Bookshelves!

I would be most content if my children

grew up to be the kind of people

who think decorating consists

mostly of building enough bookshelves.

~Anna Quindlen

A room without books is like a body without a soul.

~Marcus T. Cicero

Books are not made for furniture,

but there is nothing else

that so beautifully furnishes a house.

~Henry Ward Beecher

These quotations came in my Above Rubies e-mail newsletter today. Wow, they strike a chord with me! Now I feel confident enough to reveal my dirty little secret: I have been far more concerned about the placement of my books than the couch, piano, dining table or anything else. I've been afraid to say it out loud for fear someone will suggest I get rid of a few. Priorities! Among my earliest measurements was the minimum linear inches of shelving space I will need.

I envision something like this along

the stairway in the dining room.

And this on the east living room wall,
backing up to the breakfast nook and
running over the office door. And along
the short wall, and probably wherever
else I can fit shelving. We'll save space
for a TV to be hung on the wall in the
center of the shelving.

Today a reader,

Tomorrow a leader.

~Margaret Fuller

When I was about eight,

I decided that the most wonderful thing,

next to a human being, was a book.

~Margaret Walker

There is no substitute for books in the life of a child.

~Mary Ellen Chase

The Reading Mother

I had a Mother who read to me,

Sagas of pirates, who scoured the sea,

Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth,

"Blackbirds" stowed in the hold beneath.

I had a Mother who read me lays,

Of ancient and gallant and golden days;

Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,

Which every boy has a right to know.

I had a Mother who read me tales,

Of Celert the hound of the hills of Wales,

True to his trust till his tragic death,

Faithfulness blent with his final breath.

I had a Mother who read me the things,

That wholesome life to the boy heart brings

Stories that stir with an upward touch,

Oh, that each mother of boys were such.

You may have tangible wealth untold;

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be--

I had a Mother who read to me!

~Strickland Gillilan