As we age we become our essential selves. Which is to say, still a book dork after all these years.

God I'm tired.  The last week I have had someone else's trembling, wimpy arms at yoga and I keep falling asleep on the couch.  Partly that's Mom in the house.  It's been nice to see her (no, I mean it) but takes a lot of fuel also, and partly it's because I had a stupid wrist sprain that kept me from doing full arm intensive poses for a couple of months and I think I've lost some conditioning, and partly I have my period, which gives me a couple of nights of insomnia and - I am like, early pregnancy tired and no, this is not my coy way of telling you something.

But I can't bloody stay awake.  Very annoying.

Mom heads home today and after work I am skipping yoga and going for a walk and eating something green for dinner and reading the utterly fascinating book I began last night and then GOING TO BED EARLY. 

OK THAT was yesterday and also, a lie

Instead I went to the chiropractor and tried to take a nap, but was foiled by door knocking and phone ringing, and then I went to J's house for pizza & beer and once again I was barely in bed by midnight. 

The book is rather good and I am trying to convince myself reading is as restorative as sleep, because my house is littered with good books right now.  OK my house is always littered with good books, but in particular I lost all self control last week and will need some new bookshelves as a result.  Which is mostly a joke. (20 books and two seasons of Mad Men.) (Cough.)

I've been on this not-buying-stuff kick for the last 6 month or so.  Not because I think it a particular virtue or anything, I'm hardly a minimalist, but what started out as a budgetary plan has been interesting for someone who's been a life long accumulator.  Perhaps I should not be surprised to find that, for the most part, the things I've been not-accumulating I don't miss, once I got over the habit of shopping all the time. The perfume samples and t-shirts and gadgets and gewgaws are about 80% distraction and static.

Not clothes shopping has actually given me a better understanding of what I really wear and like and find useful, and led me to clear out a lot of things that weren't being used, not shoe shopping has made me more critical of the durability and use of each pair I own - both of these things are going to shape any future purchases in a way I could not have conceptualized last fall.  Ditto all the other things I haven't bought, from mascara to a mezzaluna.  My relationship with things is changing in a way I like and I really love the corners of spreading quiet in my life as I edit my existing stuff down to something a little less crowded, a little more carefully matched to me, and more wisely balanced between need and want.

Except for books.  I'm getting greedier for them as I get less greedy for other things.  It's really weird, but doesn't feel like a bad idea, except that I better finish breaking up with my TV and get on it because I mostly can't see my coffee table anymore (there's a little spot hollowed out for my water bottle).  I guess my essential book dork has been released from under the materialist burden?  Or something.  Because books are not material goods, they are OXYGEN. Ideas. Juice for the future. Not stuff.

First up:  Mountains of the Mind, which I discovered via the supremely talented Kate @ Needled.  Imagination, perception, science and how they give shape to our relationship with the physical world, good stuff.  

Comments

[Charlene]

I'm with you on the Mom-Visit thing: two weeks into mine with one more to go.

And on the purchasing? Interesting. I try for self-control, and I know I can when I have to (because I have, when I've had to), and I know things aren't necessary, but I have to say that I do love my newish mezzaluna. Truly, large quantities of herbs just aren't quite so much of a bother with it. Not that I'm trying to be Eve or anything, just saying. Besides, buying a mezzaluna hardly constitutes originality in the sin department.

The public library. I love it. I wouldn't have the space or the income if not for it.

[Erica]

Books are always on the buying exception list. That's why half of my possessions are books (just ask the friends that helped us move...). I can resist buying almost anything, but I can never walk away from a good book. Enjoy them! (Going to check out Mountains of the Mind right now...)

[claudia]

I loved this post. Things have interested me less and less over time. Although, I seriously do need some new clothes....

[Rose]

I so agree; books are essential to my life. We use our living room as our library and despite having the walls lined with bookcases, they're still overflowing everywhere. Which is exactly the way I like it.

[Laurie]

Books. Yarn. Wine.

[caroline]

ETA: an neither is yarn. ahem.

[caroline]

YES! you've got it! Book are NOT things. never. Now please go explain that to my S.O. Of course, he firmly believes wood is not a thing. oh, no...

[Jocelyn]

I'm with you on the books! When we moved down here, I found that I had no friends with whom to shop, and no-where easy to shop at, and I then found out that I don't actually enjoy shopping. That cut down on a lot of accumulation. (Ditto the TV; it went into a different room, and I watch it less. Amazing.) But books? Those are the constant in my life. I haven't found a place in myself that does just fine without them yet. (As a side note, both daughters have figured this out. Mama does not buy toys, tchotchkes, stuffed animals, etc etc, but get her into a bookstore, and she'll cave every time.)