PPOM #4 Giving away my books

It's the last post for Potentially Problematic Opinions Month! I can't believe it's come around so fast, although in other ways it's been a very long month. I have been so busy at work, I'm working extra hours (much to the loving disapproval of my father), which means that my house is looking a bit messy. As well as messy, I've been noticing for a few months now that it looks really cluttered. So I'm going to get rid of the items I have the most of - books. Horror!

Some of my friends are horrified at this plan to get rid of some of my books, and others can't believe I'm not planning to get any money for them. Personally, I'm just at the point where I want the extraneous tomes out of my house. Don't get me wrong, I love books, but at the moment I'm tired of being surrounded by so many of them that I don't want to read. 

I have favourite books which I return to year after year, and which I love re-reading - I get something new out of them every time I read them. These are the books I'm going to keep. But I also have shelves full of books I had to buy for school or university which didn't really grab me. And I have books which I've read and enjoyed and... that's it. I'm not in love with them, and I don't plan to read them again. 

Then there are the books I've received as gifts, or for free, or as review copies. Some of these I really enjoyed, but I don't necessarily want to keep them in my house forever. I'm all about priorities - there are lots of books out there that I do want to buy and keep around forever, so I need to make some room. 

One of my friends said that I can't love books as much as I say I do if I'm "throwing them away". Bollocks. I love books so much, I'm making room for more. It's not like I'm making a giant bonfire in the local park, I'm planning to donate them all to a charity. This lets other people see books they perhaps wouldn't be exposed to, and they can even buy them cheaply! 

But another one of my friends is annoyed with me that I'm planning to give them away. She says that since I spent so much money acquiring these books, I should get some money back. Plus, the money I get can go towards new books. I do like the idea of money for more books, but it just doesn't sit right with me. A lot of these books I got for free, and the books I paid for, I feel like I've got my moneys worth. I've read them as many times as I want, and now I want the space they are occupying more than I want the books. 

I will admit, this is a weird PPOM post, but it's what's going on in my life at the moment. 

I've really loved being part of PPOM, and I thank Alex very much for inviting me to be a part of it. Posts this week include this one from Alex herself, one from Britt in Boots, one from Lizzy at Hum Drum Plum, a post from Tim at Hutt of Tea (who is new to PPOM!) and more to come. 

PPOM #3 What's with the foul language?

I am really sick of hearing bad language in public. Everyone seems to be using it, including myself sometimes, but there are still some occasions when it's just not appropriate, and I'm tired of being afraid to ask for it to stop or being sneered at when I do ask.

I have been in a few situations recently where I've heard people swearing in public, and I really don't like it. In particular, on the train. There seems to be something about the train, especially when people get on in a group, that feels like home, as if somehow, the people sitting within touching distance can't hear you. Lately, there seems to be a lot people being reasonably calm and swearing. They're just using the f-word as punctuation, not in an angry, scary way, and not in a malicious way. It's almost as if they don't realise that it could be offensive to some people.

Now, I'm not innocent of this. I started out not swearing at all, and then I kind of went the other way. Now I'm trying to rein it in again, and it's really hard. I always feel particularly bad when I swear at work, which I'm really working on stopping altogether. Although it relieves some tension in the moment, I always regret it immediately afterwards, and feel guilty for using bad language around my co-workers. Plus, it's not just around my co-workers, anybody could be walking past our office and hear what I'm saying. That's not a great feeling.

Bad language is also more prevalent in music, making it difficult to sing along to the radio, and making me horrified when I hear my little cousins innocently singing words I don't ever want to hear them say, let alone when they're still in primary school and don't even understand what they mean.

I think my biggest problem is that people are using this language because it's easy. They just don't want to think harder about what's coming out of their mouth, how they are expressing their thoughts - it's laziness. I do not like that. How you communicate your thoughts matters, and you should think hard about that. I know that I spend all day talking to people, and I think I owe them the respect of choosing my words carefully. Now, why would I go to all the trouble with the customers I deal with, and not show the same respect to my wonderful colleagues? Why would I be so careful around strangers on the train, and not around my friends and family, who I love?

So I'm declaring a moratorium on bad language for myself. I don't want to say it, and I'd prefer it if it isn't used around me, although I respect the right of people to use whatever language they like wherever they are legally allowed to do so - don't forget, there is a law against using 'disorderly, offensive, threatening and violent' language in public in Victoria, which can see you receive a $240 fine.

Inspired by my own experiences, and by this post at The Rheel Daze.

