Obviously, if you know us or have read the title of this blog, we have a lot of books. I mean, a LOT of books. I thought I had a lot before I met Geoff, and then I saw his bookshelves and all bets were off. When we combined households there were books everywhere.
For a while, some were used as furniture. Really. We did things like put a lamp on top of a stack of books. Or, in hot weather, a fan.
Therefore, this website, which I found via The Bloggess, made me spend some serious time looking. And wishing. And maybe drooling a little bit. Of course it didn’t hurt that I spent most of this afternoon working at the Harvard Bookstore Warehouse Sale. I had books on the brain anyway.
While on the topic of books, and by extension, authors, there have been some losses to the literary world lately. Both Maurice Sendak and Ray Bradbury passed on recently. At the Harvard Bookstore we will often put up a little display for the dearly departed of the literary world including not only works but also a little “in memoriam” sign. These are the ones from Sendak and Bradbury and I think they’re excellent.
Happy reading,
~Kelly
The Books are Taking Over... 
I would love to have a house with a huge library. That would be so awesome. As it is, I have books filling all my bookshelves, in boxes and stacked. I’d love to keep them all, but there’s just no room. So, I’m going through and picking my favorites to keep. Really hard job. The rest, I’ll donate or sell. I try to donate the larger print books to nursing homes.
Right now we have books in every single room of the house. The only room without bookshelves is the bathroom and, since it’s “the reading room” there are always books in there anyway.
We’ve started to go through our books to figure out what we can sell as we’re underemployed and poor, but it’s a hard process. They’re like part of the family.
~Kelly
Those shelves are AMAZING. I wantssss them, I doesss, precioussss.
And why stop at books? I’d shelve my art and craft supplies and treasures with the books that feature them: spinning books with roving (since I don’t have a wheel yet), knitting/crocheting with yarn and needles, beading and chainmailling with pretties and jumprings…man, I’m kind of drooling just thinking about it.
Also: I have a signed adult print by Sendak in my bathroom. Just sayin’.
Having never been to your bathroom, I did not know this. Picture?
~Kelly
I would do the same thing. Essentially, I just need to live in a place where every room has a full wall of floor to ceiling built in bookshelves. Some with glass doors, some without.
Did you clickie the link? There is even more amazing bookstorage there. They don’t call it bookshelfporn.com for nothing, you know.
~Kelly
I have so so so many books that are sadly stored in boxes in the back of my closet. I hate them there and they hate being there. I’d like to meet a carpenter so he can build me shelves. Until then, there they sit…
Interestingly enough, even with all of the bookshelves we have in the house, I still have a lot of books tucked away in boxes, bins, or closets. I prefer to put them in plastic bins so I can at least keep them from getting too dirty or damp. But yeah, I know the feeling.
-Geoff
I’m the only reader, as of right now, in our home and I have more books than we know what to do with! I’m constantly bugging my husband for shelves and I think he’s close to caving since my books are taking over our master closet. That shelving unit is awesome. I wish I had room for that.
I keep thinking that more efficient stacking will solve some of our problems, but I might just be kidding myself. Still, more efficient stacking is much cheaper than new bookshelves.
-Geoff