"Just because your bookshelves are full doesn't mean you need to stop buying books. It just means you need more bookshelves." This is probably one of my main philosophies of life. I love books. I love having them, shopping for them and reading them. I love decorating with them. What's not good about a small stack of vintage orange and black books as a base for a witch or pumpkin for Halloween.? Bookstores have always been my happy place. They calm me down immediately when I walk into one. I love second hand bookstores the most. And independent book stores. And big chains. Libraries will do in a pitch. At one time I started to plan a pilgrimage to bookstores around the country, and maybe the world. That is still on my "bucket list".
Today I went to one of the Midwest's biggest book sales. It is held every year at our state fairgrounds. This year it celebrated its' sixtieth year. I have been buying books there for more than fifty years. When I got married (the first time), we had very little furniture when we began housekeeping. But we made sure there were bookshelves. I bought a lot of our first books at the sale. As the years progressed we kept adding shelves and bookcases to every room of our second house. We even turned one room into a library. When we moved to a small bungalow, I counted the books we had accumulated. I had over 3,000. It turned into a major downsizing project. I donated and sold many of them, but then we started again.
For several years I worked in an historic house at Living History Farms Museum. During that time I collected many 19th century books about home life, cooking, crafting, sewing and decorating. I still love those books even though I'm not living in 1875 anymore.
I've written many times about my love for England. And one of the reasons is that there are books everywhere. The stores often use books to decorate. The quaint little hotels in villages have masses of old books setting around. The pubs have shelves of books.
I don't buy as many books as I used to. Now I keep most fiction on an e-reader because it doesn't use up space. I would still rather read a "real" book. John's a reader, too, so I moved into this house which already had a lot of books. We both still have boxes of books. I am looking for new places to put them. And weeding them out. More of his than of mine, I'm afraid. But I am trying to be generous. And I have a room as a library again.
You may be wondering why I would even want to go to a book sale at this point. I like to make things with books. Some book lovers may be shuddering right now. There are many who think books are sacred. I don't. Well, except for the ones that I already own. But I can handle buying one to specifically cut apart, or alter, or use for other decorating. So that's what I do.
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