Beginning to see the light at the end of this cough-filled tunnel. . . but until I’m back at full strength, I have books to keep me company. Here’s a teaser of how the nesting’s going, here in our urban condo. No way I could keep all the books I had on so many shelves in our island home, where we had bookcases built in to an open-concept library-office outside our upstairs bedroom as well as a full wall lined with more books in my downstairs office and more shelves below the built-in window seating in the living-room with even more shelves in the kitchen-dining area for cookbooks and foodie memoirs. . . .
But I’ve culled and I’ve culled and I’ve culled, and I know there will be more culling ahead; for now, with the help of Ikea’s Billy shelves (yes, I miss the custom cabinetry of our old shelves, but Billy works well and sometimes instant gratification is just the ticket!) and some creative crunching (the alphabet has to be a bit flexible here so that books taller than their assigned shelves can lie on their sides and coyly flash their spines. . . I think I’ll wait until our new sleeper sofa is delivered next week before I show you the whole wall (which will be partly occluded by that couch, in yet another creative compromise). (Whoa! Did you notice how many parenthetical comments that last sentence included?!)
I don’t need to wait any longer, however, to share my 2016 Reading List with you. For those who might be interested, I’ve posted it over here on my Reading Blog, Materfamilias Reads. I’d love to hear what you think about titles I’ve read or see your recommendations for ones I haven’t, yet…. Leave a comment, if you have a minute, either here or there. Thanks!
Ah books! I've got Billy on the brain as well, although not yet for immediate deployment…
Feel better soon, but in the meantime savor the time with some good books.
It's so useful, that Billy. . .
Love to look at other people's books. Is that a copy of Oscar and Lucinda I see there? I adored that book…back in the eighties? nineties? Not so rapturous about The Luminaries, though. I should take a shot of my shelves…maybe we can all post shots of our books. What a discussion starter!
It is, indeed, Oscar and Lucinda. I haven't opened it in decades, but I still hope to reread it someday. In fact, I think the whole Peter Carey oeuvre would warrant another look-in.
I love bookshelves as well. One of these days, a meme perhaps? You or I should start something on IG, 'kay?
Hi, just found you via Susan Burpee and am loving your posts! Just had two months of fluey cold/sinisitus so you have my sympathy.
Am a fan of the Billy but when I moved into this house they weren't an option (living on an island and at a time when Ikea didn't do online). So am interested to see your results.
Our books are mainly stored in bespoke cabinets that fortunately or otherwise allow for double-deep book storage. It's a mess but hubby won't let me cull … yet!
So glad you made your way here, TPP. Two months! I'm sorry to hear that, and I hope I'm done more quickly than that (although already 3 weeks!)
We've moved to some double-deep here as well, simply because of limited space and seemingly unlimited books — do you think they might be the hardest items to cull, for some of us, at least?