When I was a little girl, I dreamed of having . . . A Library of My Own.
It’s not that I lacked reading materials as a child. We were a Library Family, after all. My mom took my sister and I to the library once a week, and I always came home with a big stack of books to read. I also made good use of the library at my elementary school. But I didn’t have very many books that were really-and-truly MINE . . . to own forever and ever and put on the little bookshelf in my room. I used to receive a book every year for Christmas, and I treasured those gifts. And I had a few books that had been my mom’s when she was a little girl. I saved my allowance to buy books from the quarterly classroom Scholastic book offerings and the annual PTA Book Fair. But there were no book stores around for me to visit. And, truthfully, no extra money to buy books anyway.
So I dreamed of . . . having my own library someday, full of my own books. Preferably a library like the ones I saw in movies or pictured from the books I read . . . a big, warm room full of floor-to-ceiling shelves just packed with books! Oooo . . . and with maybe one of those moveable ladders for accessing the books on high-up shelves. And a charming little spiral staircase to an upper level! Maybe stars on the ceiling or some other whimsial décor . And comfy chairs to sit in while I read . . . all day long. (Because I would never leave it.) (And I had a big imagination.)
And now . . . I’m lucky to have one — my own little library right in my house! A little den of a room with floor-to-ceiling book shelves. No ladder. No spiral staircase. No stars on the ceiling. But comfy chairs, for sure. It’s wonderful — and as close to my childhood dream as I’ll get!
And what’s on my shelves? Well. It’s mostly filled with my poetry collection, art books, gardening reference books, and novels that I really love and will re-read — those novels that are especially meaningful to me in some way. I also have a selection of my kids’ favorite books from their childhoods, a section of books from my grad school days, and several knitting and stitching books and guides. Tom keeps his favorite books in the library, too – old chemistry texts, maps and atlases, fishing books, and the complete works of Tom Robbins and Kurt Vonnegut.
Mostly, I still read books from the library. Or on my Kindle. I rarely buy books – unless they’re special to me somehow. But my personal library . . . the library of my own . . . is still one my favorite places to read and think and dream!
How about you?
- Did you have – or dream of having – a library of your own when you were a child? What did it look like? Share your dream-library with us here in the LOUNGE.
- And . . . did you grow up to have your own personal library? What does it look like? Where is it? What’s on your shelves? And how do you decide what to keep in your library?
==========
The Read With Us LOUNGE is now open for the summer!
Grab a book. Find a comfy spot to read with us for awhile.
No rules!
Just fun!
And be sure to visit Bonny and Carole today to see what they’re talking about in the LOUNGE.
I wanted the same sort of library when I was a kid! I was very lucky to have a great children’s bookstore nearby when I was growing up, and I often got books as gifts for my birthday and Chanukah — I even still have some in my personal library! I joke about it, but it’s really partly true that one of the things that sold me on our house was the fact that an entire wall of the family room is made up of built-in bookshelves. They’re pretty full, and I have stacks in front of and top of the books that are on the shelves (I don’t buy that many these days, but I get a lot from my parents after they read them and pick up others at Little Free Libraries).
I also wanted a library when I was a little girl, but what I really wanted was one big enough to have one of those ladders. When I watched Beauty and the Beast with the kids, we always rewatched the part where Belle sings on it. I pictured myself doing that. But alas, that didn’t happen. My parents “cleaned out” all of my childhood book and I’m still trying to replace a few of them. I have one bookcase with two shelves that houses my rather small library but I still manage to get plenty of books from the library. I made sure my kids had book shelves in their rooms and I haven’t gotten rid of their books.
Oh your Fantasy Library sounds awesome Kym! And yes I also had My Own Library Dreams as a child. Mine involved a beautiful cushioned window seat… the window framing some sort of big tree. The walls on either side of the window would house books… and the room would smell so good! You know… that incredible book-y smell! And no…I never had such a place (although I did live in a house with window seats for a brief time when I was a child… not cushioned, nor with trees) I do have a bit of a library today that is housed in two IKEA book shelves. I have poetry books (so many poetry books!) and, like you, some books on making… knitting and sewing and spinning. I also have some books from my kids childhood (although many of them have been passed on to said children for them to share with their children) But, like you most of the books I read are from the library… I am so incredibly thankful that libraries exist!
Yes and yes! But maybe in a different way because my dream was to grow up and work in a library and THAT would be MY library. And here I am. I do have wall to wall book shelves in our tiny den but it’s mostly Dale’s books that live there. And I have cubbies of books in my studio, those are mostly on knitting and spinning. I very rarely buy books but I am surrounded by books every day and it fills me with joy.
