{"id":2811,"date":"2013-12-04T00:00:55","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T06:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.twocities.org\/?p=2811"},"modified":"2013-12-04T00:59:37","modified_gmt":"2013-12-04T06:59:37","slug":"chopping-up-a-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/?p=2811","title":{"rendered":"THE AX IS FALLING!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am 55. \u00a0My lovely wife is 53. \u00a0And she is lovely so many ways, not the least of which she loves to read (more below).<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We have a very good library: diverse and some of the best books in their respective categories. \u00a0It was put together over a lifetime. \u00a0Our library did not cost a lot because we have gone to library sales, used bookstores, received books from friends and family, and get many wonderful books to review from publishers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I read on Scot McKnight’s blog that Michael Quicke is “retiring” from teaching at Northern. \u00a0In one of Quicke’s posts about his move back to England, he talks about the painful process of downsizing his library. \u00a0Quicke has about ten years on me, but for years I’ve been whittling a little bit every month to make the process a bit easier. \u00a0Not easy to be sure. \u00a0For the foreseeable future our library will most likely hover around 2500-3000 books. \u00a0Without my regular whittling it might be twice that size by now, and much more painful to address.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I get older, I find myself rereading more frequently, especially the books which have truly formed my convictions. \u00a0And the books which showcase a craftsman at work.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So I will keep chopping up our library with my metaphorical ax.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here is Quicke’s wonderful, but poignant piece:<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/michaelquicke.blogspot.com\/2013\/11\/changing-life-4.html<\/a><\/p>\n

If you don’t want have time to read the entire piece, consider these words of wisdom:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“And saying goodbye\u00a0sometimes comes with cruel reality checks as I realize I cannot possibly read all that I once hoped to delive into.\u00a0\u00a0For example, I have collected books on particular subjects that I was going to dive into,\u00a0 that I even imagined that I could write books about,\u00a0but I now realize time is running out!\u00a0I remember an athletic deacon in my first church saying that he had suddenly realized that certain things would never happen for him, like playing cricket for England.\u00a0I remember being amused, but then realizing he was being serious.\u00a0 (I\u00a0appreciate US friends would not likely take this seriously anyway!) \u00a0 Yes, what once seemed limitless pastures are now ring-fenced.\u00a0 I am grateful that I shall still be able to graze but I can see a fence.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am 55. \u00a0My lovely wife is 53. \u00a0And she is lovely so many ways, not the least of which she loves to read (more below). We have a very good library: diverse and some of the best books in their respective categories. \u00a0It was put together over a lifetime. \u00a0Our library did not cost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,16,9,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-death","category-reading","category-spiritual-life","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2811"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2838,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2811\/revisions\/2838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}