You can see where I'm going with this. I lose books. I'll decide I want this or that book that I KNOW I own, and I'll look in the most logical place and it won't be there. So I'll start looking everywhere for it....is it at work? At home? In the pantry hall where lots of recently read or used books tend to end up? Sometimes I find what I'm looking for right away, but sometimes it takes weeks before I find the desired book, tucked away right where it was supposed to be, or else in a completely unlikely place.
~It happened again this week. I was looking for a book someone referred to on another blog. I knew I had this book, I could visualize what the cover looked like. I knew where all the other books by this author were--but this one wasn't there. Gah. I searched high and low. In this case it only took three days and it turns out that I took it to work. But when I found it, the thing I wanted it for wasn't in it anyway. Sigh.
~And how do you solve the problem of if-I'm-at-home-the-book-I-want-is-at-work and vice versa? When I was teaching I kept all my professional books at work and tried to remember to take home what I would need each day. When I moved here I thought I would do the same thing, but it doesn't really work. So maybe half my work related books are home and the rest at work. At least I live next door to work so I can go back and forth easily.
4 comments:
I hear you.
And at this point, my work books are still in boxes, waiting for the new office to be painted and the new bookshelves to be installed. I've been there almost three months!
You mean there is actually an ADVANTAGE in the situation of most UK clergy whose offices are almost always in the house and not down at church???
Not that I can find books either - but at least I know which roof they are likely to be under!
Yesterday, I drove into work with CG and friend in order to get a folder I couldn't find at home. I couldn't find it at work, either, but the girls did amazing things with the pile of scrap paper, a stapler, markers, and post-it notes. At home, I finally found it after 2 hours of looking. Which is a long way around of saying that could have written this post myself about books, files, and a few other things as well.
Moving is helping, as I'm packing and taking note of what's where. But when I unpack, I predict the problems will begin again.
If you can solve this my-book-is-at-work-and-I'm-at-home problem, I'm nominating you for a Nobel Prize. Happens all the time to me. And I don't live next door--20 miles away is too far to go fetch a book these days.
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