Group Fun: Post Pictures of Your Library

With Fantasia655 and Ronincats posting pictures of their new bookcases and libraries, I thought it would be fun if members of the group start posting pictures of their ability to hoard. I'm sure we're all curious what Stasia's shelves look like!

I'll start it off, but mine's not too impressive with my little condo. More than half of my true library has been in storage with my parents' things since they went overseas for a few years. The first picture is my "read" bookcase - notice the double-stacking in front. The second picture has my TBR shelves... those are the top 3 levels. TBR shelves = Bane of My Existence:


Here's a bonus since my pictures are so lame... my husband recently arranged a "reading nook" for me. Note the necessity for comfy horizontal reading:


Everyone get posting! If you need help with the HTML, let me know and I'll put a tutorial up. I used Flickr to upload my pictures.

(edited to get the html right - I'm new at it too)

Stepheracci, I have only 1 bookshelf - all of my books are either in boxes or in stacks on the floor :( I will post pictures of the 'library' once I get some taken, though.

I took the pics now if I can get them uploaded... LOL. Of course, the pics of the *real thing* will have to wait til we get back to France and build it :)

(the cat's snoring next to me -- pretty funny)

Since it's for fun...



Shot taken during reorganization - a bit of a mess I'm afraid!

I am developing a serious case of bookshelf envy!!

See, my whole house is my library---I'd have to post around ten photos to get it all in. There are shelves in every room of the house except the laundry room and bathrooms. (Then there are those boxes in the attic that I SWEAR I'm going to haul down and catalog someday.) Here's where I read, next to some of my books...

My books are strategically placed all over my house, but one very clever addition to our small house was this:



It's a bookcase built into the area adjacent to our staircase. My husband built it, unbeknownst to me, when I was traveling out of the country!

ETA: The books here are actually two rows deep! :)

Nice idea Squeak!

I too have books all over.. I have shelves flanking my fireplace,
a bookshelf headboard on my bed, and a small bookshelf at the foot of the bed.

I have three 6 foot tall ones upstairs in the spare rooms, two smaller ones in the dining room...and of course some boxes filled with books here and there.
I too would have to post too many photos... lol

Ok here's my built-in book shelf:
This is the top,


and here's the bottom:

and it closed:

A perfect flopping out in chair, Cauterize.
Gorgeous, Petermc. And so tidy....
Gosh, lw3, music AND books AND a comfy chair with the light placed just so.
Squeaky, that is brilliant. {looking around at all the wasted space here}
Lucky Fantasia: no book dusting.

I need more bookshelves. Someone should write a song about this. It would become our anthem.

Copied from the other thread:

Ooo, book porn! I'll play!

Here are the shelves in our living room:

The first 4.5 (r to l) are mine, the next 1.5 are my husband's, and the very end holds our DVDs. We actually have another small shelf to add to the end so we can relocate computer books/stop stacking, but the hubs has promised to bring it in from the van for, oh, over a month now. Yeah.

Our one-year-old has his own shelf in his room, although he seems to have board books stashed everywhere. I am proud to say that they are probably his favorite "toys", and if you sit on the floor in our house you're guaranteed to be accosted by a toddler with a book in hand.

Oy, you guys! Your bookshelves are way too neat!! Did you stash them that nicely just for the picture?

Here's another idea...

Also post pictures of how you creatively use piles of books in your home. :)

This is my north wall of my office. For creative piles, the books piled on the back of the couch are my paperback tbrs.

This is the other large area of books, in what used to be my office in the front bedroom, and is now my husband's.


If you click on any of these images, I think it will take you to my album of all my bookcases on PhotoBucket.

>14 ronincats: I went and peeked! My previously piques interest is now sated LOL -- now I just gotta see the rest of the house to be happy ha!

Guys -- thx for sharing -- what fun!

Hey, do you actually read all those books? (snort) Some people are so silly!

#16 - Ohgod, that question...

We should cook up some good answers:
"No, actually, I just use them for insulation."
"Oh heavens no, I just read the last page."

Take it away!

I can't take any pictures now, puppy-pen stands in front of the bookcases in the livingroom and upstairs there are benches in my small library ;-)

But I found a photo I took in February of the books in the livingroom. 5 bookcases divide the livingroom from the kitchen. There is a beam on top of them to hold them together. On the back are colorfull curtains.

From boekenkast

LOL, you guys are making me wish I had never started this thread!! Book lust?? I now have shelf lust!!!

SqueakyChu, that's a brilliant way to use that space. I always see those kind of dead zones in stairways, and that's a great way to use it up!

Does anybody else have fevered dreams of a wall of bookcases with one of those movable ladders? I saw it once in a furniture store, here in my city, and I've kept it in mind for my perfect home.

