dsrtao: (confucian scholar mfa)
dsrtao ([personal profile] dsrtao) wrote2008-03-23 09:29 pm

on books, but not a review

Reposted from a friend's commentary, because.

What sort of illiterate only has one bookshelf?

We have a room designated as the library, like everyone else who can afford the space separate from the bedroom. Then we have the shelves next to the bed, and the the bookcase not quite so near the bed but in the bedroom. The computer room has a bookcase. The living room has four, plus endtables with space underneath (filled with books, of course). One of our bathrooms does not contain books -- it's only a meter away from a bookshelf outside it. The sewing room/guest room has two full cases as well, plus overflow to the nightstand.

If there are no books on the stairs, it's only because we have recently cleaned up. By recent I mean "just finished".

The number of unread books in the house is never more than the total of our most recent trip to the library (I love interlibrary loan; if only I could convince them to drop off books at my house, I could build a book depository just outside...) plus about ten.

I caught my four year old reading this morning. He was standing next to the bed, a book splayed out in front of him, and he was quietly saying the words as he read them. This morning I started reading Doc Smith's _Triplanetary_ to him, starting with chapter 7 where the space liner is hijacked by interplanetary pirates. My two year old wakes up and demands to be read to, first thing.

Who has time to organize? If you can't memorize the locations of four or five thousand books in two dozen locations, what sort of memory do you have? Pah!

[identity profile] n5red.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
I'm glad to hear that you are raising your kids up right! Books will transport them to places they could never go otherwise.

[identity profile] msmemory.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 02:09 am (UTC)(link)
The principal reason we started using LibraryThing was to minimize the duplicates.
cellio: (avatar-face)

[personal profile] cellio 2008-03-24 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
We realized how ludicrous the idea of collecting all the books in one room would be. First off, no room we have is big enough unless we build tight stacks, and maybe not even then. And second, why would we collect them all in one place like that, when the most useful place for books is "within reach"?

So we have the SF library, consisting of about 15 double-shelved bookcases that all fit in one room, but we also have another dozen or so bookcases around the house, plus the built-ins in the living room, plus all the piles.

on books

[identity profile] sareena99.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
This is one of the things we will be considering as we look for a new house this coming week - where to put all the books. When I moved here from the UK my books stayed in my in-laws garage for a couple of years, until we had a place big enough to fit in the bookshelves needed. This time around, most of our books have been boxed up in our own garage until moving day. Both times have been stressful, like temporarily being unable to reach your friends. I will miss our local library, but am forcing myself to think of exploring a (hopefully) bigger library near our new home.

[identity profile] n2mlq.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
I shudder in fear when Aileen starts on Doc Smith.... The question comes when will our eldest children be reading it to the younger.

[identity profile] liamstliam.livejournal.com 2008-03-24 11:28 am (UTC)(link)
I love your library.

It's one of the main reasons we had one at our old house in Peabody.

I have the inter-library loan thing all set. They all get sent to Alethea's library and delivered here by her.