This is the bookcase in my study. (How do I remove a book? Carefully, very carefully.) It is one of seven bookcases in our house - all stuffed full of books. The overflow is now on the bedroom floor - four towers, steadily getting higher.
I just love books - old books, new books, library books, pristine books, books with scribbles in them. Every thing about them - the front cover and spine designs, the smell, the typography, turning the leaves, the anticipation of a great story, and of course, actually reading them! Through them I live adventurous and glamorous and sometimes tragic lives. I get to know people I wouldn't normally meet and travel to places that I will probably never see in real life.
I have just finished Trollope's The Warden, am currently reading JG Ballard's Super-Cannes, and waiting on my bedside table are Paul Auster's Travels in the Scriptorium and England, England (Julian Barnes).
We popped into Coffee & Books today - a lovely little second-hand bookshop in Fish Hoek, where you can browse the books, have a coffee while paging through them, chat to owner Bruce Clemence, and at certain times, also have a curry or a roti. And came away with three books, amongst them Alan Hollinghurst's The Folding Star.
The towers are growing.
17 comments:
Are you sure you haven't been taking pictures in my home? A well-meaning friend once tried to tell me about a website where you can trade your books for new ones. What?! That would be like trading one of my children! :)
Oh - we could be twins! I love books - we have books all over the house! Just now I am reading Wilbur Smith's 'The Quest' - I don't think it's as good as the previous ones in his Egyptian series, but still entertaining. Recently I have been buying books (very cheap) in charity shops, so I don't mind passing them on to friends (or giving to another charity shop!!) I must sort out my holiday reading ....
See, now that sounds like heaven to me - 7 bookcases AND growing piles! Getting lost in a world between pages is an incomparable pleasure. I cannot imagine my life without books - would not want to. I know we're supposed to be moving to a paperless society but I would miss the feel of a book in my hands if we ever truly achieved that. I kinda hope it doesn't happen in my lifetime. In the meantime, I add to my collection so that at least I'll have my own little stash to reread and reread...
p.s. some of those on your list sound great and are not on mine, so thanks for sharing them! :)
i have a penchant for books as well - piles of them line the top hidden corner of the bed, a mere arms reach away and then there are the stacks behind the door, and the boxes in the closet and the ones carefully stored in the basement at Mom's because i just have tooo many to live with in my flat
i hate to give any one of them up
and when i moved 3 years ago
i sold 10 huge boxes full
the breed on my floors and closets
i swear!
i love your reading list
i have that england,england book waiting for me bedside right now!!
Oh dear, another bibliophile. I think between the two of us, we could open a lending library. LOL.
What collector or creative spirit does not love books? Books are where it began for so so many of us...
and speaking of books, your little giftie is on its way!
Thank you so so much for your patience.
Get more of what you love.
Candace in Athens.
My husband, who has been in publishing for 30 years, has recently been lamenting the abysmal state of affairs in publishing -- lack of readers! I must share these posts with him to cheer him up -- See they are still out there!!!! I must post a pic of one of my stacks! Thanks for visiting me today! Happy Thursday!
Yes , yes , yes! Likewise!
look at all those lovely stories! stacked books always seem like a pile of gorgeous presents to open.
BOOKS!!!! I love 'em too! Ahhh, they make me so happy as well.
I use to spend my childhood at the library smelling the old books. Loved Nancy Drew.
What a convenient and delightful world is this world of books - if you bring to it not the obligations of the student, or look upon it as an opiate for idleness, but enter it rather with the enthusiasm of the adventurer.
David Grayson, Adventures in Contentment
What a delightful stash! I think we have many similarities Anairam - I also enjoy collecting books - especially "How-to" ones - but I am different from you in 1 significant way - I don't actually read many books and never read novels! [Perhaps I am afraid that if I start, I might never stop!]
I do so love books!
"There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!" E. Dickenson
OMG! i have a smiliar situation at mine- and 21boxes of books in my mothers cellar in switzerland....
i love books, and love going to bookshops, love looking at books, reading books, sigh- everything to do with books just makes me happy!
OH, me too. ME TOO!! I could tell we would be kindred spirits.
Yeah,this is an aritst's creative outlet!
We should do more often.
I love the sweet red cherry blossom and stop sign one.
Just reminded me how lovely life is with blooms...
Stop, rest and go!
You got it, thanks:)
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