>20 Cauterize: Yes. And I saw it once in the version I want at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff -- go there, drive 100s of miles out of your way, just to see the library! *drools in remembrance*

ETA Bizarre. Just looked up photos online and must say what I saw there matches my memories not at all... hmmm.... maybe I got mixed up. Bother.

#20 - Absolutely. One day, I will have this.

>20 Cauterize:: I think ever since I saw that scene in Beauty & the Beast (the Disney animated version), where Belle is in the library and singing while she's on the bookcase ladder, I've wanted one. Really, really wanted one. My husband promises that one day, this will happen... LOL. I sincerely doubt it.

#24: Faith, if you cannot have the library ladder from Beauty & the Beast, maybe you could aspire to the library instead?

>20 Cauterize:
Yes, of course!
We once looked at a house only because it had very high ceilings and we dreamed about all the books that could be there in very large booksheves with a ladder :-)

Here is a link to something almost as good as a library ladder - Holly Black's hidden library!
http://thesteampunkhome.blogspot.com/2008/10/holly-blacks-hidden-library.html

My own library is scattered throughout the house on numerous bookshelves and stored in boxes under the stairs. Here's 1 of 2 builtin shelves in my lounge.

Ahhh.. hidden library! That would satisfy my husband's love of hidden rooms and my craving for a real library of my own. What a fun idea!

I would love a hidden library, with or without ladders.

I would just settle for some shelves :(

Me, too. I have two sets, both with two shelves, packed full. The rest are in boxes. Those I don't have cataloged yet. I don't have the energy to drag them down from the attic.

There are about five more bookcases in the house and untold boxes in the basement. This photo is after a recent reorganization and boxing effort that removed most of the stacks from the floor.

>31 sgtbigg: For a second there, I thought we had a ladder, but I see it's just a narrow section of shelving for CD's.

>31 sgtbigg:: Mike
Are those shelves from Ikea? they look the same as ours ;-)
Anita

and mine...Billy oak, which they don't make any more

#31 - Be thankful I don't live next door. I'd never have to go the library again, I'd be permanently encamped in your living room! I see a copy of Fiasco in there - that would be one of the first I'd borrow!

I noticed Fiasco too. Have you read it, and did you like it?

tiffin
sorry to hear Bill Oak is no longer available. These shevles are sturdy and easy to assemble and I have a few...

There is an Ikea store near Philadelphia, PA and it is a dangerous place for me because it is filled with so many gadgets that I simply don't need but think I have to have....

and Mike, my thoughts are similar to Peter's. I would meekly knock on your door, home made cookies in hand and ask if I could look at your books.....well, maybe borrow two or three or a hundred..(I'm smiling of course.)

Peter and abw, man oh man your eyes are pretty darn good that you can pick a title from all those stacked on the shelves....

#36 - Ricks' sequel to Fiasco is now available, The Gamble, or to give it its full name "The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008". Both are on the Wish List!

#37 - Linda - It's about the only title that can be made out ;)

Edit: Typo

I read Fiasco and was very impressed by it. I didn't know about the sequel, but will now look for it.

>33 FAMeulstee: - Yep Billy oak, I didn't realize they don't make them anymore.

>36 arubabookwoman: - Haven't read Fiasco yet, I made the mistake of going to bookcloseouts.com and got seven books for under $50 including that one. I have a bad habit of buying faster then I can read.

>37 Whisper1: - I know they still make Billy shelves, I guess they are just in different colors.

I was watching an old "Civil War Journal" on the Military History Channel this morning, Robert Krick was one of the talking heads and he was sitting in front of his book shelves and I recognized one of the books from my shelf, it was The War in Southwest Virginia by Gary Walker. But then doesn't everyone have a copy of that.

I'm generally against letting people borrow books, but I could make an exception if there were homemade cookies involved.

#40 - "I'm generally against letting people borrow books, but I could make an exception if there were homemade cookies involved."

Oh good, so I'm not the only book Nazi. I will only lend books to one friend, and only because she replaces them if anything happens to them...

My mother and my daughter can borrow my books. Some of my books. Others are hands-off, even for them. I often buy extra second-hand copies of books to "lend" to friends, though.

>40 sgtbigg:/41: Oh nooo, I'm a book Nazi too, so you're not alone! People have actually stopped asking to borrow my books... it seems it got around that I gave out a list of rules (or a lecture) anytime someone asked "can I borrow...?". LOL. What can I say... I love my books and tend to be very protective of their condition...

One person borrowed a few anyway, and got so scared that he'd do something wrong that he actually returned them the following week, saying "I think I'll just get them from the library..." Oops.

Billy bookcases are still made but not the oak (I have the honey coloured oak).

I'm awful about lending my books too: I just don't. Qualifier: my English major son didn't have to buy too many books because he was able to use mine. So in-family or close friends, yes, but not casually otherwise.

#44 - We have 8 Billy bookcases of various sizes, in white. Ikea for the win.

