There are few things that I actually spend money on. Food. Music. Books. Travel. These are the things that claim most of my income after bills are paid. I could spend my life lambasting mass consumption, but put me in a hip used book store and watch duplicity take human form.
Eating good local, organic, vegan food satisfies in a way little else can. Discovering new music, or old music for that matter, keeps me moving forward. Reading a well articulated argument, passionate treatise, or lurid metaphor offers new ways of looking at our own lives and the world around us. Traveling allows us to relinquish some control, and experience things we never knew existed. My life without these things would be far less satisfying.
While somethings are best consumed in moderation, I have no qualms with over-exposing myself to new bands, artists, and authors. Which is why I own far too many albums, and far too many books.
Dave Tow, a fellow teacher, friend and writer, is one of two people who understood when I started throwing around the idea that I no longer needed to own physical copies of albums I loved. He had also taken similar measures in holding on to the songs themselves, and not the plastic medium they are transported on.
Books however are a different story.
If I give away a book I can't just access the file on my computer and read it. Yet, I own so many books that I have started piling them everywhere. There are books in nearly every room of our house, and we just keep getting more. I have taken more than my fair share of the bookshelf space. Last weekend at Comic-Con I picked up two graphic novels by Adrian Tomine (he was sitting there signing them), last night I almost ordered a copy of Alan Moore's "Watchmen", and today I initiated a trade on SwapTree.com for John Perkins' work "Confessions of an Economic Hitman".
It's time I took my library card seriously. Instead of using it for research materials, music and dvds, I should really use it for most of my reading. I do have two fantastic libraries right in my area.
So, as an act of commitment, and as a symbolic fist step, I have given two of my favorite books to Dave. I have no doubt that he will enjoy "Youth in Revolt" by C.D.Payne and "Days of War, Nights of Love" from Crimethinc. They've been sitting on my bookshelf for a few years, and now they will finally get some much need attention.
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