The Next Chapter: Moving With Books

I first want to apologize to the readers of this blog. I wanted to blog more often but life got in the way. I was forced to move by my former landlord. I prefer not to go into great detail about why I had to move, but I am happy to say that I love my new apartment and the neighborhood I’m now in. Of course, any time you move can be hard, but it when you are a book lover like me, the process can be almost daunting.

The first thing I realized before I moved was that I needed to purge books and winnow my collection. I had a purge last year but I wound up buying more books. I remember a trip to Northshire Books in Saratoga that yielded me with 4 or 5 new books. That isn’t helpful when you have to move.

Last year I blogged about purging books, so I won’t go into great detail but the whole process of getting rid of books was not easier the second time around. What helped in a was knowing that I was getting a Kindle, so I could get rid of some classics as well as popular books that would be no trouble finding in most bookstores, like The Hunger Games trilogy a friend gave. I also got rid of big books like The Interestings by Meg Wurlitzer or A Little Life by Hannah Yanagihara. Still, I think the biggest book I got rid of was The Quincunx by Charles Palliser. Published in 1989, it tells a Dickensean mystery that takes place in 19th Century London. According to Wikipedia, the book has “an ambiguous ending and unreliable narrators ” and it is only 1,221 pages long. And people complain about reading Infinite Jest.
My friend Ryan was a big help in contacting the AIDS Council for me so I could donate 14 boxes of books and CDs to them. They actually had someone come to my apartment to take them away. I was hoping it would be a couple of hunky gay men carting off my books and complimenting me on my taste in literature but I got an older man in his 60’s. He got all the boxes out of my apartment in 15 or 20 minutes. I felt like a weight fell off my shoulders.

When the day of the move arrived, I worried that I still had too many books. I had 8 or 9 boxes of books to move. I was happy that I all my books got moved in one day. My brother wanted to reuse one of the boxes books were in so he, my nephew Alex and my co-worker Gabe filled the bookcase that was already there in the small room off the kitchen. I also gave Gabe The Children by Edith Wharton, since he is a big fan of Wharton.

Of course, I have gone back to my old book whoring ways. I went to Pride a couple of weeks ago and the gay science fiction group’s table of free books and despite the heat, I picked up 16 books! I got a couple of Nagio March mysteries as well as the 2nd and 3rd book in The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy. I also found an old Ballentine edition of A Fan’ s Notes by Fredrick Exley with a 1970′ s cover. At least I did not go to the sidewalk sale at Stuyvesant Plaza that was run by The AIDS Council last Saturday. I am not that much of a loon.

About the author: Don Levy

Don Levy has been part of the Albany poetry scene since 1989, when he first read at the QE2 open mic. He has read at various venues and events in Albany, including The Albany Public Library, Poets in the Park, Poets Speak Loud at McGeary’s (where he was once roasted), and the Third Thursday Poetry Night at The Social Justice Center. He has hosted a number of readings over the years, the first being at The Albany Art Gallery on Jefferson Street, to his last, a featured reader / open mic series called Live From the Living Room, a straight-friendly reading held at The Pride Center of the Capital Region.

Don was one of the editors of Open Mic: The Albany Anthology., a fantastic book that featured work from the poets who frequented the local open mics in the mid-90s. He published 2 chapbooks with local artist Kevin Bruce: How Green Was My Big Eden, a collection of gay fantasy poems, and Super Queer Poet Saves the Day. He currently writes a book blog called The Next Chapter right here on the Albany Poets website.