stacked up …
July 8, 2009 § 20 Comments
The thing is, magazines will slide under the seat of your car, lie quietly beneath a coat tossed over a chair or crumple themselves up in the backseat. They will sit patiently next to the bed (a place where you go only twice a day and not necessarily to look up a recipe in a magazine), on the bottom shelf of the coffee table, in the office, under the papers that “need to be filed” and even in a beach bag, idly packed when you were going to have one of those afternoons poolside but then the phone rings and you run out the door, bathing suit on under your clothes for whatever lark of a reason to join a friend or run an errand or pick up someone at the airport.
Sigh.
And those magazines begin to stack up, to make a slippery pile, to shine quietly, sometimes as reminders of what you don’t have time to do – READ! And they wait. And they wait. And they fear, as do you, that you must might toss them out, just to be rid of the pile and the reminder of something not accomplished.
It’s OK. I have baggedthe nearly two dozen unread magazines so that they, too, can go on vacation with us. They can go for the long ride – magazines love road trips. They can go into the diners and be at the table, a great distraction with a quiet breakfast crew or good for table talk should conversation lag (like that’s ever going to happen!). They can spread out on the coffee table at the condo and look pretty enough for everyone to peruse (or not).
Yup, hoping to catch up on each and every one of them, kinda like Bree did on her 30-magazines-in-30-days challenge. Which is really a great idea.
So not trashing the mags, not nixing the NEW YORKERs that have been breeding next to the wing chair, not ignoring two issues of POETS & WRITERS, not saying no to four back issues of VOGUE, and one issue of MORE, and how did this one, the current issue of COASTAL LIVING, get in the mix? Phew. All are invited. All are going along for the ride. And who knows what great articles and short stories await?
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Good Luck! Your New Yorkers are probably as dense in article content at my education journals so they really are a LOT of reading. I’ve finished the easy ones first (Real Simple, O, Eating Light). You will feel liberated from one less stack in your house. Have a great vacation!
Well, I have my doubts about the pages of those New Yorkers seeing any light! You would probably be best off if you just quietly slipped them into a bag and donated them to an office or hospital waiting room somewhere. I am even willing to bet you won’t read them on this trip! Where are you going? Have fun 🙂
Bree and Q – I have finished 2 mags! 2! Yay. But I’m totally distracted by bookstores here in NOLA! Easy does it, I tell myself, and absolutely NO buying other magazines, even though this city has several of its own…!
Big grins! I’ve been really magazine-challenged lately! New Yorkers take forever to get through — and the articles “hold” (I will periodically discover several-year-old New Yorker articles at the lake and think, “Why didn’t I read this before?” The cooking mags — save the recipe? Throw it? I’ll need it someday. Art magazines — don’t even think about it. I did give up “Vanity Fair” for the NY reason!
But you really know you are in trouble when you return with a bunch of magazines in a language you can’t even read! And you bought them…Why?
Hope you have a fabulous vacation and catch up on everything!
Poor, poor neglected New Yorkers; there are stacks of them everywhere here (I cannot bear to be rid of them, but I never get to them either). Hope you can get through some of yours, but not at the expense of a relaxing and fun–which I hope is not a contradiction in terms–vacation. Enjoy, enjoy!!
Jeanie and DS – you’re right – it takes a while to get through the NYer mags but making progress. They look very nice spread out on the glass coffee table in the place we’re staying and the family is paging through them as well.
And this city is so hot (sweaty), exotic (decor and foliage) and rich (culture, history) oh and friendly, that I am taking more pages of notes and pictures than I am reading…!
I love the idea of this – taking the poor, unread magazines getting a “Flat Stanley” kind of road trip. I’m bringing some unread books on mine. 😉 Enjoy!
Jen – Yes, they are traveling about like Flat Stanely I’d forgotten about that little character.
And the gnome who was a faux traveler in the movie “Amelie!”
more later on reading progress…!
the only rule I have is that if you find something funny/weird/randomly interesting, you share it with us during the car ride down, k?
oh Laylou I’ll probably drive you nuts with the stuff I share from them!
