19/ My Bookshelves

This bookcase was pictured in photos my dad took from the earliest days of my parents' marriage. It traveled from Greenwich Village to Queens to Florida to here in Pennsylvania. The books on the bottom shelf aren't visible, but they're' there.

My dad had the bookcase below made by a carpenter in Florida. Along with my dwindling wine rack, it is directly in back of me as I sit at my desk. Like right now. Lots of books of poetry, and books about poetry and writing, health books, more books on Lyme disease than I want to think about, books on photography, and others, mostly nonfiction--including David Niven's hilarious Bring on the Empty Horses. I read his two memoirs in bed years ago, burrowing under the covers so my laughter wouldn't wake the children. To the left of center on the bottom shelf is a stack of unread magazines. When I had three little kids and I made three meals a day from scratch and I sewed some of their clothes and I grew a big garden I had time to read more magazines than I do today. Why is that?

This one is easy: A set of cookbooks on the top left, then all photo albums on that shelf. The second shelf is all songbooks. Third shelf is books on crafts, lettering, decorative painting, and some picture books written and illustrated by a close friend. Fourth shelf is more music, plus a stack of Profolio photo albums on the left and other photo albums sitting on the music books. Fifth shelf is nature field guides and other smallish books. Invisible bottom shelf is regular-size books.

It's harder to classify the next shelves. Mix of books on top. On the left side of the second shelf is a stack of rug hooking magazines. No organization whatsoever on the third shelf. In the center of the fourth shelf are smaller Profolio photo albums, and to the right of them are my older diaries. The next two shelves are mostly older cookbooks, with some Edgar Cayce and other occult stuff mixed in. The last visible shelf is all children's books on the left side and all watercolor painting books on the right. There's another shelf of children's books below, not visible in the photo. The black piece of "furniture" next to the bookshelves is my piano, repository for another stack of music books. The picture on the wall is my grandfather, in costume for Carmen. 

Not photographed are two bookshelves in my pantry: three feet of gardening books and five feet of cookbooks. Before taking the above photos I thought about tidying up the shelves but decided against it. I'm glad, because if I'd made the attempt I'd probably still be at it.