My Personal Library

04 September 2006 by The General Published in: General musings 10 comments

A number of months ago, I told all of you that Susan and I had broken ground on a new house, at least in part because we have nowhere else to go with books in our present house. The new house is nearly finished, and should be finished within four weeks. They’re doing the trim work now.

Two major problems have arisen. First, Susan’s hours were cut in half for a number of months earlier this year, which made financing the new house an issue. Second is my new job. Had I stayed at the old firm, I would have had about a 20 mile drive to work each day, give or take. However, the new firm is a lot farther away. As it sits now, I have a 25 mile drive each way to get to work, which takes a good 45 minutes each way. If we were to move to new house, my drive would increase to 40-45 miles each way, which is just not acceptable. I am unwilling to spend more than two hours per day driving. So, we’ve decided to put the house up for sale as soon as we close on it. It’s 3100 square feet with two bonus rooms on three-quarters of an acre, so it should move quickly. We can’t start looking for something in earnest that’s closer to my office until this situation gets resolved.

That means that we’re stuck here for the time being. We’re still completely out of space for books, and the problem is, if anything, now worse than before. Books are piling up on the floor in my office because there simply is no more shelf space for them. I hate doing that, and it looks awful to see piles of books all over the floor. Our basement tends to have dampness issues, so it’s not an option. There simply is nowhere else to put any more bookcases here.

So, the primary problem remains. We will still have to move in order to accommodate our library. It just means that we will be moving in another direction. And, for the time being, my library will continue to overflow.

Scridb filter

Comments

Valerie Protopapas

Tue 05th Sep 2006 at 8:04 am
I can sympathize greatly. Books have always been my passion (as well as painting, stained glass etc.). Unfortunately, I never took up the kind of hobby or interest that has little or no accoutrements and so the ‘clutter’ (useful, needful and desired) continues to mount. After awhile you walk around with stuff in your hands that you finally have to put back in the place from which you took it ostensibly to ‘put it away’ because, in fact THERE IS NO ‘AWAY’ in which to put it!

Frankly, when we looked for a house, I considered trying to find an old warehouse with TONS of space but no charm. I can live without ‘charm’, but I can’t live without space. :O

Val
Dave Powell

Tue 05th Sep 2006 at 8:45 am
I estimate I have 5000 books. In addition to about 2000 ACW books, I have other Military history collections and lots of science fiction. My wife reads mysteries, so that when finished, she has little urge to save them, so we can get rid of those pretty easily. I have more trouble letting go, obviously.

Then there is the room full of wargames.

Fortunately, we do have a fairly large house, with 6 bedrooms. Four of the six now have bookshelves.

This does seem to be an incurable disease…

Dave Powell
The General

Tue 05th Sep 2006 at 1:59 pm
LOL. There’s absolutely no doubt that it is, Dave.

Eric
Jim Epperson

Tue 05th Sep 2006 at 2:10 pm
I have my own little office in our basement, and it is entirely lined
with bookshelves. Right now, I think I could put every thing on the
shelves, but if I continue to acquire books (and, of course, I will)
the overflow will begin.

JFE
Michael Aubrecht

Tue 05th Sep 2006 at 2:20 pm
Eric, I would be more than happy to take some of those off your hands – and “store” them in my library (a mere 4 bookcases) for safe-keeping 🙂

And I’m willing to “takeover” my kid’s bookshelves in their 3 bedrooms IF space requires. I mean how much Harry Potter and Barney books can they possibly need?
John D. Mackintosh

Tue 05th Sep 2006 at 2:59 pm
Eric,
I feel your pain. When my wife and I married, we merged our libraries, which worked out well, since her academic background was in American history and mine was British, which led to my earning my Master’s in history at Aberdeen University in Scotland, prior to coming back here where we met. Since then though, my portion of the American history collection has mushroomed due to my interest in the Indian Wars and the Civil War. British history is fascinating but there is nothing like living where you can drive to where the history happened, as well as gain access to primary sources. Our 2001 move from the home we lived in for nearly twenty years helped solve a good bit of the space problem, except now it is coming back as the books are piling up like cotton bales in a blockaded port!
John
The General

Tue 05th Sep 2006 at 7:17 pm
Michael,

That’s very kind of you. I hope you will understand when I respectfully decline. 🙂

Eric
The General

Tue 05th Sep 2006 at 7:17 pm
John,

Here, too.

Eric
Michael Aubrecht

Wed 06th Sep 2006 at 9:11 am
I understand. BTW: I posted that bio on George for you over on my blog. Enjoy! 🙂
Bridget

Sun 05th Nov 2006 at 10:42 pm
I have two things to add:

First, I once read an article about Jacqueline Kennedy in which the reporter spoke of visiting her apartment in Manhattan and being charmed by how elegantly Kennedy had books in piles on the floor around her apartment. Since then, I have often wondered if I too am capturing any of the aforementioned charm.

Second, a friend once told me that he felt that having books was a measure of class. When I moved not long after that, as I was carting out box after box of books, I decided that I had way too much f***ing class!