In celebration of books!

Some of my favorite books now have a home with our souvenir dog from Paris.

Over this past weekend, my husband and I finally made some attempts to make our apartment feel more homey. It's been nearly seven months since we moved from France back to the US and it was about time we started settling in. One of the very best things about moving back to the States was being reunited with our books. Getting all those wonderful books on to shelves made our apartment feel much more homey. I tend to agree with Marcus Cicero's philosophy on decorating, "A room without books is like a body without a soul." And so today, I want to celebrate books and give you a peek into my library. 

“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” 

― Oscar Wilde

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” 

― C.S. Lewis

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.” 

― Charles William Eliot

“Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?” 

― Henry Ward Beecher 

“I cannot live without books.” 
― Thomas Jefferson

Just for fun, I wanted to share this little article on the anatomy of a book. Did you know that head and tail bands were available in so many different colors? From now on, I'll have a whole new appreciation for that little ribbon of color. 

In publishing, it is often very fun to be able to pick out every little detail of a book. It can also be very frustrating, but when you have the finished product in your hand, it's hugely satisfying to know that you've been with this product from the moment it was simply an idea to its full fruition. 

Books have played a huge role in my life, from my first trip to the library, to seeking out used bookstores, to building my own collection. I think that the books we buy say a lot about who we are, what we value, and what we dream of. Whenever I visit someone's home for the first time, I always catch myself staring at their bookshelves. Should they happen to have books I love, I'm aware of a possible kinship. Should they have a collection of titles I've never heard of, I'm curious to know more. I love meeting people who have read more than me. My endless to-read list is made up of suggestions from those people. They ensure that my reading horizons are always broadening. 

I would love to get a peek into your library. Would you post a photo or two of your book collections? If you would like to share, please post them on our Facebook wall. And as a final treat, here is a wonderful collection of photos of great libraries. Any book lover will enjoy looking through this. I've been able to visit and/or work in a few of these magical places and they truly are inspiring. Have you seen any of them? Which ones?

And for those of you building libraries for your children, might I suggest the following collections:

The d'Aulaire Collection

The Brinton Turkle Collection

The Ralph Moody Collection

The Genevieve Foster Collection

The Daugherty Collection

The Albert Marrin Collection

In case you missed it:

Losing the Classics

Unstructured Creativity a. k. a. Boredom

An Education in Classics