Patti says:
This is my unfinished basement and book cathedral. Unfortunately, time is short and I haven't finished unpacking my books since I moved into my house. Plus, my dad is still putting some of them together hence the tools and shop vac.
On the left, my bookcases are lined up back to back, so behind the two you see are two you don't see. I have three bookcases completely full and two others partially filled. There are a couple more empty and ready when I finally get around to them. The boxes you see on the right, all neatly numbered and labeled, are filled with books I've read. Everything on the table is TBR, but the bookcases are mixed. According to my database, I have about 1100 books I need to read. (It wasn't this bad until I went to conferences and picked up free books.)
Stacked between the bookcases on the left are boxes of my books. I have at least one box of every title with the exception of EDGE OF DAWN, which just came out July 2009. I only have half a box of that one right now.
Visit Patti at her website: www.pattioshea.com to read more about her latest release!
30 comments:
Wow, lucky Patti, after everything is put together in her basement!
I'm green with envy.... love the piles of books. Once the books are cleared away, are you going to have a nice comfy sofa to read on?
Wow - 1100 books!! Um I don't think that is a cathedral but Everest.
Wow i'd love to have a basement, wait don't you worry about water getting in?
I've made DH promise that our "dream" home will have a library(either a bedroom made into one or a seperate room just for my books)..........I'll have to show him your TBR pile, he thinks I'm the only crazy woman with 1000s of books yet to read...........
What kind of file do you keep them in?
hugs,
WEndyK
If I didn't already love you so..this would cement it for me.
Nice! I give away my books when I'm done reading them, so every book I own is a TBR, and I own quite a few. :)
wow, I have serious shelf envy!!
I WISH I had that much room, not to mention shelves for my books!
Wow your basement book heaven rocks!
I have three book cases I use, thankfully I still have room. But still give a lot of books away. I could never keep them all. LOL! I'd run out of room very fast.
Chris,
This is one of the nice things about finally having a house--I can actually get to my books. :-) Now I just need time to put them on the shelves.
Patti
Helzkat,
I usually bring the books upstairs to read. My basement isn't house beautiful. Sigh. Maybe someday.
Yeah, 1100 is way out of control. I'm weak. ;-)
Patti
Wendy,
My house is at the top of a hill so all the water slopes away from me. But in case I have a few inches of water in the basement, the bookcases have about a 4 inch base to keep the bottom shelves dry.
I used to keep all my information in a Microsoft Works database, but I converted it to Microsoft Excel a few months ago. Now if I could just figure out pivot tables... ;-)
Patti
Thanks, Rowan! :-)
Patti
Sonja,
I tried to turn books in to the Used Book Store for credit only after a few weeks, I realized I wanted to reread one of the books I didn't have anymore. I ended up driving out there and rebuying some of the same books I'd just turned in. After that I hung on to them.
Patti
Melissa,
That was seriously one of the best parts of finally getting my own house--I could set up my books so that I could get to them. Before that all the boxes were piled on top of and in front of each other. I couldn't get to much.
Patti
Anna,
I really do need to go through my books and get rid of the ones I know I'll never reread, but once I start going through the boxes, I stop to read this book and that book and the next thing you know, hours have passed and I've accomplished nothing but some rereading. :-) I need to hire someone to be ruthless for me.
Patti
Wow! I wish I had room for that many tbr books! Whenever I move I make end up giving half of my books away. (then regret it later.)
I am jealous, I want a basement just for my books. Hopefully when we get our new house I will have a room for my library. Hubby wants a man cave so why can't I have a library.
I know what you mean about going through the books. I swap the ones I don't keep on paperback swap. the other day I went through the ones that I thought I would never read (in an effort to reduce packing boxes of books) and ended up still keeping half of them once I started going back through them.
Buckeye Girl,
If I move again, I probably will have to get rid of books. It was a lot of effort to get them all here and not just for the movers.
Patti
Heather,
It's so hard to part with them and what if one of the books I traded in would have been a keeper if I'd taken the time to read it? The uncertainty stops me on the TBR books.
Good luck getting your library!
Patti
I love it!! My dream is to someday have a house all my own, with a library full of all my precious books. Flyboy says that when he gets out of the military we can grow roots and I can have more than my 2 measly bookcases- you try fitting all the keeper titles on 2 bookcases:) Sometimes the stacks next to the shelves turn into towers and then I have to "re organize". I envy your space.
And I'll confess- I used your TBR count to show that I wasn't the only reader with no self control. wink.wink.
LOL - meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out how to retrofit the ceilings of my condo with bookcases. ;)
Oh Patti, you are not weak - you are keeping book publishing in business. I need to make up a book list to see how many books I've got - about 160 in one lot....and there's more scattered around the house!
Just being able to house all those books...heaven!
Holy cow, that's a great setup, Patti! I'm all electronic now but the sight of shelves of books is still exciting.
Book cathedral - I love it.
Lunaticcafe,
Only 2 bookcases for keeper books? OMG! I'd be jamming them in there every way I could so I didn't have to part with any. :-)
You know, when I first got online, I only had 12 books TBR, but then I didn't know about dozens of wonderful authors that other readers turned me on to. I had to run out and buy their backlists once I fell in love with them.
Patti
Helzkat,
Thanks for the support. I just love books and stories so much that I can't resist. Sometimes it's better not to have a list of books. I didn't know how many I had TBR until I databased them. That was scary. :-)
Patti
Anna,
I have an ereader and it has a TBR list, too. ::hangs head::
Patti
SciFiGuy,
Thanks!
Patti
Chris,
If you figure out how to use the ceiling, let me know. ;-)
Patti
That's a great set-up Patti, a basement sounds like a great place for a library. I have an office that has 4 bookcases (with the books stacked 3 deep), 1 large bookcase in the living room, and another large one in the guest bedroom - and I still have a bunch of boxes in the closet with books in them. I haven't read any of the books except some of the ones in the guest bedroom, that's my keeper area. I can sympathize with the TBR list, I've never counted mine and don't keep a list, I'm afraid to find out just how many books I have waiting to be read. But that doesn't stop me from bringing more home - and I too have a TBR list of electronic books as well.
Post a Comment