A tour of my book shelves

I am a complete copycat, but when Midwest Mom did a similar post I thought it was awesome.  And so the idea has been lingering in my head for a long time.

Back in the day I had lots more adult books (not X-rated adult, by the way).  Now I spend most of my money on books for the kids.  Because who has the desire to read when one is on month 11 of interrupted sleep.  And I know how to read and they don't, so I need to encourage as much as I can.

So here is my book shelf tour---

This is my bedside table.  I am currently reading the book Wet Nursing:  A History from Antiquity to the Present by Valerie Fildes.  I keep 3 child-related books for quick reference there (Love & Logic Magic for Early Childhood by Jim Fay and Charles Fay, What to Expect the First Year by Murkof, Mazel and Eisenberg, and The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley), as well as Maurice Sendak's Mommy.  I also have 2 of Silas House's books that I have begun but not yet finished.

Near the reading chair (which I never read in), I have some books about motherhood, some books I borrowed eons ago from my friend K, and The First Days of School by Harry Wong.

In M's room, I have this shelf, as well as the red basket next to it where extras go that don't fit on the shelf.  I have a really hard time justifying books for M because he has so many board books that belonged to N and G.  Once he gets older and develops his own definite likes and dislikes, I will purchase accordingly.

This it the library book basket in N and G's room.  We only put library books in here which makes it (mostly) easy to find what needs to be returned.  Sometimes favorite library books will migrate downstairs or into the bookcase in their room.

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A friend of mine is having a book swap this coming week so I recently cleaned out 72 books from this shelf to put in the swap.  I really, really hate getting rid of books---it's almost sacrilegious, but the truth is there are just some books N has outgrown and some that don't really strike their fancies.

This is the seasonal book basket.  It kinda bugs me to read Valentine's books in fall and Christmas books in summer, so I keep them up high until I get out books for their appropriate seasons.

Right now this is the only bookshelf on the main floor of our home.  Eventually I'd like for books to be kept in the wall unit we had built, but that is currently crammed to the gills with toys.  N and G's books are on the top shelf, along with children's music CDs.  And below are M's board books, as well as coloring books, craft books and journals.

I used to have a lot more books, but at some point I decided I would rather keep only books that really mean something to me.  Like books I've read multiple times (like Jane Eyre).  Or books that both D and I like (The Lord of the Rings trilogy).  Or books that have sentimental value (Humana Festival plays book featuring Beast on the Moon).  Or books from my childhood/teaching days that I want to share with my kids when they are older.

The top 4 shelves of this bookcase are actually CDs, which sucks but we have nowhere else to put them.  Of course, if they were gone I'd feel the need to fill up the space with more books, so it's best for my budget if we just leave them alone until I'm not spending a trillion bucks a month on diapers and have time to actually organize anything in my home.  The bottom shelf of this bookcase has more kids' books.

Anymore I don't have time to pay too much attention, what with chasing the kids, but sometimes I do notice that some people don't have any visible bookcases in their homes, which I still find odd.

Admittedly, my bookcases are much further down my list of priorities than they used to be before the kids came along, but I still get a great deal of aesthetic pleasure from seeing books lining the shelves.

Take that, Kindles everywhere.