Saturday, March 2, 2019

I Hoard Books, and I Blame that Cat Who Wears a Hat--Part 1

The architect could tell that I had a problem.  But he staged no intervention for me.  Instead, he became my enabler.  And no matter what other problems the house design may have, I will forever be grateful to him.

My husband and I were taking on the challenge of renovating and remodeling my grandparents' bungalow in one of our town's Historic Districts.  After years of making a life wherever my husband's retail-based jobs would take us, we were establishing a "forever home." Wisely, we chose to work with an architect before we hired a general contractor.  And that contractor asked this girl a question she had always wanted to be asked:  "Can you bring me some pictures of things you like in a house?  So I can get an idea of your style and your needs?"

Those were magic words for me.  I have a 30-year-old file of magazine clippings and a Pinterest board for everything imaginable.  (Side note--Thank you, Pinterest, for curtailing the amount of paper in my house.  Most new additions to what my husband calls my "Weird File" are digital.)

I complied with my architect's request.  And during our next meeting, he said, "I can see that you like books," As he spread my pictures on the table, a theme emerged.  I was outed.  Every picture included book shelves.

I knew I had a problem.

And he became my enabler.

Deep shelves form a half-wall between our dining room and kitchen--now filled with coffee table books and old books I rescue from garage sales, antique stores, and junk stores. One side of our kitchen island is dedicated to a working cookbook collection.  Our small fireplace is flanked by tall bookcases filled with books about gardening, entertainment, history, philosophy, biography, etymology, as well as my small collection of autographed volumes.  Another column of shelves outside our guest room houses travel books, short story collections, and a growing number of children's books for the tiny grandsons who visit.  In our bedroom is a stately triple-wide, floor to ceiling beauty that is the home of spiritual topics, the fiction collection, poetry, drama, and all things Shakespeare.

I will not lie and say that is all of the books in my house.  Those are merely the built-ins--the established "put your books here" places.  I will also confess to the "to read" stack beside my bed, an "in progress" stack beside my chair, two end tables with shelves, a wine rack that holds my prized Oxford English Dictionaries (that's another story for a different day), and. . . (this is difficult to confess) three more portable units in the basement--mostly filled with textbooks, sets of books from childhood, Bible study books, yearbooks, and a collection of old dictionaries.

How did this happen, you ask?

I blame the Dr. Seuss Book Club.

(To be continued. . .)




4 comments:

  1. I smiled as I read your wonderful post about book obsession. I've loved books since I was proud owner of a dozen "Golden Books" that fit neatly in a niche in our "trailer." I gave away about 1000 books when I moved a few years ago - to teachers, students, people who came to my garage sale - but I still have....far more than I am willing to admit!

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  2. Ah, a fellow book lover! Our current home had no built-in bookshelves when we moved in 20+ years ago. We have remedied that. Bookshelves abound. Loved reading about yours.

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  3. Love the story of the shelves... and look forward to hearing of the beginning of the books with Dr. Seuss.

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  4. A fellow bibliophile :)

    Now I need to go and talk to my husband so we can talk about converting half wall in dining room to book shelves :) see you tomorrow to read your next post.

    Purviben
    http://trivediziemba.edublogs.org/

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