Posted on 03/23/2006 11:53:14 AM PST by Physicist
Law librarian Rick Ramponi's collection of 3,000 regional cookbooks --including "Talk About Good" from the Lafayette, La., Junior League and "Shalom on the Range," which celebrates southwestern Jewish cuisine -- was manageable while he lived in a large house in Kalorama.
But when he moved to a one-bedroom Dupont Circle apartment with a partner who collects large art and architecture books, Ramponi had to exile those cherished culinary texts to a pair of rented storage units several blocks away.
Since 2002, he has spent more than $5,000 to keep them there, which "may be more than they are all worth," he concedes. "But there is a sentimental attachment and I associate them with places I've been, people I know."
Accountant Jennifer Kimball, who is studying for a master's degree in English, and policy analyst Matt Cail, who has a pair of master's degrees, call themselves "huge bibliophiles." Thus their chief requirement when condo shopping two years ago was enough wall space for shelves to hold their books. Already they have run out of space in their Alexandria flat. "Next year we will start looking for a house to buy that has room for children," she says. And books.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The house my husband wants to build has a game-room-type open room upstairs. I've talked him into installing floor-to-ceiling bookshelves all around it.
That might - just might - hold all my hardbacks, except (of course) the cookbooks, which need to be downstairs in the kitchen. So I'm trying to talk him into building some sort of bookshelf in the kitchen, or perhaps a shelf near the ceiling.
Gefilte Fish Tacos would be a great name for a band.
I read the first, dipping into it every few weeks or so on-line. I'm still plowing along in the second four years after purchasing it. It's a bit tedious, especially when he picks apart long-forgotten Roman gods or indulges in a bit of particularly abstruse etymological analysis, but it has its moments. "What are kingdoms without justice, but bands of robbers writ large?" Augustine's Confessions are a much better read.
Jorge Luis Borges is trippy. His story about the Library came to mind as soon as I saw this article.
I get a real kick out of very old cookbooks - very vague directions, no amounts, things like "bake until done" etc.
One of my favorites has a 25 page chapter on giving a dinner party. There's a one page supplement at the end on how to have a dinner party if you only have one servant. At the very end there's a single paragraph on how to have a dinner party with NO servants.
I have so many cookbooks - I could probably come up with any recipe that you could imagine (Chinese barbecued muskrat?)
I have a huge collection of other books also. I am asked a lot by acquaintances and co-workers if the book they have is valuable. I generally ask them, "Was it printed before the Gutenburg Bible? If not, then it probably isn't worth much." Of course, there are exceptions.
Ah, but is some of your furniture actually books?
We have two end tables that are really stacks of books I can't fit in the shelves.
We also have a myriad of stacks in assorted corners.
But then I think about dusting all those shelves....
Am I married to you? Sounds too close to our house for you to be a stranger?
"You can get more out of fiction upon re-reading. "
I should have been more specific. I was referring to recreational fiction, not the classics. I have all of those in my shelves.
As for non-fiction, most of what I buy is reference material. I don't memorize such books, but refer to them, as needed.
I don't know about gefilte fish, but there's a killer fish market dcalled Berth 55 down on the wharves in Long Beach, CA that runs a deli counter as part of their operation. They make awesome fish tacos.
If you're ever in the area, make it a "must" to stop in for lunch.
http://www.berth55fishmarket.com/
lol.. prolly not.. i just got off the phone with my wife and she's nowhere near a computer :)
Put me down in that category. I'm toying with the idea of putting shelves on casters so I can go multi-shelves deep.
Yea, if made right, there's nothing as good as a fish taco. Rubio's has it right.
If you're a proofreader by avocation, Project Gutenberg could use you . . . I'm up to 607 pages proofed so far.
It's a great spare-few-minutes project.
Until "Oblivion" showed up. Now I have no spare few minutes.
Yes
ROFL!
Reminds me of "The Ballad of Irving"
He was short and fat, and rode out of the West
With a Mogen David on his silver vest.
He was mean and nasty right clear through,
Which was kinda weird, 'cause he was yellow too.
They called him Irving.
Big Irving.
Big, short Irving.
Big, short, fat Irving.
The hundred and forty-second fastest gun in the West.
He came from the old Bar Mitzvah spread,
With a 10-gallon yarmulke on his head.
He always followed his mother's wishes,
Even on the range he used two sets of dishes.
Irving.
Big, fat Irving.
Big sissy Irving.
The hundred and forty-second fastest gun in the West.
A hundred and forty-one could draw faster than he,
But Irving was looking for one forty-three.
Walked into Sol's Saloon like a man insane,
And ordered three fingers of two cents plain.
Irving.
Big, fat Irving.
Big sport Irving.
The hundred and forty-second fastest gun in the West.
One day Bad Max happened into town.
His aim was to shoot fat Irving down.
Bad Max said, "Draw, and draw right now!"
And Irving drew, drew a picture of a cow.
Irving.
Big, fat Irving.
Big gunfighter Irving.
The hundred and forty-second fastest gun in the West.
The James Boys was comin' on a train at first sun,
And the town said, "Irving, we need your gun."
When that train pulled in at the break of dawn,
Irving's gun was there, but Irving was gone.
Irving.
Big, fat Irving.
Big help, Irving.
The hundred and forty-second fastest gun in the West.
Well, finally Irving got three slugs in the belly.
It was right outside the Frontier Deli.
He was sittin' there twirlin' his gun around,
And butterfingers Irving gunned himself down!
Irving.
Big, fat Irving.
Big dum-dum Irving.
Big dum-dum dead Irving.
The hundred and forty-second fastest gun in the West.
Really.
When we had our house redecorated last year, the workers who came to renovate said they had never seen so many books outside of a library.
Our entire collection of Judaica, history, math, physics, Civil War, computer manuals was carried down to the basement.
We are still sorting and cataloging. My husband has installed shelves in the basement and we will arrange according to Library of Congress classification.
Most of the Civil War collection is antique (books printed in the 1800's) but not worth much.
Few things are more satisfying than to take old, useless books to the recycle stand at the dumpster station. Fiction, excepting Graham Greene, are burnt after reading.
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