Decorating With Books

Every time I move I'm forced to face an ugly truth - I'm a hoarder. A book hoarder. It's a problem I've struggled with most of my life, and no matter how many books I donate or swap, there's always more coming in to replace them. The worst part is that my husband is an enabler, so the cycle continues.

Whenever we settle into a new house I’m amazed that we ever found room for them all in the old one. My writing study is a much smaller room in this home, so I’ve been forced to spread out our shelving space, and even use some of it for other things (gasp). Another issue is the open layout of the main floor which has a high ceiling and lots of decorative nooks in elevated places. I’ve never had to deal with such things before and it’s been a challenge figuring out what to do with them.

In particular, there is a rather large area above the fireplace that screamed for something wonderful to be placed there and admired. But what? I finally opted to try and kill two birds with one giant pile of musty old books, and I think it turned out pretty well.

I have a collection of classics and outdated study books scraped together from various sources that came from my grandparents house before it was demolished. I dragged them up a ladder and stacked them at varying heights in a somewhat spiral pattern. Then, I just threw a few knick-knacks and small paintings around, and suddenly it looked like an artful display.

The skull is made of wood and belongs to Hubs. I little macabre, but he loves it. The overall effect:

I suspect the book piles will become a theme around the house until I acquire the proper number of bookshelves to hold them. Maybe not anything as fantastical as the stacks in Flourish & Blotts, but you can find all sorts of ways to use small book stacks for decoration. I’ve stacked them under a lamp on a desk, beneath a large fruit bowl in the kitchen, and of course, right on the floor next to a cozy reading chair. No one ever has to know that my innovative interior design is just a sneaky way to cope with my addiction.

Any other ideas? Where do you display your books?

Cheers!
Ella

Cleaning Out the Shelves

Have you ever opened up a book that you've been holding on to for a very long time, then when you finally get around to reading it discover it's just not your cup of tea? I absolutely hate that, and unfortunately it's been happening to me a lot lately.

With another possible move looming on the horizon, I'm making an effort to try to weed out as much filler as I can from our little library. Some titles are easier to discard than others, but I try to make a real effort to read every book that comes into my possession. It doesn't always happen, so at this point I'll settle for a thorough skimming (yes, that's a thing).

I've come across science-y books that are almost a decade old, crafting manuals I'll probably never explore, and, of course, novels that have been knocked down the TBR list indefinitely in favor of juicier options. It seems many of them will never win my full attention, so as much as it pains me it's time to pass them on so they may find someone who will appreciate them more.

Movers hate me. Boxes of books are heavy. Hopefully I'll lighten the load somewhat and the rellies will get some new reading material for the holidays.

Step two is sorting the comic books. Prepare for some world-class whining.

Cheers!
Ella

Books into Movies

Hollywood’s love of turning books or short stories into movies goes back to the beginning of filmmaking.  And that trend doesn’t look like it will be ending any time soon.   Are you anxiously waiting for the latest crop of book-films to come out?  Or simply blasé about their releases? I’m a little of both.  After all, Hollywood has taken a good read and turned it into a bad view many times.   But I like to believe that Hollywood’s interest in books will peak the interest of young readers to read more. 

Here are some book-movie trailers that might interest you:







What book are you waiting for Hollywood to pick up?

Till next time,

Elizabeth