Books

I’m about halfway done organizing my books. (Click on the pic to see a laboriously annotated version of the photo indicating what sections go where.) It’s funny how much I love organizing my books, even though it’s a huge, labor-intensive process. There’s something really satisfying about taking the time to lay out a new system of organization, piling all the books on the floor, and then putting them in clumps, one at a time. Then the really fun part: putting them in alpha or chron order. I love holding the books and considering where they go, and I love how some of them take no thought while others take a lot of pondering. I love the smell of them, the solid *thunk* they make on the shelves.
Things like this make me realize the internet will never truly replace books for people like me. The physical bookness of them is what we love as much as the stories. Reading books like A Gentle Madness will give those who have no idea what I’m talking about a little insight. (And those who do know what I’m talking about, if you haven’t read that book, go read it now, it’s awesome). Someday I want to have the kind of house my parents have – one with a room just for books, and overflowing bookshelves in all the other rooms too, and a big set of display shelves for art and children’s books.
There’s something intensely wonderful about curling up with a book which a computer can’t replicate. I miss that from my college days, even though I was reading to study more than for fun. I spent hours and hours each week reading, absorbing material from the printed page. It’s an almost magical process.
Hooray for books!