There is reason for joy!
Some of my friends will be going to Dubai this October, and they are more than willing to help bring over some personal items for me. Since the books are the heaviest items in my luggage, I will be asking my friends to help bring over my books.
I am so glad for friends.
You might like to know the final list of books I have arranged to be brought to Dubai. Actually, you might not be interested at all, but I'm going to list them here anyway.
1. Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, Deborah Madison
~ Since eating out in Dubai will be expensive, most of my meals will probably have to be prepared at home. When I lamented to my friends that the thought of having to eat my own cooking everyday depresses me, The Lawyer told me, "What's why you get better."
I know practice makes perfect, but I also know I need some help. It's madness to bring a 752-paged cookbook onto the plane, but I actually did pack it in my backpack earlier. I'm so glad someone is helping me bring it over.
Did I mention how grateful I am for friends?
2. The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoevsky [translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky]
~ I'm trying to finish the volume but I may not be able to do so, which means it will have to come along. It's a heavy hardcover from the Everyman's Library. I'm definitely not being practical here. :\
3. What I Talk About When I Talk about Running, Haruki Murakami [translated by Philip Gabriel]
~ I just received my copy last week, so I had no time to pack it into a carton. It's coming along.
4. The Histories, Herodotus
~ I swear I need to finish this volume soon.
5. & 6. The final two volumes of Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time - The Prisoner and the Fugitive & Finding Time Again
~ Like I've said many times: I'm determined to finish the Proustian epic
7. Soft City, Jonathan Raban
~ Written in 1974, it's supposed to be part travelogue, part memoir, part essay on navigating the urban labyrinth. I mooched it some time back because Jonathan Raban was supposed to be one of those writers whose books defined classification.
It's a small mass paperback that slipped me as I was packing books into boxes. I decided to bring it along for variety since it's so compact.
8. Conditions of Love, John Armstrong
~ A slim volume on the philosophy of love. Again, for the variety, and because it's compact.
9. & 10. Asylum, Patrick McGrath & The Ghost Writer, John Harwood
~ For the R.I.P. III Challenge
11. Of Human Bondage, W. Somerset Maugham
~ I have a Bantam mass paperback version of this from years back. It's supposed to be one of Maugham's finest.
12. The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco [translated by William Weaver]
~ I'm reading it right now. It's in a handy Warner mass paperback. The pages are yellow and stained with oily fingerprints from the last time I brought it with me to Koh Samui.
13. Sitting: A Guide to Buddhist Meditation, Diana St. Ruth
~ To remind me of what is important.
Thirteen is auspicious, right?
9 comments:
You remind me of my dad -- he packs ultra-light when travelling -- then proceeds to weigh himself down with as many books as he can cram in. :-)
When do you fly out?
yea for good friends!! Dubai? permanent move? I really need to catch up on blog reading!!!
wil - You're right. Your dad sounds awfully like me in terms of packing. OMG. :)
I fly out coming Monday - 15th Sept.
Heather - Oh yes. Good friends are so good to have in life.
It's not really a permanent move. It's a one-year renewable contract to Dubai. I'll see how I adapt within that year.
So, these are the only books you're bringing with you?
13 is auspicious, and yes, the first one is vital, even if extra-large!
Yay for book hauling friends; it's good to know your supply won't be limited to these 13 only.
duck thief - I thought of bringing more, but most of my books are packed into boxes already. And whatever I bring over, I have to bring back. So, this is it. Maybe along the way friends will come visit and help me out.
Melanie - I suspect I will be bad and buy books in Dubai anyway. :)
The cookbook is a great idea; I wish I'd brought one here.
Bybee - Thanks. I have been told the cookbook was a CRAZY idea. *grin*
13, a good number. And what a good selection of books. I think Herodotus will go well with Dubai :)
Post a Comment