Our conversation about books that sit on your shelves unread and the difficulty of parting with them prompted Jen in Essex, New York, to write about her own attachment to long-outdated field guides because of the memories attached to them. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Memories Attached to Old Field Guides”
Our conversation about having too many books in your library and having to get rid of some of them prompted an email from Jen Zahorchuk of Essex, New York. Jen wrote,
When you were speaking about the emotions attached to culling books, I thought of the shelves that hold our field guides from our travels before we had kids.
Of course, so much of this reference data is online now, but there’s nothing like hiking into the wilderness with a book in your pack and the hopes of coming across a critter or a plant you’ve never seen before.
I don’t think we’ll get back to Hawaii, Scotland, or the Galapagos anytime soon, but we just can’t part with these dear books.
And I love that because I think of books that I bought in advance of travels, and they’re really outdated now.
A lot of the restaurants in there are probably closed, but I just can’t get rid of them.
Yeah, I have an attachment to books like that, a gift from a friend which he wrote The Year Inside.
Oh, yeah.
The book that I read and didn’t much care for, but I read it in Paris in the rain in a cafe with a friend, you know, that sort of thing.
Right.
You keep because it’s like the book is the memory.
Right.
Regardless of what’s inside almost.
Yes, exactly.
If you want to talk to us about your relationship with books or describe it in an email, call us 877-929-9673 or send those emails to words@waywordradio.org.
