Post #100: my surviving book collection.

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Books and reading have always been my passion. As long as I can remember I always had my nose stuck in a book. I actually used to “cut class” in third grade to go to the school library (I hated 3rd grade the most because I was not only bullied by the other kids but was also bullied by my teacher Mrs. Morse, who had it in for me through the whole year and actually encouraged the other kids to gang up on me.) Reading was my escape, my middle childhood version of creating my own imaginary friends and worlds, and I read on a 7th-8th grade level in the third grade.

My two favorite books as a child were (1) Louise Fitzhugh’s classic  “Harriet the Spy” (read the book but skip the movie –Harriet is not your usual female heroine–she’s feisty, neurotic and isn’t even all that nice–she is part villain, part hero, and that makes her have so many dimensions for a kids’ book) and (2) Scott O’Dell’s breathtaking survival story, “The Island of the Blue Dolphins”.  How I longed, like the young heroine in that beautiful story, to be stranded for 18 years on a desert island, swim with the dolphins, commune with nature and wildlife, fashion my own hut and raft for fishing,  and most of all, spend almost two decades not having to deal with people at all. .

These two bookshelves pictured below contain almost all my remaining books. I keep a few others in the reading room bathroom and a few more on a smaller shelf next to my bed. I used to read an average of 3 books a week but lately I haven’t been reading nearly so much, because I do so much reading on line now.

bookshelf
Yes, that is a Salvador Dali inspired melting clock dripping off one of the shelves on the left hand side. It was given to me as a gag gift last Christmas, but it was the perfect gift for a person like me who loves the random and unexpected when it comes to gifts.   The clock works too!   (Click photo to enlarge). 

I used to own more than 3,000 titles (hell, I could have opened my own little bookstore!) but lack of space and financial necessity obliged me to sell most of the books or give them away to charity. There’s a few books I regret giving up; here are most of the remaining titles that either didn’t sell, or I refused to sell.

And now….(drum roll please!)…I have reached 100 posts.  🙂 

partytime

 

4 thoughts on “Post #100: my surviving book collection.”

  1. I too love reading,our son is also an avid reader 🙂 sadly I do not have a bookshelf, our little house is just too dang small for such things, I only have 10 or so books now, but once had hundreds. I miss having books .

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  2. You are fortunate your son likes to read. My kids didn’t seem to inherit the reading gene. They can read of course, and very well–but they don’t read for pleasure the way I always did. I guess that’s not too unusual with the Millennials, who grew up with the Internet , computer and video games and now social media. Still, there’s nothing like a real book–it’s beauty and it’s smell can’t ever be duplicated. I love the tactile qualities of a book. It’s also nice the way you can read a book just about anywhere–in the tub, on the toilet, curled up in bed with one before drifting off to sleep. You can’t do any of those things with a Kindle. Besides, books are cheap , sometimes even free (libraries are regularly getting rid of older titles and give them away or sell them at a ridiculously low cost, like $1. Great books can be had at Goodwill too. Sometimes, for the very poor, it’s the only kind of entertainment and escape they can afford.

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  3. Congratulations on 100 posts! I am so happy to read your blog (even when I’m scatterbrained and forget to comment)! Here’s to 100 more posts!

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