Books for the North Shore

I was having breakfast with a friend (and brother-in-law) at the Colossal Cafe on Como Avenue the other day, and he asked me what I was going to bring along to read on my upcoming trip. He knows me well, and therefore, knows that I read "odd" books. I tried to explain to him, not for the first time, perhaps, the dilemma I invariably face when selecting an array of books that might include something to match whatever mood I happen to be in—a mood quite different, in all probability, from the moods I pass through here in the city. The problem is compounded by the fact that when spending time on the North Shore, I don't want to be "drawn in" too deeply to the world of crime, or adventure, or romance; science would be okay. Thus the emphasis tends to be on essays, poetry, and philosophy.

Yet I recall that on the first canoe trips I took to the BWCA, back in the mid-sixties, I was enthralled not only by the scenery, but also by the Edgar Rice Burroughs paperbacks I brought along—Carson of Venus, Tanar of Pellucidar, that kind of thing. (Tarzan? No.)

When you're sitting on a couch in a cabin looking out on the evening glow of light on Lake Superior, and you read: "If Being is divided, it moves; and if it moved, it could not Be." (Melissus of Samos) you can open your journal and spend half an hour slowly detailing how ridiculous such a remark is, as you wait for Jupiter and Saturn to emerge from the dusk, without destroying the luscious crepuscular mood.

But poetry tends to be even more fitting for that occasion.  

One of the most important tasks when preparing for such a trip, therefore, is to comb the shelves, both upstairs and down, for books you've ignored for years that might be exactly right for such a vacation. It could take hours.

Here is the collection I came up with, accompanied by brief descriptions.  

Autumn: Essays / Karl Ove Knausgaard

This Norwegian let's it all hang out.

What Narcissism Means to Me : poems / Tony Hoagland

A little too contemporary, maybe?

The Light Around the Body: poems / Robert Bly

Bly is both earthy and spacy. I've neglected his earliest work. Now's the time.

Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers

This collocation of one-liners, like the one about Being I mentioned above, is childish and primitive and "deep."

Infinite Thought / Badiou

These French guys are crazy, but I like the title.

Spinoza /  Stuart Hampshire

A key figure. Most philosophers are impressed by the mathematical format, and fail to observe that the book is mostly a description of human emotions.

A Frost in the Night: a novel / Edith Baer

A forgotten classic of Holocaust literature? Maybe. My copy has a mark-down sticker of $1.98, with a second sticker on top of it at $.99. Both of the author's parents died in the camps. Am I ready for this?

Some Lessons in Metaphysics / Ortega y Gasset

I was thinking of writing a little book about metaphysics myself ...

Diary of Andres Fava / Julio Cortázar

What I love about this book is its origin. It consists of the journal entries written by a character in one of Cortázar's other books that he later removed.

An Intimate Look at the Night Sky / Chet Ratmo

This is my go-to astronomy book.

The Greek Philosophers from Thales to Aristotle / W.K.C. Guthrie

Short and sweet.

The Celestial Hunter / Roberto Calasso

This long book is "about" Orion, the hunter, whose name, as it turns out, is closely related to the word "urine." Kind of spoils the majesty, don't you think?

This might seem like a lot of books, but the entire stack measures only about seven inches. It will fit in my JanSport bookbag easily, though the Calasso book, a 450-page hardcover, throws things off a little.

 But maybe I should add a collection of Chekhov short stories, in case I get bored. And where are the Chinese poets?