Library Tour

     I moved in March, and have spent a lot of time working on my library space since then. Before I moved, the room didn't even have flooring, so I have designed everything from the ground up (with the exception of the fireplace and brick wall). It's been wonderful being able to make this space truly mine, something I haven't been able to do in all my years of renting. It is my "happy place", as the saying goes. As I just brought a lot of my plants inside for the winter, I thought now was the perfect time to take some pictures! The plants get in the way sometimes, but they make it feel cozy. And they'll be outside again in no time! 

    My home library is also a particular point of pride because I lost about half my book collection when I was homeless about 10 years ago, and have painstakingly rebuilt it, most in the past six months. I held onto my absolute favorites (although not all of them), but many, along with my CDs and records, were lost to me. So this has been a labor of love in many ways. I've only felt "stable", housing-wise, in the last few years, and my books quickly outgrew my small apartment once I did, so being able to expand into (almost) a whole room for just my books has been amazing.

    This room is still a work in progress and is subject to change at any moment (case in point: a frame is on order to hang a map of Tortall on that brick wall), but still... this is how it looks today*! Also, a video tour will be coming SoonTM, I just haven't had time to make it this week.

*when I started writing this post on Wednesday. It is now Saturday and books have been added since then.

The entrance (which separates it from my bedroom area) and first view.

    Long view of my main bookcases (we'll get to their contents shortly)

Reading chair and fish tank. There's a (non-working) fireplace behind the fish tank, maybe one day I'll get it fixed up. The fish tank is home to black mollies, dalmatian mollies, a betta, and a gold inca snail.

Other corner: fish tank, "writing desk" (as if I actually write these days... grand plans and all), and my "favorite series" shelf.

    And to round it out, here is the other corner with my computer desk.

    Isn't it cozy? And sure, the pink Victorian-esque aesthetic may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it sure is mine. I still have plans to work on—I want to put tin tiles up on the ceiling, I'm on the hunt for the perfect reading lamp and side table for my drinks, and I'll soon have to figure out separate storage for my CD and DVD collections—but for now, this is coming along quite nicely. The grand plan is to eventually buy the whole house when my mom is ready to retire, in which case I'll move my bedroom and office upstairs, and this will just be a library, with floor to ceiling shelves on the wall opposite the windows... but that's down the line. I still need to find a full time job before that can even happen.

    Now, for the individual bookcases so everyone can peruse my titles and my meticulous organizational system... I mean, that's what you're all here for, right? Right.

    First up, we have one of my nonfiction bookcases. The row on top of the bookcase is mostly books about animals, the arts, and a few biographies. A lot of these books, I've had since I was a child/teen, including my decent collection of Monkees books. (Micky's biography is missing, so I need to replace that.) The other three shelves are full of my witchcraft books, arranged by subject within that: nature magic, crafts, mythology, astrology, tarot, etc.

    Across from that is my other nonfiction bookcase, or what I call my "let's make shit" bookcase. Here are my books on crafts, gardening, cooking, etc. as well as my books on library science on the bottom row. Eventually I'd like to set up a little bookcase in/near the kitchen for my cookbooks, but for now, this is where they rest.

    My "other fiction" bookcase (you'll understand after the next one). Utopian/dystopian novels, manga/comics, Arthurian legends on the top shelf. The second shelf holds my CD collection (almost all rebuilt in the past few months thanks to a couple used record stores nearby). On the third shelf are "realistic fiction", poetry, and classics. The bottom shelf is my "room to grow" shelf with my journals, sticker books, and storage. (Although now I'm looking at it and thinking I should move the CDs down to the bottom shelf, so the small shelf doesn't break up the books and look out of place size-wise... as I said, constant work in progress.) Displayed on top is a book of Middle Earth artwork, my record player, a map of Middle Earth, and my dad's sword that I inherited, along with various decor and a statue of Aphrodite.

    Next to that is my science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism bookcase. The science fiction and fantasy are mixed in together, because I felt I didn't have enough scifi to justify separating them (and Anne McCaffrey blended the two, which would be the bulk of my potential scifi shelf), but magical realism is by itself on the bottom (along with some extra copies of books for giveaways and stuff). Although I'd like to move the magical realism shelf to a taller shelf, because one book (The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora by Michael Nesmith) is juuuuust barely too tall for that bottom shelf, and I can make it work but I feel like I shouldn't force it, so that's priority when I get a new bookcase. Anyway, on top of this bookcase is... well, lots of plants, but also The Lost Hero by Terry Pratchett, the only illustrated novel of the Discworld series.

    Think there's a noticeable lack of certain authors on my fantasy bookcase? Never fear, they're probably... on my "favorite series" bookcase!

    This built-in is one of my favorites, both in terms of books on display and aesthetic. (Note: there's also a built-in bookcase on the other side of the fireplace, but it currently holds my DVDs and video games, so I didn't include it in this post. I suspect I'll change it out with books eventually. Like if I ever win the lottery and buy the complete library edition of the Discworld series.) The first two shelves are almost entirely Tamora Pierce, my favorite author of all time, but she does also get to share it with Kristin Cashore's Graceling series. If you're not familiar with Tamora Pierce's works (well, you will be soon by hanging out here!), she writes in two fantasy universes: Tortall and Emelan. The top shelf is Tammy's Tortall works (with space reserved for the looooong awaited sequel to Tempests and Slaughter, which came out in 2017), and the second shelf is her Emelan novels as well as two short story collections. And, as I said, Graceling shares that space. 

an even more updated picture of my Tamora Pierce shelves, as I've been working on collecting the hardcovers I didn't yet have. (I'm done for now since her first series is extremely expensive in hardcover and I'm not too adamant about getting her Emelan books all in hardcover.)

     Underneath that, I have the Witches subseries of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series and quite a lot of Middle Earth books. The edition of Lord of the Rings is my dad's copies passed down from the 70s; they're in very rough shape and I really should get a "readable" copy, but... one day. Underneath that is A Series of Unfortunate Events (the first book is missing because I've lent it to someone, and I'm still working on getting the middle books in hardcover, but it is a complete collection) and Jane Austen's works (which, to be honest, I haven't read, I have grand ambitions one day, but... they match the bookcase too perfectly not to put on here!).

    Below that, L.M. Montgomery's classic Anne of Green Gables series (including the recent graphic novel), although I'm missing one and not all the editions match. Maybe one day. Next to that is the complete TV show The Monkees on VHS, which I saved and saved every penny from my allowance and extra chores when I was 13 to buy. And next to that is a very old edition of the complete works of Shakespeare, which I also inherited from my dad. (Okay, technically I think my sister claimed them but then she moved out for college and I took them. You know how it goes.) And finally, the bottom shelf is just notebooks and storage "decor books"; it's mostly blocked by the litterbox generally so I didn't want to put actual books down there.

    Because a personal library is a living entity, always changing, I've already collected more since these pictures. Thanks, local library book sales! But this is a pretty good representation of the overall appearance of my happy place.