I visited all the blogs on the See Beautiful hop in the morning, but didn't have an inspiration for a post of my own. While walking Toby I had the idea to write about my and Ted's addiction to books. We are true bibliophiles, just loving reading and owning books, looking at them, recommending them, talking about them...
Currently most of our books are piled into the room over the garage, pending the building of new bookshelves to start the remodeling of the room into a home office.
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| Bookshelves three deep - and completely filled! |
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| Even have to put some on top for lack of room...wait, there's more... |
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Early in our marriage we joined one of those Classic Book Clubs. Later there was the History Book Club and in California we had access to Barnes and Noble and Borders for the first time.
Oh, and as our children grew, they of course were given Newberry and Caldecott award winning books as fast as we could afford them. In the meantime, the public library was a great resource. Growing up I had to wait for the Bookmobile, but we could walk to the library in California!
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| A small sample of our kids' books. See all the yellow Nancy Drews and the Harry Potter books above them? I'm not going to show you the boxes in the attic. |
We inherited some really old books when Ted's father passed away. Here's a different sort of treasure - his Masonic Bible.
SO - back to why I missed See Beautiful Friday! While I was in the shower I heard the doorbell and Toby barking madly. The postman was delivering my eagerly awaited copy of Pukka's Promise by Ted Kerasote. Once dressed, I couldn't wait to get started. Literally. I carried the book straight to the living room and started reading.
On the end table beside me sat the history book I'm reading, the Pulitzer-prize winning THE SWERVE. That's where I got the idea to write about the beauty of books in the first place. Its subject is the rediscovery in the 15th century of ancient manuscripts and how their influence change the course of history, in particular The Nature of Things by Lucretius.
So all day and into the evening I read my new book. Every couple of hours I thought, "Oh, I have to get in there and get my blog post done. Well, maybe just one more chapter." Before I knew it, it was dinnertime and my husband was cajoling me to get Mexican (he has to cajole because I don't like Mexican food much but it's his favorite).
So that is how my poor blog was shamefully neglected yesterday, and I missed my favorite blog hop. I was seduced by the allure of yet another new friend - a book.
Gold, silver, jewels, purple garments,
houses built of marble, groomed estates,
pious paintings, caparisoned steeds,
and other things of the kind offer a mutable and superficial pleasure;
books give delight to the very marrow of one's bones.
They speak to us, consult with us,
and join with us in a living and intense intimacy.
-Petrarch
12 comments :
We so need knew book shelves we have boxes of books on the floor but now I have a kindle so I get most of my books that day, happy reading
urban hounds
I'm a huge book fan, too! I bought a Nook from Barnes & Noble a few years ago, and I love being able to take all of my favorites along with me wherever I go now! I still love bound books, but I was running out of places to keep them all. I read pretty much anything I can get my hands on!
Woof! Woof! Sorry you missed the hop. Collection of books is beautiful. Nowadays books are delivered electronics. Mom loves the feel of a book but it sure takes a lot of space. No Worries ... next month See Beautiful if April 12th. LOVE the quote. Happy Seeing Beauty. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar
I like my kindle too, especially now that paperbacks are so costly.
Those are the big advantages to the e-books! I'll read almost anything except romance novels.
Haha thanks Sugar! April 12 - I'll try to get it ready early so this doesn't happen next time :)
WEll it may be a day or two late, but it was a really good "See Beautiful". You can find the world in books, we love your post.
My mummy totally agrees: books are beautiful:-)
Thank you fellow bibliophile!
After outgrowing six bookcases and running out of room for more, I have rediscovered the library. Neat system. You check out a book and then take it back when you finish it. Now I remember why Andrew Carnegie was one of the people with the most influence on my youth. :) I can't bring myself to doing e-books though.
Hope you enjoy Pukka's Promise as much as I did.
Yay!
I go in the library for one book and emerge with eight. How does this happen and is there any cure? :)
I LOVED Pukka's Promise and will add it to my Book Recommendations soon.
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