Some people might do a "what's in your purse?" post, but I incline away from bags and towards shelves. Looking over this post, I have concluded that I really need a study, some day. Or at least a home office that is not my bedroom.
I love books, as you all well know! When I first moved in with PDK, I took the opportunity to organize my books by (in descending order) genre, nation of origin, and alphabetically by author's last name.... since then, though, the organization has gotten a bit crazy as I moved some of the for-fun books out to make room for the dissertation books closer to my desk so they will be right at hand when I need them.
But somehow, I have decided I still have room for more! So, after walking down to the Santa Barbara Farmer's Market on Saturday, PDK took the groceries home while I stayed at The Book Den, a great used and antique bookstore that also does a brisk business online in downtown SB. Borders and Barnes and Noble closed down a couple months ago in town, but I couldn't really give a damn, because I don't think they did much for real readers anyways, other than undervalue books and treat them like a mass commodity, putting small publishers and small booksellers in dire straits. I am hoping that the demise of the big box chains pushes business back toward the independent bookstores in town... and encourages people to open new ones in towns that have been left entirely bereft of books.
My eyes had lighted on a sign in The Book Den's window on Friday night, when I went to the Town Hall meeting on Friday to learn about the potential solutions to California's budget troubles: "Pomes Dolar each -- 571 volumes of Poetry." So.... I bought twenty-seven books of poetry for a smidgen less than thirty dollars. Oh my, am I now in heaven and in hell, because how am I going to have the time? But, I have a plan: If I get up an hour earlier every day (ugh), I can read a book of poetry with tea before I start the rest of my day. And, I hope it will put me in a readerly and writerly state of mind for the dissertation work ahead of me each day.
So, in celebration of Poetry Month and of books over all, here is a small smackerel of the beauty and delicious indulgence that comes from small pieces of printed paper, folded and sewn or glued into covers and lined up on shelves (errr... or on the floor):
Books You Can Eat! The International Edible Book Festival was held a couple weeks back, and I think my favorite was the Fahrenheit 451 submission from 2009! Check out the images in the festival's albums.
If you click on the pictures, you can even read the titles  |
| Books in the hall (some of these are PDK's and Ms. E's) |
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| Living room shelves look better when decorated with books, right? |
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| British fiction section in the living room |
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| Dissertation books within easy reach in the hutch over my desk |
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| For fun books, American poetry, and acquisitions that have no assigned location yet! |
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| Don't even look at this -- this is the pile of library books I can't squeeze onto my shelves. |
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| Library books, Irish books, and literary criticism |
But somehow, I have decided I still have room for more! So, after walking down to the Santa Barbara Farmer's Market on Saturday, PDK took the groceries home while I stayed at The Book Den, a great used and antique bookstore that also does a brisk business online in downtown SB. Borders and Barnes and Noble closed down a couple months ago in town, but I couldn't really give a damn, because I don't think they did much for real readers anyways, other than undervalue books and treat them like a mass commodity, putting small publishers and small booksellers in dire straits. I am hoping that the demise of the big box chains pushes business back toward the independent bookstores in town... and encourages people to open new ones in towns that have been left entirely bereft of books.
My eyes had lighted on a sign in The Book Den's window on Friday night, when I went to the Town Hall meeting on Friday to learn about the potential solutions to California's budget troubles: "Pomes Dolar each -- 571 volumes of Poetry." So.... I bought twenty-seven books of poetry for a smidgen less than thirty dollars. Oh my, am I now in heaven and in hell, because how am I going to have the time? But, I have a plan: If I get up an hour earlier every day (ugh), I can read a book of poetry with tea before I start the rest of my day. And, I hope it will put me in a readerly and writerly state of mind for the dissertation work ahead of me each day.
So, in celebration of Poetry Month and of books over all, here is a small smackerel of the beauty and delicious indulgence that comes from small pieces of printed paper, folded and sewn or glued into covers and lined up on shelves (errr... or on the floor):
Books You Can Eat! The International Edible Book Festival was held a couple weeks back, and I think my favorite was the Fahrenheit 451 submission from 2009! Check out the images in the festival's albums.
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| The Book Surgeon -- featured on My Modern Met (via The Good. The Bad. And The Internet) |
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| Penguin's redesign of classics I love this vision of Little Women -- the reference has to be to Jo cutting her hair, right? |
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| Books as Jewelry! (via JunqueTreasures on Etsy) |
There is a lot more out there, I am sure, but I am going to leave it at this, since I have reading and writing to do myself, as I am sure you do too! So I will just leave you with this link to an inspiring article in the poetry blog About a Word: Who I Read Before I Write.
10 comments:
Awesome, I really love books, too! I've collected way too many though, and so they are sadly stuffed into boxes. :(
I love books too, and my boyfriend and I together have way way too many, despite my best efforts to donate books (there are a lot we have to keep). We recently bought a bunch of IKEA bookcases to line an entire wall of our apartment (to go for a built-in look). We also have a large bookcase in the bedroom that my dad made, and another small one in the living room AND another large one on the other wall of the living room holding more books (and art supplies too, which is a whole other storage issue). The problem really got out of hand after we both went to grad school. We outgrew this apt long ago, but unfortunately, a larger place is still out of reach financially. I probably wouldn't know what to do with too much space anyway; we've been living in this cramped, ahem, I mean cozy, place for so long:) I also just remembered I have a lot of books stored at my parent's house too-gah! I sound like a hoarder-lol.
Lol~ it appears as though you live in your own personal library! ;) I'm definitely for the getting up an hour early thing, starting your day quietly, with a book of poetry and a cup of hot tea, what could be more grounding than that? :)
Aren't books amazing?! I love them! :) And it looks like you have a million and one of them... how awesome! Thanks for sharing the photos!
Aren't books amazing??? I have a whole book case of my own in my room! And there are 5 or 6 total in the house! ;D Looks like you have more then enough! Or... maybe not!? ;D
*Hugs!*
Jordan
Wow 27 books for less than $30! What a great deal. I love books too, we have so many bookshelves in our house and we are always running out. But it's true what you say, finding the time to read them can be challenging. But even just having them around is comforting. I once went to a friend's house and noticed something was 'off' but couldn't pin point what. Turns out she has no books therefore no bookshelves! Talk about a weird looking house.
@ Taylor Lynn and Jordan -- you two have exactly the same response -- I love it!
@Tweal -- I know the feeling! We always had lots of books in the living room, the hall, and in the bedrooms, so when I would visit friends' houses who didn't have books around, something essential seemed missing.
LOL Yeah, I guess Jordan and I are pretty similar! Probably comes from being sisters who hang out together all day, every day. Homeschooling rocks! ;)
Tina, I love your blog!
As for books: I organize mine by color –I'm aware I do it to "get back" at all the alphabetization I had to perform during my time employed at one of those big box bookstores. You're absolutely right about their trivialization of books...
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