the house that books built

book organizing. athens, georgia has a special place in our heart.

my father was more of a story teller than one who read me stories. my mother often confessed, "i hate reading". as a child i enjoyed reading, digging into an adventurous read. i am the youngest of 5 children and far down the row in age so there were no playmates for me in my family growing up. when i wasn't fishing in the pond in front of my house or climbing a tree, i would sit to read {sometimes in a tree}. my taste in books was wrought with adventure and teenager angst. nancy drew, encyclopedia brown and judy blume. 


even though i didn't have a strong literary beginning, i began collecting books early on. somehow i managed to wrangle out of my childhood home two books that still sit on our shelves adorned with my childish scrawled handwriting. 


in high school i adored my A.P. english teacher-even choosing to sit front and center in her class in between two boys who teased me mercilessly. reading was my assignment, but i loved the works she insisted we read. books i otherwise may never have read. 


in college, a young adult literate class introduced me to the writer lois lowry and books like tuck everlasting-books my boys and i just finished.


my love affair with old books began when i was in college. i would venture off campus to certain out of the way places and sit in the aisles with my lap dusted with treasures such as jane eyre {single girl angst} and anything with lovely illustrations. i still swoon when i think back to that time and look over at my little bookshelf with it's delightful collection started way back then. i often think if i were to ever write a book, i would insist it be designed to give the appearance of an old book with a cloth cover and gold leaf pages. old books are like people with british accents, they just appear smarter. it could be an old book on toilets, but with it's dusty cloth cover and yellowed pages it would appear more lovely. it makes me happy to say that my oldest feels the same way-he loves old books and looks for them whenever we happen upon a flea market or thrift store.  

i spy cute boys looking for books...

...dickens? poe? shakespeare?

...busted.


recently the oldest asked if we could pay a visit to our favorite used bookstore. twist my arm. i love finding the boys'school books all hardback and worn from this shop. where's the adventure in ordering off amazon when you can comb the aisles of semi-organized book shelves looking for your title? do i have too much time on my hands? um no. i just love a hunt, baby.

with an honorable mention here. regret not buying this one.

most every night the Mister reads aloud to our boys {and sometimes to little visitors}. sometimes it's a book for school like red badge of courage. sometimes it's a book for fun like two towers. regardless, it's always time well spent-4 boys all draped over one another listening to their father. 

even though my husband was not read to as a child nor was i, it is a tradition we hope takes root in our boys, something they will continue once they have children. books are a worthwhile investment {please don't ask me about those electronic devices for reading books. they make me quite hysterical}. when i consider the one thing {and there is really only one thing} i have done well with my children, it has to be introducing them to great literature.

xo gf