More PPOM posts: from Lizzy at Hum Drum Plum, a defence of Sansa Stark; from Noni at A Doll's Drivellings, on being fat (Noni has just joined PPOM, and it's great to have her); and Alex at Adventure in TV-land talks about Aussie politics.

PPOM #2 Who is Dr Who

I just love watching Dr Who, although I never really watched the original series - I'm a fan of the re-boot. I really loved Christopher Eccleston, and I thought David Tennant was great too. I did lose interest slightly a few episodes into Matt Smith's tenure, but I did still occasionally check in.

Most recently, I was caught up in the speculation about who would become the new Doctor. There was a lot of speculation about who might be considered, and I found a lot of it really interesting. As I said, I'm not a hard-core fan, but I do like the show, and I like being a part of conversations about it. It was really interesting to see who people thought would be good at the part, and occasionally adding my own opinions about that.

However, there was one type of conversation I steered right away from: discussions about the gender of the next Doctor. I was really frustrated by conversations about this, as I just couldn't understand them - the Doctor is a man, he has always been a man, it is only right and proper that he continue to be man. Although Time Lords don't die, but rather regenerate with a new body, they don't change their gender.

My problem with a lot of the posts was that they seemed to want Steven Moffat (the lead writer for the show, and an executive producer) to choose a woman, for no other reason than they (the fans) wanted a woman to play Dr Who. I really don't understand that - Dr Who is a man. If you want to see more great female characters, then push for that, but I don't think re-casting a fantastic, well-known role in a different gender is the answer.

This post was inspired by a lot of people, mostly random commentators on the internet, and also specifically a tweet by Adele Walsh, the Program Coordinator at the Centre for Youth Literature (the tweet read "Having a fandom tumblr blog doesn't make you an authority on the decisions currently being made in the writer's room. Ugh.") and an article Justine Larbalestier tweeted about, which can be found here, called Why I Hate Strong Female Characters.

Also, this post was due up last week, but I got swamped at work and I couldn't make it happen. Fortunately, the other guys were more organised and got their posts up. Lizzy is talking about crumpets and Britt wants people to stop lecturing her about safety. Finally, Alex is talking about Dr Who - she's another person who inspired this post.

Potentially Problematic Opinions Month

I was so delighted when Alex from Adventures in TV Land contacted me, and even more delighted when she asked me to be part of a group blogging about Potentially Problematic Opinions Month over August.

I have really enjoyed reading Adventures in TV Land over the past year or so, and it's great to feel that Alex is now reading my blog - no pressure!

Anyway, on to Potentially Problematic Opinions Month!

Working in a bookstore, there are lots of potentially problematic opinions - liking or not liking certain books, authors or genres; recommending a book you know the child will love but having to try and convince the parent; and even dressing a certain way - I've been told, 'you don't look like you read fantasy, get me someone else'.

One question which comes up again and again, in bookstores around the world, is 'have you read all these books?' If the bookseller answers 'no', which they usually have to do, because no-one has that kind of time, then they're asked 'if you haven't read them all, how do you know what to recommend?'

Personally, I have a troubled relationship with the classics. Although there are many that I do love there are many more that I do not.

I love adventure tales, and stories of shipwrecks, but I have never read Moby Dick. I have never been moved to even pick it up and read the blurb.

I have never read anything by Ernest Hemingway. I know a few stories about Hemingway - the touching shortest of short stories he wrote ("Baby shoes for sale. Never worn.") and that he fought in Spain and loved bullfighting, and his legendary drinking. But again, I've never been moved to pick up a single one of his books.

I borrowed Dante's Inferno from a friend after she raved about it. I had it for A YEAR and still didn't read it all. I barely got into Hell.

I don't mind that I don't connect with some of the classics, but it was a big problem for some of the customers at the store, and it continues to be a big problem with some people I meet who know that I love books, but are shocked, horrified or disgusted because I don't love the books they think everyone should love.

Obviously, these people are wrong, but it's annoying when it happens.Everyone has their own top ten books, their favourites, books they return to time after time, books which have touched their lives and given strength in times of trouble and comfort in times of distress. Everyone has the right to choose their own books. I don't mind listening to people make the case for why I should read their favourite books, in fact I love it, but please, tread carefully when talking about classics to me.

Note that you can read more posts from people who are part of Potentially Problematic Opinions month here (from Britt in Boots), here (from Hum Drum Plum) and here (Adventures in TV Land).