Bookshelves

"Kitchen and pantry cabinets can be commandeered in the fight to find bookshelf space, and a family's eating habits can be changed. When china is displaced by paper plates, there is no longer any reason why books cannot be stored in the dishwasher too. An empty refrigerator is an excellent repository for the most valuable books because books like low temperatures best." --Henri Petroski

No, I'm not that desperate. (Though my sisters have informed me--quite seriously--that I may keep no more than 100 books in our bedroom...) I did reorganize one of my bookshelves tonight, though, and it was so much fun. :)


...Found a set of e-mails between a dear friend and myself, written in January. We were "discussing" quotes and such so I'd printed them out for reference. It was fun to go back, see what we were reading, thinking, doing several months ago.

...It's hard to decide what books to keep out and what books to put away. I'm afraid that once I put a book away I'll forget that I have it and really do want to read it.

...The reason for this particular re-organization was a rather large order placed with Amazon recently. The products have been trickling in and I now have nearly all of the books I ordered, much to my happiness. I needed more space for them, though. :)

...I was able to conserve more space by the way I stack my books. I also moved some things to other locations, thereby opening more room up for the books I really want on my shelves.

...Can't do a good job organizing unless you stop and dip into books along the way. :) Some of them I've read before, some I have not...my mental list of books to read has substantially increased since I'm now more familiar with what exactly I have.

...I love the way an organized bookshelf looks. Fresh new books, beautiful worn old books, in-betweens, paperbacks, hardcovers. So many different sources, too; gifts from friends and family, great finds at book sales and antique stores, some that I found online, and a rare one or two that I actually bought new from a tangible bookstore (as opposed to, say, Amazon.)

...There is an interesting difference between the way books that have been read and books that haven't been read feel. The ones that haven't been read are more crisp; the read ones are softer somehow. I noticed that while I was browsing my Lewis books.

...I have more books by Elisabeth Elliot than by any other author. I now have seven...no, eight--NINE of her books. I'm looking forward to reading more of them. Runners-up in the author area (for this particular shelf anyway) are John Piper (4), C. S. Lewis (3) and Ravi Zacharias (3).

...I found myself sitting there on the floor with vague thoughts of a quiet place somewhere where I could read, and read, and read...

...but then I'd miss my people. :)

The bookshelf is now in a state of good organization, with my books settled firmly in their places and whatever library books I have out just now double-stacked in front of them. I'm happy. :) But I noticed something else sitting there on the floor. D'ya think I should start in on organizing the shoes now? :D

Disclaimer: The author does realize that this post may result in the labeling of said author as some kind of bibliomaniac. Such labeling does not mean that said label is true in any way. :)