a book thing

Here is the majority of the girls books. I don't dare guess how many books are on these shelves. Thankfully, most of them are gifts or were bought by mom for under a dollar a piece at my favorite thrift store "Bible's for Missions." All the shiny spines are Little Golden Books - both me and the girls love them.



The books in the round basket next to the girls' tree and nativity are the kids' Christmas books (there is also a selection of adult books) that get put out at Christmas. The wooden box below contains the more factual or encyclopedic books that belong to the girls



These are what remain of the board books. K doesn't like reading board books anymore but I am holding onto them because C was the same way at K's age and she did return to the board books, so I have held onto the best ones. I don't think I will ever get rid of the Sandra Boyntons the whole family - even hubby loves them.



These are the audio books that the girls listen too. The whole family is addicted to them. My hubby really likes "Charlotte's Web" as read by EB White and he loves all the Pooh stories even after having listened to them a million times, one can find himself chuckling over Milne's characterizations. Hubby also likes the Little House books that we have - they are read by Cherry Jones and he likes her as a female narrator Shelly Frasier and Rebecca Burns who narrate a number of the stories grate on him.



There is also a bag of cheap paperback books in the car. And a collection of beautiful nursery rhyme and prayer books in C's room.

Both the girls love to read. I started reading to C when she was six weeks old (Jim Trelease has a great book about reading to children that will inspire you - there are many wonderful anecdotal stories in it). When she was around nine months I could read to her for an hour and a half at a time. That waned as she became more active but she still loves to read and listen - especially in the car.

I felt bad about K because although I started reading to her as soon as we came home, she never got as much reading as C. But she loves to read every bit as much as C.

Well that does it for the kids' books. (Except for the small but growing collection of juvenile books - when I am at a thrift store favorites from when I was an avid young reader, I pick them up and save them).

There are three bookshelves of books belonging to hubby and myself. One shelf is moderate sized and was handmade (pegged and glued) by my maternal grandfather as a wedding present for us - it hides in the corner by my sewing machine. Then there is the hand made one that I found at Bible's for Missions for less than $20.00. It is a bit smaller and could stand being refinished by it is solid wood and well made and that counts for something as I can't stand fake backs and cheap shelves. And then there is a barrister bookcase in our bedroom bought new for us by my MIL. It has 'the nicest' books in it. All the shelves are crammed full.

Books live on more than shelves in our home. One of my drawers in our bureau has my Bibles and other Bible Study materials in it (and it is full). There is a very tall stack on the bureau too. Then there is the trunk that has mostly garden and bird books with a few other topics thrown in. Oh and then there is the row on the top of a dresser drawer (serves as storage) behind my sewing table - that is mostly craft books and cookbooks. Speaking of cookbooks there is a cupboard in the kitchen containing my most frequently referenced books and my binder of recipes). I think that is most of my book hideouts. Oh, I forgot the bread box that has small format hardcovers and paperbacks in it.

You can blame my parents. My sister A and I discussed this and later my sister B asked me about it too. We children do not recall Mom and Dad reading to us although a few quips by Mom and Dad and the fact that we are all avid readers assures us that they must have. By the time we started reading we must have cut ourselves off from them reading to us.

There were rows of shelves in the upstairs hallway with books of our house - lots of Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour, Sci Fi, and Grace Livingston Hill. I still have favorite Zane Grey books.

My Dad worked as a City Maintenance man for a small town of 400 and would often bring boxes of books home that he found in the trash. Another perk was the City Hall shared building space with the Library and the librarian was quite easy on us and our borrowing. She enjoyed my Dad and would let us borrow without checking books out. (In fact, years later, Mom gave her one of my all time best photos of my Dad because she cried when she saw it because she then realized why she so liked my Dad - he reminded her of her brother who was gone).

The downside of being avid readers was that both A and I would permanently borrow books from the school library. I had guilt about that for years.

In High School, I was fortunate to have a teacher who pushed me to excel and would encourage me to read worthwhile literature. In college, I majored in English - my interest being literature not writing.

So there you have it. We like books.