Home Library

I just went crazy and totally re-organized my bookshelves. I have two of them, and they were overflowing. Overflowing onto the floor in the bedroom, onto the chimney, onto my desk. Since college, I have been a borderline freakishly organized type, and this lack of finesse to my bookshelf techniques was just not working for me.

I began by trying to move my crappy Ikea bookshelf in order to make room for my Senegalese chairs. My Senegalese chairs? Awesome. My Ikea bookshelf? Crappy. Dude, every time I tried to push it, it just leaned from wherever I was pushing... holy shitty bookcase, Batman! So I ended up pulling almost all the books off and lifting the damn thing.

Once all my books were on the floor, I began considering organization styles. I've known that I needed a change. So I made the judgement call: I would begin doubling up.

Now I have two, double-layered fiction shelves on my main Ikea bookshelf. Of course I had to put my faves out on the front (Auster, Boyd, Doyle, Atwood, Coetzee) and hide a few embarrassing pieces of literature (Da Vinci Code, anyone?). I got to thinking about how I should collect some books to sell at the secondhand shop soon -- I've got enough crap that I'm willing to part with that I think I could get 15 euros or more for.

It's interesting, too, to make a mental inventory of the things I am obviously interested in, judging by my books: tons of fiction, cooking (they just took over the entire fireplace), languages, linguistics, travel, knitting, nutrition, gluten-freeness, alternative health, Africa, world events, and political theory (surprising). Probably in that order.

Books that need to be reviewed on Odessa Books:

- The Dying Animal by Philip Roth
- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
- The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
- The Sea by John Banville
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Ok, that's a good starting list.

Books I am thinking of taking home with me on Thursday to read:

- La Casa de los espiritus by Isabel Allende
- Child's Play by David Malouf
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (with TheKnitters permission)

I shouldn't bring any books at all, because as soon as I go back I am booking it to Borders. It's just obligatory. So I should only bring one, maybe two for the plane. Otherwise, I'm just adding more weight to my bag.

The amazing thing, though? Remember that REALLY expensive bracelet The Boy bought me? The one that was the first gift he had given me in four years? The one that I totally loved but was a little loose? And that I lost?

I FOUND IT!!!!!