Shannon's Library

Since my library is going to be a large part of this blog, I feel like an introduction is in order….

It all started with this copy of “Gone with the Wind.”

Years ago, when I was a freshman in college, I vividly remember walking through the campus bookstore in between classes one day. I started browsing through the books and I saw a copy of Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. I had read it some years earlier and it quickly became one of my favorite books. Well, as I picked up this certain copy in that college bookstore, I remember thinking, “I love this book. I don’t own this book. Maybe I should buy this book.” And so, I did. As I walked to my college dorm with that book swinging from my arm in a plastic bag, I loved the feeling I had of buying and owning my first book. Keep in mind, I lived in a tiny college dorm with five roommates. I didn’t have anywhere to start collecting books. Nor did I have much money. I worked as a cashier at the Golden Corral to make ends meet. But the desire to collect books had been hatched in my soul and it has never stopped. No wonder I love this quote…

“When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes.”

Erasmus

I started buying books, little by little. By the time I was married, I had a nice little collection going. My husband quickly learned how not fun it was to box up and move books from place to place. As the years passed, we moved across country and back home again. We moved from a basement apartment, to a townhouse, to a rental home, to a starter home and then finally to a home we were able to build. And through it all my awesome husband would grumble and moan about having to once again move those heavy boxes of books from location to location. When we knew we were going to be able to design and build a house, my first excited thought was that my boxes of books would finally have a permanent home!

When we moved in about 8 years ago, I hurriedly put my books onto the library shelves thinking that I would arrange and organize them in the near future when life slowed down. Well, life never slowed down. Then a couple of years ago, a dear friend of mine moved into a new home. She, also, had boxes of books and now had a library to unpack them in. She asked me to come help her arrange her books in this new library and it was one of the most fun days I had ever spent. When I got home, I looked at my sad, disorganized library and resolved to make it a fun, happy and welcoming space. That next day, I took down all my books, made a gigantic mess and spent the next few weeks organizing all my books.

On a side note, ever since my days of collecting books began, I’ve always secretly wanted to own a bookstore. This imaginary bookstore of mine lives very happily and successfully inside my brain. I know it’s location, it’s name, it’s layout etc. But, alas, I came to terms a long time ago that this bookstore of mine will most likely forever remain in my imagination. As I started rearranging my books in my home library, I decided to arrange them how I would in my imaginary bookstore! Each shelf was set aside for classics, fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, children’s literature, young adult books, biographies etc. You get the idea. I also always love it when I go into bookstores and there are shelves of books with “staff recommendations.” I usually head straight to those shelves first to get some good book ideas and also to see if I agree or disagree with the recommendations. I have four children and like to keep their pictures on shelves in my library. In order to go along with my new bookstore-themed library, I decided to make those shelves sort of like the staff recommendation shelves in a bookstore. So, on the shelves with each of my kiddo’s picture, I put books that they have loved over the years. To make all of this look official, I labeled these library shelves with iron-on sticker letters.  I initially worried it might end up looking weird, but it ended up being kind of unique and fun. And now, my library is a place where the whole family loves to hang out, relax and, of course, read good books.

It’s also become, in a small way, an actual functioning neighborhood library. I’ve always loved to recommend and lend out my books to family and friends. When Covid first hit and the lockdowns started, community libraries were abruptly closed. Schools shut down. Sports and other activities were cancelled. Suddenly, we all had a lot of free time on our hands. We now had more time for reading, but access to books was unexpectedly difficult. I started getting knocks on my door as neighborhood kids, teenagers and moms were looking for books to read. At a time when we weren’t seeing a lot of other human beings, it was such a nice opportunity to talk briefly with someone outside of my immediate family and give them a fun book to read. Luckily, this hasn’t ended even as the world has started opening back up again. It’s still a highlight of my day when someone comes to my door and asks for a book recommendation and a book to borrow.

That strange time of quarantines and lockdowns was when I first started thinking about doing an Instagram page and a book blog. I love talking to other people about books; both books I love and books other readers recommend to me. It’s one of my favorite pastimes. And since the time has probably passed for me being able to open an actual bookstore, as fabulous as it would have been, starting a book blog is a pretty great opportunity. In this space I’ll still get to talk about books with a variety of readers and continue recommending books from my library. While it’s in a different manner from having my neighbors, family and friends knocking on my door – it’s basically the same thing I’ve been doing for years. I still get to do what I love and what has brought me so much joy – talking about books!!