When you move out of home into somewhere rented, it never quite feels like it should.
It's sort of a home, in that you feel "at home" when you get there, and it has everything you need from home. It's where you eat, sleep, and stumble in blind drunk. Sometimes it's better than home; it doesn't question where you've been, or get offended if you go straight upstairs without a "hello" when you walk through the door.
The rented home has someone else's floors and a bland mushroom colour scheme, and it's like you're just plonking your belongings on top of it all for a while.
So that's where my bookshelf comes in. It sits vertically in the corner of my bedroom; all available surfaces crammed full from the top with a speaker, leaving, thank you and birthday cards, photos, a Masquerade mask and, of course, books.
In this house which isn't mine, my bookshelf is one of my favourite things.
It's a comfort, a snippet of me in a bedroom that has all the personality of a Primark vest top. It's a list of things I've poured over again and again, or probably will do at a later date.
It's also why I'll never, ever get a Kindle.
Here is my bookshelf. (Unedited)
Emma Jane Unsworth, Hungry The Stars and Everything // A.A. Gill, Paper View // Alain De Botton, Essays In Love // George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty Four // Ian McEwan, Enduring Love // Charlie Brooker, Dawn of the Dumb // Steve Toltz, A Fraction of the Whole // Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go // Mark Radcliffe, Gabriel's Angel
Jilly Cooper, Rivals // The Never Ending Story (DVD) // Labyrinth (DVD) // Submarine (DVD) // Stephanie Meyer, Eclipse // Hangover Square // Grace Dent, How to Leave Twitter (Didn't work.) // Stephanie Meyer, New Moon (FYI, there's a gap where I've lent Breaking Dawn to a friend. Yeah. You 'eard.)
The Superior Person's Third Book of Words // Jilly Cooper, Polo (Read until the spine fell off) // Charlotte Bronte, Wuthering Heights // A notebook (empty) // A.A. Gill is Further Away // A.A. Gill is Away // The Smelly Dog
9 comments:
I always said I wouldn't get a Kindle - until I started working in London last year.
Then the appeal of lots of books in a small light device that didn't get squished by cuntbag Tube commuters seemed like a plan.
I still love books, but I love the Kindle too - different things/media/devices for different times. Reading Kindle at home happens, but a book's so much nicer. Out at work or commuting? Kindle all the way, I'm afraid.
My brother bought me a Kindle for Christmas. However :-
(a) I didnt want one, didnt leave hints for one, or asked for one.
(b) My brother is strapped for cash so the Kindle would've really eaten into his reddies.
So now I guess I've got to get around to using it. Which I will.
I just prefer books.
You just can't replicate that feeling and smell of a book you've read 20 times. I'm all for gadgets, but I'll forever remain a slave to paper.
Love this post, you've got me examining my bookshelf now!
why 'submarine'?
And I'm lucky enough to have 4 IKEA Billy bookcases filled with books, 2 books deep on most shelves!
The one thing I always dream about when I ever own my own place is buying a massive bookcase and spending a lovely day organising all my books into alphabetical order.
I know what you mean about the kindle - but I'm starting to sway over it, purely because of the fact it's such a space-saver!
Have you seen bookshelfporn.com? Check it out.
PS. I heart books.
Pah! Wait until you've insulated all the walls of your house with crammed bookshelves and have not an inch of space in which to put another, and then tell me you're never, ever, going to get a Kindle. I estimated once that I have around 4,000 books, stuffed into around 20 floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. My Kindle can hold 3,500. Plus whatever I store at Amazon.
Lyle - I've survived this long commuting into London with a book, and so it shall continue :)
London lass - My parents had earmarked me for a Kindle at Christmas, I think it's the go-to gift at the moment, but I asked them not to get me one.
The Author - I like the way you can tell how much of the book you've got left, instead of this 20% lark on e-readers.
model - It's a really good film. Have you seen it? I recommend it. Most of our bookshelves at home are like that. Crammed. I love browsing them.
P - The space saving thing doesn't really bother me. I think books are nice to look at on shelves, the more the merrier!
Treacle - Amazing site. My bookshelf doesn't rival those!
Regular Lurker - It would have to be desperate times for me to store books on something. It's a bit like photos - yeah, it's good to have them all on a computer, but you don't get half as much joy looking at them on screen as having them in your hands.
I like the idea of passing good books on to someone else, something you can't do with an e-reader. Not without paying for another copy, anyway.
The absolute best thing about books you have read over and over is the fact they open at the best bits; no need for the back story or exposistion, just the simple comfort of your favourite words wrapping you up in good memories.
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