The Weaving One's library
"This is my library - the room I promised myself when I was just learning to read and realized I wanted my own books, not hand-me-downs or loans from the library. The only change I made for the picture was to shift my reading lamp out of the way.
Fiction (the first four shelves) is sorted by author, by publication date, except for Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover series which are in best-guessed chronological Darkover time, and the Star Trek books where author doesn’t really matter. Reference, non-fiction, and YA are on the fifth shelf, and the sixth shelf holds books I haven’t read yet. I read one, decide whether I keep it or not, and then shelve it or send it away. I don’t buy many paperbacks any more - I find them too difficult to read since my eyesight is poor. It took a long time, but I can now not finish a book. I don’t have time to read bad books any more.
I keep books I want to revisit, and I rarely lend - I don’t think I ever got past the selfish “this is my book and you can’t have it!” stage of my development. Too many not returned, or even worse, returned damaged. I’ll buy another copy and send it to someone if I really think they’ll love it.
The chair belonged to my mom’s mother, the rugs belonged to my father’s. The shelves are filled with treasures acquired on travels, at auctions, or (in the case of the Star Trek ephemera) gifts from friends and family. It is the only room in the house that doesn’t have a computer, stereo, or working timepiece. The clock on the top right was rebuilt by my dad, but I’ve never been able to get the weights re-adjusted so it runs anything but slow, so I wind it once a year just to keep it exercised.
What most people don’t know about me: I’ve been poor enough to go hungry but still found money to buy books. I have books I read at least once a year. I can read a paperback a dozen times without anyone being able to tell it has even been open. I have another book shelf in my living room with several of those green grocer bags stashed next to it - the bags are so if the house catches fire, I can get the books on it out of the house before everything else goes. And yes, I’ve timed it."
---The Weaving One
You manage to keep all your books in one place?
ReplyDeleteOurs are everywhere and yes about the no money but buying books.
Wandering round shops and libraries waiting for a book to jump out or just for the pleasure of a weird title catching the eye and raising a chuckle eg. "Slavers from Space"
I didn't read it, just laughed.
In the Scottish dialect "slaver" is spit or drool as in drooling over the prospect of a good meal.
Meteorites are scary enough without having to worry about being hit by a load of mouth juice from the sky.
That is fantastic. Thanks for sharing, The Weaving One. Thanks for sharing your library and the story that goes along with it. Fantastic bookshelves, by the way.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful library!
ReplyDeleteI do envy you. I would love to have a library like yours.
ReplyDeleteI can read a peperback a dozen times without anyone being able to tell it has even been open.
Peperbacks are so tasty!:P
Oh, I have shelves and stacks of books everywhere in the house. This is where they all end up though. I usually only read one at a time, but once the stacks next to other chairs start getting precarious, home they go.
ReplyDeleteI have quite a number of those 40s and 50s SciFi classics - my father was hooked on them. I actually did my first book report in grade school on Isaac Asimov.
Thanks for letting me share my library.
My 'library' fits in my pocket. It has at least the number of 'books' as you have. It goes with me wherever I am. I can share each book with anyone, even strangers, as I please, no matter where they are on earth. Granted, the only pleasure it affords is reading, but that pleasure is available at any time anywhere.
ReplyDeleteTo add to anonymous' comment, I usually end up having the ebook as well as the original if I really like it. I do the same with music.
ReplyDeleteYou have made your childhood dream a reality, incorporating family legacy, organization, a bit of living green, and coziness. Brava!
ReplyDeleteSo much of what you wrote echoes my own past, but I haven't created as cozy a nook.