“Like” is too mild. I love books. No, that’s too mild a statement. How much do I love books? (“How much, Aunt Jim?”) Years back – you’ll have to be a certain age to get this, it was in the 80s – there was a series of TV commercials for Old Milwaukee beer. 

 Each commercial ended with a group of guys around the campfire, the picnic table or wherever, saying “Fellas, it just doesn’t get any better than this.” Or in Texas around the chili, “Boys, it don’t get no better than this!” My dad would take one look at me with my nose perpetually in a book, a glass of iced tea in hand, and usually munching on something, and say, “a good book, a glass of sweet tea, and a little something to munch on – it don’t get any better than this!”

In the 90s my sweet Daddy built me two enormous bookcases to house all my books. I’m sure he thought the bookcases would hold them all. Hah.

All you book lovers out there instantly blew up the picture to examine what I’m reading/have read/will one day read. My tastes range from Winston Churchill to the Bloggess herself, Jenny Lawson. Yet even with the craftmanship my dad brought to the project this isn’t enough room. There are more books stacked in the little baskets on the side which you can’t see.

On to the Guest Room

When friends offered me a lovely bookcase they were giving away, I said yes immediately.

This tall bookcase sits in my guest bedroom. I stocked the shelf with Jan Karon, adventure mysteries and my Lewis Grizzard collection – a wide variety for my overnight guests to sample. This bookcase STILL wasn’t enough. I decided to get a little more decorative with the bookcase in my sitting area just off the kitchen.

Now the Den

And yet, there’s STILL not enough room for all the books, once I liberated my cookbook collection from the kitchen shelf where I’d been hiding it to make more counterspace. I have one more room left (apart from bathrooms) which doesn’t have a bookshelf – the living room. The only challenge is that it’s pretty full of furniture right now. Ah, well – books will find a way. I am currently pricing end tables which double as bookcases.

Say, have you read all those books?

Please see this image from the wonderful article “16 Reasons to Be Proud of Being a Book Hoarder.” Short answer: no. Longer answer: About 70% of them. And I’m going to get to them all one day, honest.