I'm enjoying the conversations regarding lending books.
Months ago I lent a book to a co worker with the cavet that it should be returned. Alas, when a good deal of time went by without the return and I kindly asked for it back (so that I could pass it along to someone else) the guy called me an "indian giver."

Needless to say, that's the last book I'll lend to him.

Sarge -- love the shelves :)

I am hopelessly naive I suppose. I keep thinking folks will love my books and return them in good condition, knowing how much I love them... Ha! LOL

And yet, do I change my behavior? Someone called me 'eternally hopeful' in another situation which ended badly -- maybe it applies here too.

ETA And yet, it feels more like 'eternally stupid'!

My best friend once borrowed a paperback. Her bird ate the cover.

So she bought me a new copy, and kept the destroyed one. This is why I let her borrow my books. And no one else.

Luxx..
sounds wise!

Suslyn...I'm very much like you. I'm eternally optimistic and "naive." It gets me into trouble when my feelings are wounded. I'm learning more about self protection as I get older and "wiser?"

Recently, I read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, and in Chapter 15, he wrote...

Once, about a dozen years ago, when Chris was seven years old and Laura was nine, I picked them up in my brand-new Volkswagen Cabrio convertible. "Be careful in Uncle Randy’s new car," my sister told them. "Wipe your feet before you get in it. Don't mess anything up. Don't get it dirty."

I listened to her, and thought, as only a bachelor uncle can: "That's just the sort of admonition that sets kids up for failure. Of course they'd eventually get my car dirty. Kids can't help it." So I made things easy. While my sister was outlining the rules, I slowly and deliberately opened a can of soda, turned it over, and poured it on the cloth seats in the back of the convertible. My message: People are more important than things. A car, even a pristine gem like my new convertible, was just a thing.

I like that story. Likewise - books are just things. Is a lost book worth a lost friendship? Is a coffee stain or a crease worth a sense of betrayal or recrimination? My friends are free to borrow and bounce my books around as much as they please, and generally my trust has always been rewarded. In fact, it's often been repaid a dozen-fold! Just my 2 cents.

I have gotten more easygoing as I've gotten older. I used to be very anal in keeping my books in pristine condition and limiting who can borrow them. (Except that for years, now, I mail off all my new books in batches after I read them to my sister, and then she returns them after she has read them--I live in a big city and have more discretionary income than she does, who lives in a small town without a bookstore. The only trouble we've ever had is when UPS lost a box of books on their way back, AFTER attempting delivery once, so we know they got here. We no longer use UPS. Anyhow, that's why there are a bunch of Nan-tags for my library.)

Now, however, I am running a lending library out of my office at school for my YA fantasy collection. I realize that I am taking a risk that students will lose books or damage them, but again, I can always replace them if needed. I have had students move away with my books--this is a high mobility, low income area--but then I figure I've just made a gift. (Although I had a twinge when a 6th grader graduated last year without returning my Johnny Maxwell omnibus!) (These are the books tagged "Otis" for location). And most of them are returned in great shape, and I'm encouraging reading. Yes, we have a great school library--but I have more fantasy! It's mostly the 5th and 6th graders who use it, and I've got more out now than I ever have before.

I don't lend often, but always make a big joking comment that I must 'check them out' first, and then I go to my computer and make an entry that XYZ borrowed the book on such such date. I either put in in tags, comments, or in another program I use called Readerware where they actually have a tab for 'loaned' and the date. Then I put a book mark into the book (aren't we always picking up free bookmarks?) and write a little note something like 'I belong to Tutu's Library, don't forget to take me back when you're done.)
Finally I ask my friend if they'd like me to remind them after X number of weeks/months, and most say YES. A simple reminder set up in Outlook, and an email or chatty phone call, has saved a few friendships.
But like most of you, I don't think any friendship is worth harrassing over a book. It's not like we don't have enough to read!

As I am generally rougher on my books than most people I know, I don't usually have a problem lending books to people as long as they don't mind reading a tatty book that might have been dropped in the bath. However, if the book is one of my favourites I'm a bit more protective :)

the ones that burn me is when they know it's an out of print book and that I hunted for it for a year +. They beg to borrow it, promising their first born. I relent and... that's it. No "oops I'm sorry."

Another fave was when a gal borrowed a book of mine and gave it away to a library by mistake. And neither offered a replacement.

And, no, I don't think books are worth relationships. Still good friends with both, but that doesn't mean I don't care about how they treat my books.

Whisper1, that co-worker from your work is brutal... ouch.

As for me, I guess I'm in the minority with no problems lending out my books. I think it's because I don't get many requests, and if I do, they're always my good friends who are avid book readers as well. I have been using LT to tag who has my books though, that's one of the things I love about this site.

>55 Cauterize: I have been using LT to tag who has my books though, that's one of the things I love about this site. Me too -- the tags are a super way of keeping track of what's where :)

ETA including what I've borrowed and where it goes back!