For the love of Books.

For collectible Friday, I am doing the collection I LOVE the most. BOOKS!
I have always been a reader, well, maybe not in the womb but pretty close. In high school I worked in the school library (I know, nerd alert but oh how I loved it) and always read the most books of any kid in the school. I worked every summer and after school so my love of reading could be fulfilled.

After high school, I worked in a used book store. With the exception of my kid and the dog, there is nothing I love as much as books.

When we remodeled this home about 11 years ago, we turned the downstairs into a library. It seemed so big at the time. I thought for sure it would last forever before we could fill it up. It made it about a year.
The pictures show just some of the shelves that are located in the library. Underneath each set of open shelves are a set of closed door shelves. The library holds about 3,000 books.
I mostly read mysteries and those are the ones that get to reside on most of the open shelves. I have a section for decorating books and another for non-fiction favorites, like Gerald Durrell, Gladys Taber and Betty MacDonald.
In the closed shelves, are poetry, business, non-fiction, sports, reference, vice, true crime.

I now collect antique books and these are located upstairs in vintage bookcases.

My master bedroom has all the books I am currently going to read, am reading, or just thinking about reading.

Now that the X no longer resides here, I have packed his clothes in paper bags and I get to use his closet for even more books. It was a wonderful trade.

I have a huge love of books and probably always will. They are a hard collectible though. The space issue is huge. I never have enough room and am always on the look-out for new ways to provide shelving.

Now that I have branched out into antique books, sun and moisture have become issues that need to be dealt with. I am currently working on Louisa May Alcott and my favorite of all time, Walt Whitman. They share a bookcase and I hope to have it filled by the years end.

But even with the problems, they are a delight. Bookstores are amazing places and used bookstores are the best ever!

So hopefully, you will start your own collection.

To (Almost) quote from Steve McGarrett "Book 'em Sunday"

I love books. All kinds. All genres. New, old. I own multiple copies of some, to either give them to people or actually have them in my luggage so they can travel with me. I have them in piles everywhere. My dream home has shelves that are loaded with books, books and more books. I vacation to book stores and have flown home from vacations holding books on my lap. One time, after my car broke down, while I was stuck in some town while the mechanic tried to fix the car, I used what little money I had to buy a book.

They fall out of my purse, out of my car, they have fallen into the bath. They stalk me, call to me, but mostly they sustain me. Someone, somewhere has been right where I am now. At any phase of my life, while it may be new to me, someone else has already blazed a path. It might not be a paved road, or a dirt road, heck it may only be a slight indentation in the grass. I travel it knowing that I don't go it alone. My thoughts and feelings are obviously my own, but if I get scared or feel lost, I can look for comfort to those that came before me. And I will be there for those that come after me to provide the same comfort and support.

I read 5 to 6 books a week, mostly mysteries and non fiction. I head off on tangents. One good non-fiction book can open up whole new doors of people's lives that I must know about. Why do I need to know the proper way to throw a knuckle ball? Why do I need to know how to raise chickens? Why do I need to know the poems of Sylvia Plath? Why do I need to know everything there is to know about Walt Whitman? I just do. And I am better for knowing it.

Sitting in my living room, fireplace blazing, pug snoring to beat the band, rain pouring down, I am transported anywhere I want to go. Blazing guns in Africa, Exploring ruins in Italy, Collecting animals for a zoo, Finding out why 18 year olds are strange, Traveling the Oregon Trail, Learning how to Quilt, I'm there. Sometimes I look up and am surprised to see I am still sitting in my living room, for I was sure Gerald Durrell was going to show me the new animal he had acquired for his zoo. I was so sure Jane Austen wanted to sign my copy of Pride and Prejudice. But I know they are there, I can't see them but I feel them and that is enough.

So every Sunday, let's explore some books. Maybe a author or a genre. Maybe our favorite bookstores. Or just the lovely sight of a giant pile of unread books beckoning to us. Maybe the People magazine.

In ending, I will leave you with my favorite quote of all time. I own this as a poster only because I went into the Santa Cruz Bookshop so many times to ask about this poster they had push pinned on their bulletin board, they finally pulled it off and handed it to me. Best gift ever!

I think that I still have it in my heart someday
to paint a bookshop with the front yellow
and pink in the evening...
like a light in the midst of darkness...
Vincent Van Gogh