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| My cleaned-up desk |
In spite of practical parents who, my whole life, reminded me that I love going to the library, I have always been one who bought books. After all, what if you want to read just that particular book at 3 a.m.?
It would be impossible for me to have kept all the books I've bought/acquired over time. There have been times where I have sold/donated huge numbers of books. There just isn't enough room for them all. Even so, there are some books that stay with me.
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| The wall behind my desk. See the T.A.R.D.I.S.on my monitor? |
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| Across from my desk |
So who are the keepers? It's a long list comprised of police procedurals, PIs, historical mysteries, traditional mysteries, gothics, Golden-age authors and contemporary, almost equally split between male and female authors.
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| TBR left; keepers right |
They start here, continue to an above-dresser bookcase and then to two shelves in my bedroom. They are also on top of my bookcase with every book by Agatha Christie which is in the hallway, on my desk, on my bedside table...you get the idea.
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| Part of the guest room |
Trust me, this is not all of my books. I think it does, however, given you an idea that fellow readers always smile when they walk in the door. Non-readers always start by saying "Have you read all these books?". Then they look at Tigger and T.S. Elliot and say, "Those are BIG cats."
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LJ, I'm in LOVE with your shelves (and books, of course). I've had many envies in my life including cat-envy, weather-envy (especially during Oklahoma's ice storms) and picture-envy. Now I must confess another sin. SHELF-ENVY. I've had to give away so many books that I wanted to keep because there was no room. But I must tell you that I, too, own the first book I bought with my own money, earned by babysitting. THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE, is still my pride and joy, along with many, many mysteries.
ReplyDeleteLoved this post!
One of your DL friends,
Jackie King
Thank you, Jackie, and this only shows a portion of them. I have to say that, beyond being shelves, they are special to me as, not only is this the first place I've lived where I have so much space for books, but because of the wonderful friends who helped me put them up when I first moved here, including one dear friend who is no longer with us. Actually, the story of moving and putting up the shelves isn't a bad follow-up blog.
ReplyDeleteI love my "Complete Works of Shakespeare" as well. Are yours the two-volume set that came in a slip case with a magnifying glass?
Thanks for commenting,
LJ
Jackie, you inspired me. I've written and posted the follow-up about my bookshelves.
ReplyDeleteThank you,
LJ
It's amazing how well organized you are with all of your books. Your bookshelves make lovely features and must give your home a warm welcoming feel. No wonder your 'Big Boys' look so comfortable. :)
ReplyDeleteThe organization is definitely the Virgo in me. I haven't gone so far as using the Dewey Decimal System, but they are shelved by category and the mysteries broken down by to-be-read versus have read. Within each of those they are alphabetic by author's last name, by series (if an author writes more than one series) and by publishing date within series.
ReplyDeleteAs for the boys; they're just overindulged. They know who runs this house. :-)