I swear that if it weren’t for books (and Finley, and Rich, and the darn cat!), this house would be a little palace. But it isn’t. Because when I take it into my pretty little head to start a-scrubbing, the stacks of books I pile everywhere suddenly come glaring into view and I am faced with a terrible truth: namely my darlings, that I am acquiring books twice as fast as I am currently capable of reading them… This is partly due to a rather exceptional Summer in terms of vintage book-hunting – and partly due to way too many visits to the free book shop. Oh yes. We have a shop where you can walk in and walk out with an armful of books for absolutely nothing. For a book lover like me, this my dears is death by literary chocolate…
So anyways there are a lot of books around. I like to imagine that this makes the house look bohemian and intelligent, but actually in a diddy little cottage like this one, stacks of books everywhere really just add to the worry that one day they will have to come dig me out from underneath these darn shelves…
And there it is in a nutshell: I wrote that last sentence as if all my books are neatly stacked on bookcases, and certainly some of them are indeed hanging out in color-coordinated fashion on the big shelves in the dining room but most of them are lounging nonchalantly at my bedside. And on the kitchen window-ledge. And at my bedside. And on the coffee table. And even in the bathroom. Oh yes. Even in the bathroom.
There are in fact books everywhere: and they are stacked according to type because it struck me today that I do something terribly odd – I read books according to location in the house. In the bedroom I read Liverpool based war-time romances and cosy mysterys -books that do not challenge my brain when I can barely keep my eyes open. In the living room, I read vintage hardbacks in delicious colors: silly domestic dramas and gorgeous old school stories. In the bathroom I read self-help books. Now I don’t quite know what this says about me, but this is indeed how I read self-help books – in bite-sized chunks throughout the day. Too much information? Yep I thought so, but anyways… in the laundry room I read cookbooks, flicking through the pages of my cookbook of the week as I fold laundry. On the landing upstairs I stack library books on the little oak bookcase, and next to my computer I pile up anything I think I might need to make reference to here on BrocanteHome…
Is it any wonder I never seem to finish a book? I’m usually reading ten at once…
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But ten at once is the only way to read… isn’t it?xoxo
This my dear,is nothing new. At Chartwell,Winston Churchill,( besides having his library), carved out places for different types of reading. In his study- current news and political dispatches. He read history and biographies in the library. Hymns,ballads and verse with his wife in the morning room. Thrillers and mysteries in his painting studio, and he read aloud great oratory by the fish pond! We may not have all the space and rooms like Chartwell, but we can carve out nooks and niches for our books! “If you cannot read all your books,at any rate handle,or as it were, fondle them- peer into them,let them fall open where they will,read from the first sentence that arrests the eye,set them back on the shelves with your own hands,arrange them on your own plan so that you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them be your acquaintances.” -Winston Churchill
This my dear,is nothing new. At Chartwell,Winston Churchill,( besides having his library), carved out places for different types of reading. In his study- current news and political dispatches. He read history and biographies in the library. Hymns,ballads and verse with his wife in the morning room. Thrillers and mysteries in his painting studio, and he read aloud great oratory by the fish pond! We may not have all the space and rooms like Chartwell, but we can carve out nooks and niches for our books! “If you cannot read all your books,at any rate handle,or as it were, fondle them- peer into them,let them fall open where they will,read from the first sentence that arrests the eye,set them back on the shelves with your own hands,arrange them on your own plan so that you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them be your acquaintances.” -Winston Churchill
Me, too! I have books everywhere; they are real friends and very hard to think of parting with. I will go through them and think of passing some on but…….I can’t .
Me, too! I have books everywhere; they are real friends and very hard to think of parting with. I will go through them and think of passing some on but…….I can’t .
I am a book fanatic too. They are everywhere in my house and seem to have become a major element of my decorating. To my eye, books give rooms such a cozy, warm feeling. I am the same in reading self-help books a bit here and there, but have to stick to one fiction book at a time. My mind is getting too old to jump among books and keep the plots and characters straight! I also love my collection of vintage housekeeping and decorating books. I, like Linda, can’t seem to part with my books.
