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July 19, 2007

My library

I’ve heard the call from Booklust to “show us yer library”, and so I will. Here’s mine. Though I envisage one day having a library unto itself, right now it’s embedded right into the household with the TV in its midst. Which is not such a terrible thing, really, to get to look at our books all the livelong day. I can gaze up at the colours on those shelves the way I might lie under the Christmas tree just to see the lights sparkle– the effect is as good. My library is arranged in alphabetical order by author’s surname, the one exception being biographies which use subject’s. ‘A’ starts at the bottom of the tall shelf and the alphabet continues up and over to the shorter shelf. I start at the bottom so I don’t look as obsessive-compulsive at first glance. The pile of books to the right of the tall shelf are my discards– for the Victoria Collge Book Sale or for friends to pick through when they come over. Though it hurts me, I make a point of only keeping books I love, and pruning my shelves periodically gives me an enormous sense of well-being. But even still, the collection is spreading rapidly. We have another tall shelf on reserve, currently housing photos, knick-knack paddywhacks, photo albums, and my collection of children’s books but I suspect it will be exclusively books before long. I am looking forward to moving out of our apartment and into a house, so that I can collect away with less compunction.

4 thoughts on “My library”

  1. Leah says:

    I think we have very similar book obsessions. I’ve spent many hours (possibly days) of my life looking at my bookshelves, thinking how pretty they look and how enjoyably glutted I feel by such a literary smorgasbord. Much like food porn wherein you use fuzzy lighting and mouthwatering displays to show off your cooking skeelz, it’s basically book porn…though instead of “bow chicka wow wow” it’s more of a folksy soundtrack.

    Also, in complete ignorance of your current foray into Kingsolver, I got The Poisonwood Diaries from the library the other day and am loving it so far. Next on the list is Portrait of a Lady, and I freely admit that was done almost solely on your recommendation(s).

    I would love to go to Southport, there are so many seaside towns in Britain that I need to visit! I think I smell a future trip…it would be pretty fantastic to spend three weeks just experiencing the best of Britain’s seaside.

  2. Leah says:

    P.S. I meant to write The Poisonwood Bible, but didn’t realize my mistake until after I’d hit ‘submit.’ Just goes to show I shouldn’t try to multi-task by looking at different things at the same time!

  3. Kerry says:

    I just replied to your comment with the same gaffe, but got to delete mine. Why I shouldn’t play on the internet whilst working? I was saying that I’ve never read The Poisonwood BIBLE (don’t know how I missed it), and love that I’ve got it before me now, as well as her other books. She’s WONDERFUL. I’ve only read one of her novels before, and look forward to the rest. I am glad you are loving it. And you’ll love Portrait of a Lady, particularly as an American in England (which you are, really, no matter how much you are actually geographically in the USA). And read Animal Veg Miracle— you’ll love it!

  4. patricia says:

    Beautiful library. It looks so very relaxing. Thanks for posting!

    Oh, and I like to just sit in my library and stare at my books, too, sometimes…I find it very soothing.

    Why not post your image over at Kimbooktu’s sitehttp://yourhomelibrary.wordpress.com/

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