This evening will be a momentous occasion in my young life. I am not however referring to the Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix film out tonight, but to the construction and careful filling of my first ever, proper bookcase. I cannot tell you how excited I am…
Yesterday Steve and I seized the opportunity of a few spare hours to nip to IKEA and purchase aforementioned bookcase that will bring me such great pleasure. For the last eight months my many books have been packed away in boxes in our office only to be rooted through when we’re trying to find something in particular. I’ve been desperate to get them out on display as many of them are old friends or precious possessions: the hard back Disney books that my Grandfather gave me that are older than I am, The Night Before Christmas edition my sister hunted down and gave me for Christmas that exactly matches the one we read as children and a beautiful old edition of The Hobbit some German friends read to us when I was knee high to a grass hopper.
As I sifted through my books in preparation for tonight’s construction I got a little obsessive, they are now sorted by category and author, I resisted alphabetising as I prefer to align them by aesthetic quality than alphabet restraints. I’m glad Steve was out when I did this; it’s exactly the kind of thing that makes him call me Raymond/Rainman.
As I stepped back to admire my work I realised that I do get immersed in a lot of worlds. Amidst the surprisingly many Christian books I could map the reading trends of my life:
My Alex Garland phase
My Robert Ludlam phase
My John Grisham phase
My Tolkien phase
My Lewis phase
My Minnette Walters/crime fiction phase
My Jane Austin passion
And the fantasy series:
Harry Potter and the…
The Dark Tower
The Wheel of Time
The Chronicles of Narnia
Though these authors span fantasy, crime fiction, drama, period and espionage they all have one great thing in common, they craft tangible worlds I love to go exploring in. Hmm I wonder how my bookcase will develop in the coming years? In the last eight months I’ve been rummaging through Steve’s CDs and as I was popping our Christian books on the shelves in his mixing room I realised that I haven’t yet ventured into his extensive book collection. I could buy nothing new Christian or fiction for the next two years and still have books left over… excellent! xc