The following post is part of a Seed Pod collaboration about libraries.
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My personal library began
My first bookshelf was created by using cinder blocks to hold up three sturdy wood planks. My personal library was inaugurated with my “Famous Five” series by Enid Blyton on the middle shelf, front and centre. My mother had gifted her favorites from her childhood to me. I was aged ten. And thus began my lifelong journey collecting books for my personal library.
When I moved out on my own to go to university, I took my most important books, along with the cinder blocks and planks. My personal library accompanied me from my parents home to my first apartment. I brought with me my childhood favorites on that first move. I still have some of the “Famous Five” books, decades later.
I have packed up my personal library into boxes through numerous residence moves during my university years, and for the next several years as I was establishing my career. My personal library has been packed and unpacked so many times that I wonder at the value that the books represent, such that I kept the books and left furniture behind.
Fast forward to where I live now with bookshelves in every room. It makes me feel good to look around and see all the books in my home. My home is my personal library.
I considered using the Dewey Decimal System to catalogue all my books, but gave that idea up, convincing myself it was a bit too nerdy.
For a long time, book purchases predominated as my personal library grew and evolved. I loved to shop the bestseller shelves at the bookstore, and to search out rare finds in used bookstores. I rarely felt disappointed by my investment. These days, I tend to sign books out from my local library. For the few books that I return to repeatedly, I may purchase later as a birthday or Christmas gift for myself.
There is something to be said about delaying the gratification to own a good book.
I always enjoy finding a great book in the public library. You know how you go looking for one book, but find another instead, and are thrilled. As I wrote this post, I went to my shelves to take the photo above, and my hand rested on my Narnia box set. On impulse, I abandoned what I had planned for my afternoon, and instead, read the first of the series, “The Magician’s Nephew”. I have been reading and re-reading C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series since 1978 (as I check the publication date of this edition). It’s a magical experience, well worth repeating every once in a while.
Accompanied by books
My premise here on Substack is that books are friends who Accompany us through our ups and downs in life. For any situation or need, there is an accompanying book to help us, to entertain us, to educate us. We may return to a book repeatedly, or simply browse a few lines. Each book carries its own message and magic for us.
I consider my personal library as my cohort, my besties, my favored mentors, and It makes me smile to talk about my library. Some of my books have been with me since childhood. That lifelong relationship is significant, and it makes me happy to celebrate my favorites with you.
Thank you to Small Stack for initiating this Seed Pod Community Project!
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I love seeing the photos of your well thumbed favourite books Jacquie. Even the illustration from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, brings me back. Thanks for the permission to loose an afternoon in a favourite book! Reading is so important .
I’m partial to borrowing from the library and reserve buying for books that I absolutely love. The abundance of the library is that I can dip my toes into new ideas and stories without much commitment. My home library gets to be a curated collection of the stories that impacted me more deeply - or the references that I come back to often!