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Über meine Bibliothek

»A second shock of banality occurs to many people in my condition—that is, people who possess a fairly sizable library (large enough in my case that someone entering our house can't help but notice it; actually it takes up the whole place). The visitor enters and says, “What a lot of books! Have you read them all?” At first I thought that the question characterized only people who had scant familiarity with books, people accustomed to seeing a couple of shelves with five paperback mysteries and children's encyclopaedia, bought in installments. But experience has taught me that the same words can be uttered also by people above suspicion. It could be said that they are still people who consider a bookshelf as a mere storage place for already-read books and do not think of the library as a working tool. But there is more to it than that. I believe that, confronted by a vast array of books, anyone will be seized by the anguish of learning, and will inevitably lapse into asking the question that expresses his torment and his remorse.

»The problem is that when someone says, “Eco? You're the one who always answers,” you can reply with a little laugh and, at most, if you want to be polite, with “That's a good one!” But the question about your books has to be answered, while your jaw stiffens and rivulets of cold sweat trickle down your spine. In the past I adopted a tone of contemptuous sarcasm. “I haven't read any of them; otherwise, why would I keep them here?” But this is a dangerous answer because it invites the obvious follow-up: “And where do you put them after you've read them?” The best answer is the one always used by Roberto Leydi: “And more, dear sir, many more,” which freezes the adversary and plunges him into a state of awed admiration. But I find it merciless and angst-generating. Now I have fallen on the riposte: “No, these are the ones I have to read by the end of the month, I keep the others in my office,” a reply that on the one hand suggests a sublime ergonomic strategy, and on the other leads the visitor to hasten the moment of his departure.«

— Umberto Eco, How to Justify a Private Library, 1990

Ort

Berlin, Germany

Mitgliedschaften

TinyCat

LibraryThing Early Reviewers

Wird gerade gelesen

Kants Kritik der reinen Vernunft: Die Grundlegung der modernen Philosophie von Otfried Höffe

The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper von Roland Allen

Japan Story: In Search of a Nation, 1850 to the Present von Christopher Harding

Ich trank Gift wie kachetischen Wein: Autobiografie von Lana Gogoberidse

Letters from a Stoic (A Penguin Classics Hardcover) von Seneca

Robert Frost: Sixteen Poems to Learn by Heart von Robert Frost

Kant: Eine Einführung von Herbert Schnädelbach

Immanuel Kant: Vernunft und Leben (Reclams Universal-Bibliothek) von Volker Gerhardt

My Salinger Year von Joanna Rakoff

After Work: A History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time von Helen Hester

Beliebte Autoren

Kōbō Abe, Inio Asano, Paul Auster, Alan Booth, Julio Cortázar, E. E. Cummings, Osamu Dazai, Max Frisch, Franz Kafka, Yasunari Kawabata, Donald E. Knuth, Gabriel García Márquez, Yukio Mishima, Shigeru Mizuki, Haruki Murakami, Cees Nooteboom, Fernando Pessoa, Jirô Taniguchi, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Naoki Urasawa

Favoritenlisten

Books Read in 2016, Japanese Literature

Lokale Favoriten

Buchhandlungen: Bücherbogen am Savignyplatz, Bücherstube Marga Schoeller, Buchhandlung Anakoluth, Buchhandlung Walther König I, Buchladen zur schwankenden Weltkugel, Connewitzer Verlagsbuchhandlung Peter Hinke, DAS BUCH am Hackeschen Markt, Fundus, Grober Unfug, Internationaler Comicladen, Knesebeck Elf, Modern Graphics, comics & more, Yamashina, Japanische Buchhandlung

Bibliotheken: Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin, Haus Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek

Mitgliederverbindungen

Freunde

acrolibrary, cauchy, hypobib

Interesante Bibliotheken

accidental, acrolibrary, AFBorchert, anneken, AnthonyTFS, athaulf, baisemain, Baopu, basvodde, catarina1, conceptDawg, dcozy, domgabfil, Echnaton, falkman, Fogies, fwilhelm, HannahArendtLibrary, harmen, harveysmoke, Hempel, henrik, Hughie2, idiosyncratic, jcbrunner, johninvienna, kallimachos, kiyoaki, kleo, knerd.knitter, Kuroyagi, le.vert.galant, lilisin, marietherese, mherger, miss.mesmerized, pmcjones, pmller, rainerc, roulette.russe, scottja, signature103, sokuratzu, spaetij, sriq, t_c_s, The.New.Institute, theoria, valpa, weydert, ziobrando, zumbrunn