Good gifts . . .
I have to admit that my favorite kind of gifts are the kind I got not long ago -- two great gifts in one weekend. First of all, they were totally unexpected - it wasn't my birthday, or Christmas, or Mother's day, or, well anything. And though I appreciate the generosity of any gift, they were not embarrassingly extravagant. What they were was perfect. Really perfect for ME.
The first gift was the box of card catalog note cards. It was a gift from someone who knows me very well, and it really is exactly right. The box looks like a little card catalog drawer, and contains replicas of catalog cards from the Library of Congress. They're all of cards from classic books. On the back, there's room to write a short note, and there are little envelopes to mail them in that look like the ones that held the date due cards in library books in the olden days. (You know, the olden days, before libraries used barcodes and scanners.) Eventually I will use them to write notes, but right now, the box is just sitting on a table in my living room, because I can't bear to part with any of them yet.
The book journal was from someone who probably doesn't know me all that well, but who works in a bookstore. And it too is just the thing for me. For quite a few years, I have been keeping a list of the books I read and listen to. My not very impressive reason for doing this is so that I can remember whether or not I've read a book (or just read about it), and to recall titles of books I'd like to recommend to one person or another. The flaw in my plan is that I write down books as I read them, so there's no easy way to find a particular book except to skim the list, which by now is quite long.
This journal is designed like an address book, with alphabetical tabs on the side and a page for each book. When I counted the pages and looked them over, I realized first of all that there aren't enough pages to last very long, and that I probably didn't want to reflect quite so much on each book I read as to take a whole page. So, I'm using the alpha tabs (by author) but not using the whole page, just a paragraph or so, and a star rating for each book. Also, I'm using some blank tabs at the back to STILL keep a chronological list of the books I'm reading, because sometimes I need to be reminded of the title (or author) of a book I just finished. My mind really is a sieve like that, I'm afraid. And so far, this journal is working out great!
How about you? Have you ever received a perfect gift, just because?
The first gift was the box of card catalog note cards. It was a gift from someone who knows me very well, and it really is exactly right. The box looks like a little card catalog drawer, and contains replicas of catalog cards from the Library of Congress. They're all of cards from classic books. On the back, there's room to write a short note, and there are little envelopes to mail them in that look like the ones that held the date due cards in library books in the olden days. (You know, the olden days, before libraries used barcodes and scanners.) Eventually I will use them to write notes, but right now, the box is just sitting on a table in my living room, because I can't bear to part with any of them yet.
The book journal was from someone who probably doesn't know me all that well, but who works in a bookstore. And it too is just the thing for me. For quite a few years, I have been keeping a list of the books I read and listen to. My not very impressive reason for doing this is so that I can remember whether or not I've read a book (or just read about it), and to recall titles of books I'd like to recommend to one person or another. The flaw in my plan is that I write down books as I read them, so there's no easy way to find a particular book except to skim the list, which by now is quite long.
This journal is designed like an address book, with alphabetical tabs on the side and a page for each book. When I counted the pages and looked them over, I realized first of all that there aren't enough pages to last very long, and that I probably didn't want to reflect quite so much on each book I read as to take a whole page. So, I'm using the alpha tabs (by author) but not using the whole page, just a paragraph or so, and a star rating for each book. Also, I'm using some blank tabs at the back to STILL keep a chronological list of the books I'm reading, because sometimes I need to be reminded of the title (or author) of a book I just finished. My mind really is a sieve like that, I'm afraid. And so far, this journal is working out great!
How about you? Have you ever received a perfect gift, just because?
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