My Library

My newly painted library looks like a fountain of books exploded, but it is all part of the sorting process. So far I am pulling thirty authors and making collections of their books and locating them in different places. Once all the boxes are opened, those thirty authors will be situated and I can start on the next round of authors. Before the next week is over I will have constructed another board and brick section with four shelves.

Fortunately we have very few stand alone novels, but rather collections by each author. Often those that are stand alone, we did not enjoy enough to collect. It always amazes me how many Tony Hillerman’s we have, and how many Catherine Coulter. The Anne McCaffrey and Nora Roberts shelves are predictably full, but some of the others surprise me. I have been collecting Iris Johansson for years and her stacks are amazing, but my husband particularly enjoys Johnstone novels and we have a ton of those.

Of course the best part of sorting and arranging the books is getting to look at them all. Recently we lived without the room to put them out and sort them, so it has been years since we had them all out of boxes. Instead we dug through boxes looking for something to read, or we ordered what we wanted on either electronic or print.

Each book is a friend, someone who helped shape our thoughts and our past and making room for them in our new home seems only right.