Caroline Seebohm

I do not want to be here I thought, but my sponsor insisted I come. The other addicts were done sharing, and now it is my turn. Nervously I stand and begin my story to the group, “Hello, my name is Scott, and I am a bibliomaniac”. I can’t believe I am back in this needling 12-step program’s meetings again.

“I believed I was doing really well, I avoided bookstores, I did not buy anything over the Internet, in fact I had not even posted any reviews to LibraryThing for 59 days,” I show more droned on and on, but then my sponsor nudged me, hard, so I focused my confession, “but then I was walking past the Beaverton Public Library, and I thought it won’t hurt just to look around inside,” it was glorious, “but boy was I wrong, I just had to check out at least one book,” or maybe it was more like 12. “So I went upstairs and headed for the oversize books,” actually I think I ran, “and went to the shelf with the 027s”, nothing like the tale of another drunk bibliophile to get a quick fix, “and selected the oversize tome, At Home with Books.”

“I snuck home and began secretly reading it when no one was around,” and I imagined any one of these could be my library. “This book was a horrible influence on me,” except now I know what I really want, “it is series of these awful, shameful photographs… of disgusting rooms of books,” beautifully decorated personal libraries perfectly matched to their owners tastes, “in some cases even entire houses filled with books,” these wonderful people actually designed their entire homes around their book collection. “These despicable people are devoted way too much time to their libraries,” but oh it must be wonderful to devote that much focus and passion to one’s collection.

“So, in closing let me say publically that this book should be banned,” I wonder how much I could make delivering this book secretly to the people in this room? “There is no way that you should even gaze at the cover,” because the photographs are simply mouth-watering, “for it will draw you in and suck you down to the very pit of destruction,” but oh, what a way to go, surrounded by the books you love. “So thank you for letting me share my story so that you will not fall prey to these evils like I did.” I think I can sneek away and post a review to LibraryThing.com while my sponsor is talking with those recovered addicts…

“This book is not recommended for anyone that loves books a little too much,” unless you enjoy pretending you have unlimited funds, or have recently won the lottery. show less

I don't usually do coffee table books, but one about libraries, well, that's something else. Full of gorgeous photographs of private libraries to lust after. I particularly like that many of them have not been tidied specially - the Duke of Devonshire reclines with newspapers scattered on the floor, Keith Richards' shelves complete with apparently abandoned bottle of HP sauce.

This is a booklovers’ book about booklovers. It is a libraything for LibraryThingers.

And it is a thing of beauty. Understand, I have a whole shelf of books about books, about booklovers and their life of reading. But this one is different. You might think of it as a coffee table book, but it’s actually more of a library table book, one you will want to make available for your guests to browse in, to handle, to explore. And tucked inside, in a format in which you would hardly expect it, show more you will find a caretaker’s handbook, a practical how-to on storing, perserving, and displaying your books.

But it’s a little hard to make your way around in it. Browsers who want guideposts for browsing won’t find them; book keepers who want advice on keeping books may be hard pressed to locate the information they need. It’s there, but admittedly you’d like to see it pulled out and reshaped in a handy little, hand-size “handbook.”

Basically the book presents, in opulent fashion, the libraries of some forty-one book collectors. There are beautiful full-page color photographs, a few classic two-page spreads, numerous little close-ups, and succint text on each one, made up largely of quotations from the booklovers themselves. Now, granted most of them are wealthy and the books and the libraries they can afford outstrip most folks’ ability to emulate. Even so, you find libraries to admire, libraries to covet, libraries to inspire awe, libraries to invite you in, libraries to make you comfortable — and probably, one or two libraries to make you wonder, “What the . . . .”

Some of them are just too perfect for me. And at least one (believe it or not) has too many books and is too much a hodge podge. Probably my favorite is Nicolas Barker’s, who was himself a book designer and then a conservationist for the British Library. Someone says of his library, “You’ll have to do a lot of talking before you can convince me that there is any order or method in this collection.” But the authors add, “Order or method may not be the guiding principal behind Mr. Barker’s library. But affection certainly is.” Captions for some of the photographs may capture the character of his library:

“The groound floor . . . serves as both library and study. New and old books pile up on sofas and carpeting as shelves proclaim no vacancy.”

“Even the ‘loo’ serves as book storage, as well as entertainment for visitors.”

“All the way up the several staircases books line the walls. What will happen when they reach the roof?”

Barker says of himself, “When people ask me, ‘Do you collect books?’ I always say, ‘No, books collect me.’”

But you will find your own favorite library from the collection. That’s what this kind of book is for. Book lovers enjoy browsing in libraries. So library lovers will enjoy browsing in this book.

Just a few of the quotations used for epigraphs will entice you inside (and demonstrate our obsessiveness):

“We were so fascinated by books and book people that we decided to make them a twenty-five-hour-a-day activity.”

“You can’t want to be a collector, you’re born that way. Driven.”

“Books are central to our life; the library is the heart of our house.”

“I like a project that never ends, and a library is that.”

By the way, different kinds of libraries are assigned to sections of the book, but the subheads of the sections (not printed in the table of contents) are a more accurate indication of the contents than the headings. Browsers need to know this. These subheadings are, libraries of serious collectors; visually inspired libraries; libraries designed by designers; the well-stocked [i.e., big] library; writers’ libraries; and reading retreats [the comfy ones].

But note: interesting libraries have nooks with special collections hidden away. Just so this book has very helpful little articles scattered among its riches; for example, how to organize your library, library lighting, the art of the bookshelf, bookplates, bookbinders and conservationists, library ladders (how many times have we needed one of those?), and the like, with a long list (perhaps dated) of resources at the end. Suppose you’re instructing the woodworker remodeling your house on library shelves. He needs to know, “Shelving 1 inch thick, 36 inches long, and 10 1/2 inches deep accommodates most books. If the shelf is to be longer, the thickness should be increased to 1 1/8 or 1 1/4 inches to prevent sagging.” Now you can’t get much more specific, nor more practical, than that! show less

A wonderful book with varied and well-chosen libraries, handsome pictures, and compelling stories about the library owners. This book differentiates itself from other "books about books" by going beyond care and decorating tips (although the book includes plenty of both) and spotlighting the owners of the books: Why they love books, how they began and added to their collections, what they believe is so important about having books in the home. This book was an inspiration to me. I kept it show more out in easy reaching distance during the 3 month period that I was having my custom home library built. I ended up stealing a number of ideas from the book, all of which have made my own library a warm, cozy, useful, and oft-complimented part of my home and my life. show less