a real book nut

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Inspired by the Book Tour on A Work in Progress, I decided to share some photos of my own. This bedside shelf holds books waiting to be read and given a status: keep forever or give away (the cat likes to mark every one as his own, even though he doesn't know how to read):


This is where my permanent books usually live:

Nonfiction is on the small white shelf (on the right). My husband's books are on the little brown shelf atop it. Oversize nature and art books are sandwiched atop the white shelf between husb's shelf and the tall shelf. Of the two full-size bookcases, the top two left shelves are fantasy, the rest is all fiction. The two boxes (lower right bookcase and in front of white shelf on the floor) now hold books destined for PaperbackSwap or giveaways, which I'll begin doing about once a week (keep your eye on tuesdays!) after we're settled from our move.

Which is coming up in a few weeks. So I began preparing and took all the books out to box up. Here's what they look like all on the floor! Quite a heap. The last counting total (thanks to LibraryThing) is 489.

The crazy thing? A few friends we haven't seen in two years are coming to visit from the opposite coast. And I take so much pleasure in having friends peruse my shelves. Even if they just stand a while with that sideways head-tilt, and don't exclaim on or start a conversation over a title. So I took all the books out of boxes and put them back on the shelves to be admired. After the visitors are gone, I'll box them up again. My husb is going to make fun of me for it, I know. I think he doesn't like seeing my books. He asked if I would throw away the more unstable of my bookcases once its contents are boxed up, with the words "finally! good riddance!" and wants to grant a small room in the new house just for my library, so the books aren't out cluttering the common living space. Grumble grumble.

So you see why I had to put them up again, in case visitors turn out to be book-admirers. I love looking at my books almost as much as reading them. Someday I'll show you a picture of my three-year-old's collection (over 100), two-thirds of which she's inherited from me.