Ha, the only reading I can rely on getting done is magazine reading because I like to read those in the morning when I’m eating breakfast or at night when I’m going to bed. But then again, no claims that the mags I’m reading are very literary. It might be a different case if the articles are like a page long!
And why would one want to read them online when you can get-a-hold of them in your hands, by the pool, in the car, or anywhere as you said, beautiful cover art, even if you don’t actually read the articles, you can still browse the funnies, look at the art, and just flip the pages… I’m all for the printed page! Who cares that they’re piling up and unread. These are one of the remaining simple pleasures of life before technology completely takes over!
Kim – I’m cheating . I’m reading the “easy” magazines first like VOGUE and FAST COMPANY. though I’ve polished off 2 NYers. Onward!
Arti – You are so right and I am so with you on the fact and luxury of having actual copy to hold in my hand and read. I am a pathetic online reader; my eyes blur and I am disgusted by having to turn it on, log in, etc etc.
We must do all we can to be sure that “paper” copy endures.
Shore- It’s working! I’ve fanned the magazines out on the table and the family is enjoying them as well. What a wonderful leisurely yet absorbing “pasttime” while doing the vacation thing. And, best of all, there are comments and sharing about stuff within the pages. sigh. bliss.
Karen – I just wrote to you! I can’t believe it. I’m nearly hopping up and down.
Which reminds me that I have several things to mail out to several of you fellow bloggers as well!
Bellezza – Ah, a fellow magazine lover. And I agree with you about REAL SIMPLE. I used to save the covers! I guess after the “newness” of it and others picking up on it, they’ve had to morph it a bit. I find the same to be true with MORE magazine, though some issues seem to just hit the mark all the way through the issue.
Yea, Arti! Slow Reading! It’s a virtue, after all, especially with The New Yorker. In the first place, everyone knows there are articles and stories we just aren’t ready for yet, and so the magazine-muse keeps us from reading until we’re properly receptive.
Push the reading too hard or toss too soon and all is lost, I tell you! Tote those magazines, to and fro. Flip the pages. Thumb through. Start from the back. Start in the middle. Don’t start at all.
Eventually, the keepers will sort themselves out from the unnecessary, and there will be room to start the process all over again!
YOU are one of my winners for a copy of JANEOLOGY! Woo!
Send me an email at kharrin2003 AT yahoo.com with your mailing address.
Thanks,
Karen Harrington
author, Janeology
They do, they do! Those darn things just sit in a slippery pile and glare! I’m glad you’ve bundled yours for a road trip. I cancelled all of mine, and now I’m thinking of ordering Real Simple again. The only problem is: the things in there aren’t that simple any more.
When you have time you might like to stop by for the meme I tagged you… just for some mid-summer fun.
I’ve let all my magazine subscriptions expire, but whenever I travel I allow myself to buy some for reading on the road. I usually go for the fun ones like People and Oprah – nothing to intellectual!
I now realise what I did wrong: I took BOOKS on holiday and should have taken all those magazines that are also piling up around my house as well. Mind you , I did take the latest Granta but must admit that I never opened it even once… Enjoy yours and have a good holiday.
Yay, Arti – I’ll be right over. It’s late. I should get to bed but I had a coffee for dessert tonight rather than sugar and darn if it isn’t working its caffeine magic at this hour!
Becca – You’re right – buying magazines on vacation is a treat, a luxury, part of the “vacay” aspect, really. Especially when you get something you wouldn’t normally get, like a regional publication or something outside the usual interest area. I’ve become rather fond of “interior design” magazines when feeling more visual than academic. There’s something about Victoriana and also Cottage Living. (my house is neither!)
Dear Sea – yup, magazines are great travelers and also great leave-behinds when you’re finished with them. I started out with about 8 pounds of magazines and came with about 1 pound (complete guesstimates on the weight, but it’s the relativity that’s important here!)