become its own mountain

On the walk to school.

Grace Jones, Hurricane Dub
Ian McEwan, Amsterdam
Matthew Dear, Black City
Cerebral Ballzy, The Griptape, Vol. 2
Roots Manuva vs. Wrongtom, Duppy Writer
Aceyalone & the Lonely Ones, The Lonely Ones
Various Artists, ATP I'll Be Your Mirror USA Mixtape

• It's been a busy couple of days.
   
• I'm debating whether it is worth the labyrinthine Special Collections library process required to read LSU's remote storage copy of René Daumal's Mount Analogue. (hat tip to 50 Watts for introducing it to my world) I suspect the process would become its own mountain. I might find wisdom at the top. Or just another mountain.
   
• Zadie Smith prefaces her Believer conversation with Ian McEwan with
    I have often thought Ian McEwan a writer as unlike me as it is possible to be.
   
  despite the fact that the first chapter of Amsterdam seemed Zadie Smith as hell, or maybe vice-sersa. The posturing of semi-ineffectual men-in-authority over a wild woman caged by unfortunate destiny, c'mon. Maybe that is just the Modern English Novel talking and she means something finer that I'm too coarsely American to detect.
  
  Coming off like either writer is not a bad thing, by the way.
     
• Aceyalone comes off awesome, as does Ms. Treasure Davis in this ri-cheer.
  
  
  Aceyalone, "Can't Hold Back" feat. Treasure Davis
    
• There is another copy of Mount Analogue sitting at another library to which I ostensibly have borrowing rights, but I believe I owe fines. I can't log in to see. The question is: do I go through the shuffle of paperwork and endure the restrictions (I'd have to read it under watch in a reading room) to read the free copy, go across town and pay my fines to get it from the less complicated institution, or just buy the damn thing outright? In terms of work-hours, option three is the bargain. I think this might be a question of politics. Do I just choose to own it because it is easier than sharing? Is it time or money, or the mix of both, that is the big hurdle to my not reading right now? Should I own, rent, or just use the thing? Or forget it existed?
  
  If it was available for Kindle, we'd probably not even be having this discussion, presuming you are still listening. Is this a discussion if you, dear reader, have smartly stopped reading at this point? Also, I wonder if actually reading the book will provoke as much thought as have the potentialities around acquiring the book. Is there a difference between acquisition and having? I think I'm at the foothills of a media theory. I'm going to title the resulting book about the experience Climbing Mount Analogue: What is a Book and How Do We Read One. You can forget I said anything and then congratulate me via Facebook after hearing me talking about it on Fresh Air. Yep, it'll be sweet. Wait, where did you go? Hello?