Well, last year we moved from one house to another in August, and I was busy trying to unpack before work started again. Of course, I didn't finish, and so have been working in the basement yesterday and today trying to get the rest of my books out of boxes and out onto the shelves.(Part of me was saying, how many more times are you going to be doing this? Yes, THAT voice, the one that wants to see too far into the future.)
This time, most of my books are in the basement (on shelves of course), but not all of them. There is a bookcase in the living room, one in the family room, and of course, the books all over the place at our other house. There are really a great many books! I received a Kindle as a gift this year, and I would like to start buying books online, but so far, I still prefer to read the old-fashioned way. Still, moving all the books takes tremendous effort.
Not to mention organizing them. I had to rearrange a bit, for some of the books I took out of boxes today belonged with ones already on the shelves. Some books were completely comfortable where I had already put them, so I had to think carefully about where their former "buddies" had to move to. For example, books about reading are no longer adjacent to books about writing. My First Nations collection has been separated and no exists in the Canadian history section, the Canadian Literature section, and some are with the poetry. In the end, everything was okay. I barely had enough space, even though I added two more bookcases to the basement. Still, it's also fun to re-categorize.
I have one sister who keeps only fifty favourite books. I don't know how she can do it. Maybe someday I will have to, but until then, I continue to buy, although it's true that I don't buy as many as I used to. It does give me so much pleasure to be able to browse my own personal library, and I always find something to read or reread. Today, I found three for this week: a good book to reread - Katherine Govier's Between Men, a book I should have read for a critical theory class rather a lot of years ago - Helen Cixous' Coming to Writing and Other Essays, and a book for work - Methods That Work: Ideas for Literacy and Language Teachers. That will keep me going for a while.
Now, I don't want to buy any more bookshelves, as I really feel that I have met a "critical mass" situation when it comes to books, so I am really going to limit myself from now on. : (
It's not as though I am close to any big library which makes me very sad. Perhaps some day I will be back in a nice sized city again, and able to enjoy signing out books. (THAT voice suggests that maybe I can donate all my books to the old-age home I will someday find myself in. HaaHaa.)
This time, most of my books are in the basement (on shelves of course), but not all of them. There is a bookcase in the living room, one in the family room, and of course, the books all over the place at our other house. There are really a great many books! I received a Kindle as a gift this year, and I would like to start buying books online, but so far, I still prefer to read the old-fashioned way. Still, moving all the books takes tremendous effort.
Not to mention organizing them. I had to rearrange a bit, for some of the books I took out of boxes today belonged with ones already on the shelves. Some books were completely comfortable where I had already put them, so I had to think carefully about where their former "buddies" had to move to. For example, books about reading are no longer adjacent to books about writing. My First Nations collection has been separated and no exists in the Canadian history section, the Canadian Literature section, and some are with the poetry. In the end, everything was okay. I barely had enough space, even though I added two more bookcases to the basement. Still, it's also fun to re-categorize.
I have one sister who keeps only fifty favourite books. I don't know how she can do it. Maybe someday I will have to, but until then, I continue to buy, although it's true that I don't buy as many as I used to. It does give me so much pleasure to be able to browse my own personal library, and I always find something to read or reread. Today, I found three for this week: a good book to reread - Katherine Govier's Between Men, a book I should have read for a critical theory class rather a lot of years ago - Helen Cixous' Coming to Writing and Other Essays, and a book for work - Methods That Work: Ideas for Literacy and Language Teachers. That will keep me going for a while.
Now, I don't want to buy any more bookshelves, as I really feel that I have met a "critical mass" situation when it comes to books, so I am really going to limit myself from now on. : (
It's not as though I am close to any big library which makes me very sad. Perhaps some day I will be back in a nice sized city again, and able to enjoy signing out books. (THAT voice suggests that maybe I can donate all my books to the old-age home I will someday find myself in. HaaHaa.)
(by Ann Bascove)
As you can see, there is just something right about holding an actual book to read.
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