If you were
to enter my home, you would most likely find books in every room. Of course, if you look around, you will
probably find some dirty laundry, dirty dishes or stuff that just has no
business being where you see it too. I
would call myself a casual or comfortable housekeeper. And to be honest, most
of the housekeeping gets done by my husband. He is much better at it than I am.
But, let’s get back to books.
I do have a
wall of bookshelves in the parlor. (Called the parlor because the piano is in
it and there is no television). They are categorized in my own particular way,
certainly not the old Dewey Decimal System or by ISBN. They are categorized by
topics. The first set of shelves holds Bibles, books that have a religious flair, books about heaven and angels that remind me of my Katherine; non-fiction books (well kind of)-they are basically motivational, self-improvement, home repairs, and reference books. The rest of the space is filled with Young Adult books such as The Harry Potter Series, The Bloody Jack Series, Eragon and the rest of that series; Children’s books that are special to me such as- Eloise by Kay Thompson and all the other books in the series, Ramona by Beverly Cleary and the rest of her books. I have only named a few that I can think of off the top of my head.
The second
set of shelves includes biographies starting with pretty much people that I
find fascinating. Then, come the Presidential biographies, and the presidents
that I enjoy reading about, i.e. Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and then some
of the rest of them; First Ladies-see above, then anything relating to the
White House or the Presidents and their families. After that I have American
History- the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, books about pioneering
times. My biases show. I have lots of books about women and their
children and the impact those times had on them.
The third
set of shelves contain my King Arthur
books- anything relating to the subject, fantasy tales, the Kings and Queens of
England, The Camulod Chronicles by Jack Whyte The Outlander Series by
Diana Gabaldon, The Falco Series by Lindsey Davis,The Queen Elizabeth I Mystery Series by Karen Harper, The King Raven Trilogy by Stephen Lawhead, The Ursula Blanchard Mystery Series by Fiona Buckley, and The Amelia Peabody Series by Elizabeth Peters, plus many others. Time
travel books that go back into history fascinate me.
The fourth
set of shelves contains fiction. Of
course I have my Sherlock Holmes books- anything that has to do with him. My favorite series other Sir Arthur’s Conan Doyle's Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes, are The Mary Russell Series by Laurie King. They are wonderful. I have all
of Douglas Adams books- The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
and every other crazy title including So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. There are
mysteries including The Maisie Dobbs Series by Jacqueline Winspear, which are set
during the same time period that Downton Abbey is set. There are
classics, romances, humor; I have a
little bit of every genre.
I have bags
of books sitting in front of the shelves waiting to be squeezed in
somewhere. I have books all over the
house. I do not keep all of them. Many of them get passed on to others, donated
or sold at garage sales. If the book
touches my heart and I feel that I will read it again, then it stays. If not, then it moves on.
I have all
of my lovely children’s oversized picture books together. The little kids’ books have their own shelves
that are accessible to the grand boys. I have boxes
of Christmas books that come out when the Christmas decorations come out.The
Genealogy books are in the dining room. Craft, knitting, quilting, and sewing
books are in the spare bedroom/Craft Room. Rock N
Roll, Records books, Funny books are in the office. More bibles, religious books, reference books
are in the living room. I have a set of
shelves with special books that are sentimental to me. It also holds whatever I am currently reading.
I know that
this sounds more like a descriptive list than an article about my life, but you
see books are a huge part of my life. As Garrison Keillor said, “A book is a
gift that you can open again and again.”
2 comments:
Hi Jill. I'm so glad you started this blog. Its fun to read about someone I have known almost since birth but have lost touch with over the years. I did not know you were such a King Arthur fan. Have you read the stories by Sir Thomas Malory in the Olde English? I did so about 25 years ago after seeing the movie Excalibur. It was difficult at first to understand a lot of the words but I persevered and found it was vary fascinating.
I love books also. I used to have 3 bookshelves filled with them but over the years my collection has dwindled. Just curious, does Paul still have his gi-normous collection of records?
I have read them, i think they were for an English class. The Jack Whyte series starts the story several generations back from King Arthur. A meteor falls to earth and after digging the metal out of the crater, and smithing it, excaliber is created. It is a great series. I love everthing about that time period. The Lindsey Davis series is set in Rome prior to the Roman invasion of Great Britain, but the time frames overlap. Falco, the main character is an investigater, of sorts. He fought in the British invasion. Of course. Stephen Lawhead has several series that deal with that time period. King Arthur and Sherlock Holmes. It is amazing the number of books that have been written around those two characters. There is also The Book of Merlin.
I love looking through used bookstores trying to find books to complete series, and other discoveries that I haven't been aware of. I keep a list with me just in case we come across a shop or a sale.
Kirk, those records are still in the basement and he has almost as many cds at this point. Our kids will have a mess to deal with if we haven't taken care of them before we are gone. Although, not expecting to any time soon.
I am enjoying writing the blog. I don't really understand how to set up all the stuff you can do to make it more accessable yet, but I am learning every day. Right now I am frustrated because I haven't been able to put a "follow me on facebook or twitter" widget on the page.
I am beginning to think that with the google chrome transitioning to google+ that the blog site is being neglected. Waiting it out for a bit, but I am looking at WordPress as an alternative to Blogger. We'll see. I am enjoying the process though. And of course I am just a baby at this. Small steps at a time.
I've always been pretty open about my life and I figured this would be a healthy way to put down my thoughts, memories and opinions.
Thanks for reaching out. It has been a long time my friend.
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