I am a book fanatic too. They are everywhere in my house and seem to have become a major element of my decorating. To my eye, books give rooms such a cozy, warm feeling. I am the same in reading self-help books a bit here and there, but have to stick to one fiction book at a time. My mind is getting too old to jump among books and keep the plots and characters straight! I also love my collection of vintage housekeeping and decorating books. I, like Linda, can’t seem to part with my books.
Me too! My husband will ask why I read so many books at a time. What can I say? As my mood changes, so does my book preference. I agree with Linda, books are friends. 🙂
Me too! My husband will ask why I read so many books at a time. What can I say? As my mood changes, so does my book preference. I agree with Linda, books are friends. 🙂
I feel as if I should have been the one writing this lovely post. Books have always been among my best friends – always faithful, always near. I have always said my house is made of half-read books.
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But ten at once is the only way to read… isn’t it?xoxo
But ten at once is the only way to read… isn’t it?
xoxo
This my dear,is nothing new. At Chartwell,Winston Churchill,( besides having his library), carved out places for different types of reading. In his study- current news and political dispatches. He read history and biographies in the library. Hymns,ballads and verse with his wife in the morning room. Thrillers and mysteries in his painting studio, and he read aloud great oratory by the fish pond! We may not have all the space and rooms like Chartwell, but we can carve out nooks and niches for our books!
“If you cannot read all your books,at any rate handle,or as it were, fondle them- peer into them,let them fall open where they will,read from the first sentence that arrests the eye,set them back on the shelves with your own hands,arrange them on your own plan so that you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them be your acquaintances.” -Winston Churchill
This my dear,is nothing new. At Chartwell,Winston Churchill,( besides having his library), carved out places for different types of reading. In his study- current news and political dispatches. He read history and biographies in the library. Hymns,ballads and verse with his wife in the morning room. Thrillers and mysteries in his painting studio, and he read aloud great oratory by the fish pond!
We may not have all the space and rooms like Chartwell, but we can carve out nooks and niches for our books!
“If you cannot read all your books,at any rate handle,or as it were, fondle them- peer into them,let them fall open where they will,read from the first sentence that arrests the eye,set them back on the shelves with your own hands,arrange them on your own plan so that you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them be your acquaintances.” -Winston Churchill
Me, too! I have books everywhere; they are real friends and very hard to think of parting with. I will go through them and think of passing some on but…….I can’t .
Me, too! I have books everywhere; they are real friends and very hard to think of parting with. I will go through them and think of passing some on but…….I can’t .
I am a book fanatic too. They are everywhere in my house and seem to have become a major element of my decorating. To my eye, books give rooms such a cozy, warm feeling. I am the same in reading self-help books a bit here and there, but have to stick to one fiction book at a time. My mind is getting too old to jump among books and keep the plots and characters straight! I also love my collection of vintage housekeeping and decorating books. I, like Linda, can’t seem to part with my books.
I am a book fanatic too. They are everywhere in my house and seem to have become a major element of my decorating. To my eye, books give rooms such a cozy, warm feeling. I am the same in reading self-help books a bit here and there, but have to stick to one fiction book at a time. My mind is getting too old to jump among books and keep the plots and characters straight! I also love my collection of vintage housekeeping and decorating books. I, like Linda, can’t seem to part with my books.
Me too! My husband will ask why I read so many books at a time. What can I say? As my mood changes, so does my book preference. I agree with Linda, books are friends. 🙂
Me too! My husband will ask why I read so many books at a time. What can I say? As my mood changes, so does my book preference. I agree with Linda, books are friends. 🙂
I have books everywhere, too, except the bathroom. 🙂
I have books everywhere, too, except the bathroom. 🙂
I feel as if I should have been the one writing this lovely post. Books have always been among my best friends – always faithful, always near. I have always said my house is made of half-read books.