rearranging

I have just spent the better part of two days rearranging furniture and shifting some 750 books in order to have them all situated in my bedroom. This is because before the bookshelves were mostly in the room the kids use as a playroom, and the baby was starting to pull books off shelves, or (worse, I think) pick at and tear the edges of dust jackets. This is one of her favorite activities; she has more fun pulling all her books off her shelf than actually reading them (lately she tries to turn the pages herself and sometimes gets frustrated trying to open the book at its spine! lots of screaming ensues- it's so funny).

So I moved them all. In the process everything got thoroughly dusted and all the adjustable shelves flipped (because they start to bow from the weight of books- does anyone else do this? flip their shelves periodically?) and the nonfiction section re-organized a little bit. I also pulled a short bookcase out of my closet and dedicated it to TBR books. It all looks so nice and tidy, now. Before, there were plenty of books tucked in horizontally across the others because I didn't have more shelf space. With the addition of one little bookcase I was able to spread everything out evenly, with room to spare. The TBR is in the little bookcase, but doesn't quite fill it completely, and also the last lower shelf of the tall cases. The tall case next to the lamp is all non-fiction, which continues around the corner and fills the second bookcase too (except the bottom shelf which has oversize books). The rest is all fiction. Bottom two shelves behind the rocking chair has random stuff like magazines and sketchbooks, which I could move out when the room is needed for books. Across the top are the puzzles and games.

I'm pleased overall. Something about moving and re-organizing and re-familiarizing myself with all my books feels very satisfying. I keep turning over in my hands titles I'd dearly love to re-read! And now my bedroom feels like a little library, which is very cozy.

If you look real close, you can see a flat black thing on top of the small shelf- that's my kindle. It has twenty-three books on it now! You can click to zoom in on the photo, but I don't think it's clear enough to read many titles.