Ur-Texts: Goodbye?

While I realize that I only have a few more ur-texts left on my list (see below), I am postponing the project. I have too many good books building up on my shelf that I need to read. Working at a bookstore, this happens. The book that tipped the scales though, was not from the bookstore. It was a hardcover copy of Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, that I bought for a dollar at a local church yard sale. Joel has been recommending this book to me for over a year, and I decided it was time.

A few loose ends to wrap up (for now) on the ur-texts project:
1) The boundaries of the project (ONLY reading ur-texts) slipped, and I recently read Coffee: A Dark History. I hope to post on it soon. I also began reading in Ched Myers' commentary of the Gospel of Mark, Binding the Strong Man.
2) I realize that, at the inception of this project, I had a list of ur-texts to read. I will now post the (slightly amended) list, featuring links to my posts on the various texts. Starred texts have been added since the project began.

- The Dharma Bums (Kerouac) posts I and II

- One Man's Meat (White) posts I, II, and III

- Moby-Dick (Melville) posts I, II, and III

- Cannery Row (Steinbeck) posts I, II, and III

- The Prophet (Gibran) struck from the list; see the post

The Practice of the Presence of God (Brother Lawrence) the post

still unread are

- various poems (Berry)

- The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien) which I strike from the list for timeliness's sake.

- For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemingway) which I strike from the list since it is merely a favorite, and not an ur-text.

- *The Art of War (Sun Tzu) a surprise for many who know me; I hope to write on this book soon.

- East of Eden (Steinbeck) the book I name when asked for my favorite book of all time.

- *Freight Train (Crews) the ur-ur-text; the first book I ever read.

*     *     *

So there it is. It feels freeing to put the ur-texts to rest for now. Having gone just over halfway down the list, I hope to finish at some later date. For now, I can say that a common theme to many of my re-readings is the importance of context. The books that most shaped me shaped me to some degree because of the books themselves, but also because of where and when I read them. Or, as Melville says in Moby-Dick:

"Book! You lie there; the fact is, you books must know your places. You'll do to give us the bare words and facts, but we come in to supply the thoughts."