A Good Old Fashoned Bookburning

[Sheldonrs]

Originally Posted by Flint

They recently went off on The Silmarillon, on the Radiohead board at Audiogalaxy.

Quote:
"I don't think anyone made it that far in to tell. Like Godboy, I read about one paragraph, some such about some spirit gods or somefuck and then threw it over my bookshelf into my pile of cumrags. "


I couldn't do that! My cum rags are "precious" to me.

[Sundae]

5-10 pages I accept, although personally I'd have to read the whole of any book I intended to burn, in case there was a redeeming quality later on.

But one paragraph (Flint's quote from AG)?
Anyone who tosses anything into cum rags (well, not quite anything) after one paragraph watches too much MTV.

[Cicero]

People around here weren't so accepting when I told them I threw my Heidegger book in the fire. Maybe I have opened their eyes to the advantages. It sure sounds like it.

It's great that we can grow together.

Explanation:

Heidegger was one of my faves, until a favorite book was edited and I bought the second book with all the edits. That's when it turned dark....and ugly...then I was disappointed, then I was angry and felt betrayed...the fire was going already and plop!

Mmmmm..satisfaction! I still don't feel guilty for it and I am proud of myself for not keeping that all bottled up. If you look at the alternatives, there is no one to complain to about my upset with Heidegger, and what once was my favorite books. It's a year later and I am still happy with the decision I made. I have spent a lot of money and time on Heidegger, specifically. I had a right to be upset. It was kind of like a break up, and I always did describe Heidegger as a bad boyfriend; someone you spend all your money and time on and still don't understand.....When that understanding came and I was supplied with more evidence, there was no defending him anymore. In the fire with you, jerk!!!

I spent the better part of my twenties pouring through his work and spending my last dime on him. Bye bye!

If there is a reason you feel like you need to express yourself in that way, do it. Not everyone has relationships with their reading material and their subjects, so they don't know, and their opinions should stand mute.

Sorry, I got here late, but I understand......Don't let anyone shame you for that activity. People used to burn books for moral reasons (still do I'm sure), and people confuse that, with the burning of books because of your connection with them. People don't always burn books because they think they are on a moral high ground. Sometimes they just burn them because they feel upset and betrayed. Just let them do it or you are going to have to hear all about it, which is probably going to be a lot more painful than just letting them do it.

[xoxoxoBruce]

But, but, but, rather than burning them, which destroys Polar bear habitat, there are alternatives.
Shred them into your mulch pile and poop on them to accelerate the breakdown.
Or pile them in the attic/basement, because they make wonderful habitat for silverfish and a bunch of different molds.
Slower, but maybe more satisfying, is lining the birdcage, a page or two at a time.

Be creative... and kind to Al Gore.

[Cicero]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

But, but, but, rather than burning them, which destroys Polar bear habitat, there are alternatives.
Shred them into your mulch pile and poop on them to accelerate the breakdown.
Or pile them in the attic/basement, because they make wonderful habitat for silverfish and a bunch of different molds.
Slower, but maybe more satisfying, is lining the birdcage, a page or two at a time.

Be creative... and kind to Al Gore.

In the heat of the moment I forgot about Al Gore?!? Golly. Oh jeez...Now I feel terrible about the whole thing. Thank you Bruce, this is an excellent point!!

Having the heat off and going down to the art studio to make a fire to stay warm, by way of burning Heidegger, is not earth friendly. Noted. :p lol!

[Sundae]

I will admit - I would only burn books metaphorically.
But then I don't have an open fire, so there is no temptation to do it physically.

I take the no-hopers (back!) to the charity shop. The really good ones go to my Mum. The amazing ones I add to my stash. Which I have to decimate (at least) before I move

[ZenGum]

Tail posting:

Flint: may have invented perpetual motion.

Sheldon: Skip the first two sections of the Silmarillion. They're very abstract. The third bit has lots of specific stories and is good. The fourth bit is also good.

Cicero: Never read any German philosopher whose name starts with "H" or "S".

My burning? The Chronicles of Narnia. Just out of spite.
I was raised free of religion, read the books, got to know them as well as a rabbi knows the Torah, and then learned more about Christianity ... wait a #$%&ing minute ... these books are about religion!!! This bastard hs been smuggling religion into my mind without declaring it! Betrayed! Fury! Burn in hell, Lewis!

[Urbane Guerrilla]

I'm a bit surprised it should fall to me to suggest burning the greater part of L. Ron Hubbard's output. Include Dianetics at your option.

X-Lydia tells me she read it on a dare, and says it creeped her out thoroughly. The book seemed the work of an obsessive madman.

And Battlefield Earth the work of an obsessive madman bereft of an editor.

Works not for burning but perhaps for pillorying: the less mature later work of Piers Anthony, particularly his not-juvie work, the stuff that isn't Xanth -- whose proper demographic is readers between nine and fourteen.

Those are also the kids who should be reading Harry Potter, which is literature. Kid-Lit, yes, but literature nonetheless. Ibram, if through some concatenation of circumstances you should become a father, read this to your kids. You may be in the right place in life for that by then.

[Sundae]

Oh yes - Battlefield Earth! I'm warming my hands on it already...
I wouldn't burn Anthony's Xanth books. I read them when I was 12-13 and although I despised them (and he had the gall to suggest they were like the Chronicles of Prydain!) they had some saving graces. I liked the idea of how creatures made up of more than one animal were created. I liked the idea of successive waves of invasion/ magic. A couple of others which I can't remember.

Battlefield Earth had no saving grace. Unless you could the size - it worked as a book end on my shelf for a while. But I don't count it, personally.

[Number 2 Pencil]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

Battlefield Earth had no saving grace. Unless you could the size - it worked as a book end on my shelf for a while. But I don't count it, personally.

I think it's unintentionally funny. Jets that work in perfect flying condition after over 1k years? And a bunch of barbarians learn to fly them easily? It reads like classic pulpy sci-fi adventure from a magazine with a cover that has a giant BEM attacking a screaming lady in scanty clothes who is being saved by a manly man in tights and a ray gun.

[Sundae]

Nah. I mean of course YMMV, but I can read Dennis Wheatley and find it funny, but Battlefield Earth? Not enough leaven in that loaf.

[Number 2 Pencil]

The fourth book and beyond of any Piers Anthony series are redundant, and as such are a waste of paper.