Silsby Samizdat

The dangers of being out of rehearsals

I have discovered that being in rehearsals for a show is a fiscal responsibility tool for me. When I am in rehearsals, I have no time to read outside materials. I have to work on the script and spend my time with the show.

However, once a show opens, then my pocketbook and my personal library are in trouble. Over the past month and a half, I've finished two of the books that I purchased well over a year ago that I hadn't had time to read between rehearsals, classes, conferences, and paper-writing. Tuesday on the bus, I finished the last page of my collection of literature that I had in my collection (I still have some non-fiction, biographies, and sci-fi, but I am in a literary mood right now). So I made the dangerous mistake of going to the neighborhood used book store.

The reason this is dangerous is that they do have tens of thousands of used books, but they also have a new book section. So if you can't find the book used, they are sure to have it new - at full price. And that is what happened to me last night. I went in, looking for a specific set of writers (the same ones I always look for when rifling through a used book store) in the used book section, and walked out of the store with two new books. At least, though, one was the book I had decided on before going to the store. The other was what I will call my "literary pretension tax." There is no way I will be able to finish both of these books before rehearsals start in less than a month. In fact, I fear that the second book - no... not fear, I know that the second book will end up sitting on my shelf for a long time before I can get around to it.
Some people have cars sitting in their garage, waiting years to be fixed up and driven.
Some people have home improvement projects sitting in their workshops, waiting years to be completed,
Some people have antique furniture sitting in the basement, waiting years to be restored.
I have a couple books. Not bad in comparison, I think.
But it is there all the same, sitting, staring at me, waiting for me to set aside time to start on it. I may never start on it, but then again, it took me over a year to start reading these most recent two books I finished.
What was my "literary pretension tax"? This book that will alternately haunt me, or languish forgotten under a cover of dust?
The first part of the new translation from the recently re-edited Proust.
Yea. It's going to be a while before I even attempt that book.