The Dismantled Library: Reaching for the Stars

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Reaching for the Stars

Reaching for the Stars: The Inspiring Story of a Migrant Farmworker Turned Astronaut
José Hernández
2012
Weight: 1 lb
Method of Disposal: Lending Library

I dream of space and of one day traveling there. Or, at least, I thought I did, but now I know mine was a lazy dream. José showed me what dreaming of space really looks like, and it looks like a lot of hard work and natural intelligence. I was telling someone about his story tonight, and they stopped me to ask if it was a fictional story. It is not. It is incredible.

The story of José is amazing, though this book is not. I am not too keen on his writing, but I am okay with that. He is good at everything else. It wouldn't be fair if he was a master author too! I am very interested to hear what he will do next after his most recent attempt at politics. I am sure he will continue to do great things.

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Among the Rubble of Fallen Bookshelves...

I have collected books for as long as I can remember. I worked in bookstores for years before I ended up at the animal shelter. I have gathered words, sentences, punctuation, and cover art to my own detriment. I purchased books before clothes, sometimes instead of food. I can see my childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood sprawled across many shelves and shoved into boxes that sit collecting dust, just waiting for the next big move. I think I am a woman who is afraid of commitment, settling, and stagnation. Yet the things I love most seem to coincide best with a stable, secure, immovable life. I love dogs, books, and often one woman’s company above that of others. The dogs are here for the long haul. They are too wonderful for this world and yet they are essential to it. The woman is complicated. The books are sturdy, durable, constant, perfect, and full of intrigue. They are also very heavy. They are boxes of ounces, pounds, kilograms, weight. We have moved together too many times. Maybe we met at the wrong time in the wrong place, and I have just refused to let go all of this time. I have decided to dismantle this library of thousands of books. What am I holding onto really? I have books I loved, books I hated, books that made me uneasy for weeks, and books that made someone else uneasy for weeks. I have begun to treat these books like objects and not like the magical capsules they are. I am going to give away, sell, donate all of this weight so that others can enjoy it, collect it, share it, and so that I can move more freely through my life. Libraries are where it’s at. The problem: I am terrified to let the books go. We have been together so long and put each other through so much. The only way I can imagine sending them off is if I memorialize each and every one I have left at this moment. This blog is to honor my friends, my enemies, my lovers, my life, and my words as I have collected them through the books I have read and, finally, to move away from them and onto other things. I will never stop loving books. I will never stop reading. I plan only to stop collecting so much material, so much weight.

The Dismantled Library

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Reaching for the Stars

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