Ahhh,, so many memories! Like you and those who have commented so far, I wanted a library of my own, but honestly we had so many (SO MANY) books in my house that it was kind of like a library. We all had bookshelves in our bedrooms; there were bookshelves (that my Grandfather made) in the upstairs hallway, books on shelves in the living room, etc. Now my house has a ton of books too. In fact, I have started weeding out some of them. There was a huge box of books from when Colin was a young child – they have now gone to Iris. I have a lot of books from my parents (mostly poetry and cookbooks), and many books that were my Grandfather’s (history and classics). And, like when I was growing up, there is not a room in my house that does not contain books! And like others, I now mostly use the library unless something “speaks” to me and I HAVE to have it!
My mother took all her children to the library every week, plus the schools I went to (way back when) had great libraries. In addition, the bookmobile came by (nearly stopping at my front door) every week (mostly summer, I think). Since I had so many siblings there was no way to keep books of my own. I dreamed about a romantic library, such as those in your minds eye but never could image how to make that happen.
Fortunately, and because, we’ve been in this house for 45+ years I have been able to build quite a library of my own. Plain white shelves run along one wall in what I call my office, and on the windowed wall, run a full set of half bookcases. Large volumes (like Shakespeare) and all my knitting/craft books are in the downstairs library (a smaller space).
My main library has room for poetry, non-fiction and books on nature (on the under window shelves). My main library has all the fiction. I glean through the books a couple of times a year to keep the cases from becoming overly stuffed. They can be packed to the gills at the end of a run of great reading (like Booker Prize reads). I love to read real books and don’t have good library access (budget cuts have been ruthless) and have no any other way to access books of any sort, therefore the I buy books. I am privileged to have that freedom. I love passing on books to other people and only keep books I really love. But, I love quite a lot of books!
I too dreamed of having a library — and a window seat to read, like in the Velvet Room (a Zilpha Keatley Snyder book I read as a child). I still have the Nancy Drew book my childhood best friend, Sarah, gave me for my birthday in second or third grade. There wasn’t money for books outside of gifts in our house growing up, but my mom always got us to the library in the summer. In the school year, our school library was our book source. Today I have a house full of books – and I’m not as good as I should be about culling them from time to time, though it has happened. Most of my reading is from the library, but often book group books end up being purchased, sometimes on my kindle, sometimes as a book. And my husband is stubborn about buying his books, which can annoy me. The books I most want to own are either by my favorite authors (I have an Anne Tyler collection) or ones I think I’ll want to pass on to others.
I don’t think I dreamed of having a library but I now have stacks of books and a bookshelf my father built with knitting books in it. I have one bookcase (from Target years ago) that holds books I want to save and I cull it every now and then. I also have 3 book carts full if books I want to read (and I think I have another still in the box). I am trying to read through the stacks I have as I plan to move within the year to a small senior (hopefully) apartment. I’ve been collecting Ann Patchett books and actually got a few in the mail today thanks to Thriftbooks. Working my way through the ones I have saving Whistler for August for bookclub.
I created my own library as a child. If you find one of my early books (Heidi for example), you will find that I have written in the front of each, for others to sign out my books. I have one still that one of my friends had borrowed and it is signed and dated. I do have some books now that I keep because I enjoyed them so much, but most of my books are on my Kobo, from either Libby or kobo / bookbub.
Gosh, I never dreamed of having a library even though I read constantly. What I did yearn for was a cozy window seat to curl up in and read for hours. Maybe my version of a “library”.
Thought provoking post. I dreamt more of a window seat than a personal library. There was no public library where I grew up, just the school library. In the summer it was the summer Weekly Reader and I think there was another youth periodical that came to the house. Otherwise Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, the Five Little Peppers, etc were scrounged from I don’t know where.
These days my “library” is scattered all over the house. There are some shelves in the LR, book cases in my weaving studio & sewing room/office, and a stack of checked out library books in the dining room. Oh and cookbooks on a special built lazy susan in the kitchen.
The thing about library shelves is they accumulate dust and other detritus. So walls of shelves never appealed to me.
When I was a child, I read ALL the time. Even while walking downstairs — which (no surprise!) once led to a fall and a trip to the ER. But, my favorite place to read (and where I kept my “library”) was in the rather garret-y attic in our 100 year old house. I loved the feeling of the space and, as the oldest in a big family, it provided a private space for reading and daydreaming.
Today, there are many bookshelves scattered through our house; most of “my special” books (knitting, poetry, history, favorite fiction) are in my office or in the little den.
And, I’m fortunate to have access to a wonderful public library, and I go there often.