Books

Love 'em or hate 'em.  In my house, it's always been a love thing.  Of course, I didn't just fall in love with books today; I've loved books all my life.  But my work today inspired this post.  In two weeks, my daughter Jenna will return from almost a year working in Australia, so I have been deep-cleaning her bedroom in preparation.  Basically, I am taking the room down and building it back up.  Some of that is easy.  I mean, moving furniture is a bitch, but I use those sliders under the legs which makes it doable.  But the books!  Moving them, dusting them, alphabetizing them!  I've put a lot of hours into this chore, but I am seeing a light now.  I do believe that by tomorrow evening, my work will be done.

This is mostly the literature/poetry section of Jenna's little library.  Yep, all the literature is alphabetized.  How else would you find anything?  I could not help but notice as I organized this shelf that many of the books Jenna stole from me.  Oh, well, they're still in the same house.

But we're not done yet:

These makeshift shelves house a collection of environmental books.  (Don't be fooled by the old Funk & Wagnells volumes on the ends.  They're just holding up the shelves.)  I did not alphabetize these books.  Height was all that mattered.  And these are not the only environmental books!  I had to introduce another bookshelf into the room to accommodate all the nature books!

And here they are.  Some little critters took a liking to this bookshelf, as you can see.  So there you are . . . Jenna's books.  If she ever buys a house, she will need a truck just for her books.  And a gazillion cardboard boxes.  Right now, I am wondering if she is bringing any books home from Australia!  There is no more room on these shelves and no more room in her bedroom for more bookshelves!

But, hey, she could be collecting worse things, right?  I saw a quote by Anna Quindlen the other day:  I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.  And that about says it all.  I am grateful that Jenna loves books, and I am in love with her love of them.