Old Books

Picture taken by me

I love books; old books, new books, I love them all. I think a house is not complete without stacks and stacks of books. They communicate who you are, what you are interested in and what you aspire to be. As long as I can remember I've had a library card and my mother has read to me from infancy. It really was my mother that cultivated my love for reading. She still is a voracious reader and reads more books in a month than I could read in a year. Some of my fondest memories as a child were of my mother reading to me and telling me stories. I regret, that I have not been as good in that regard with my own children, but it's something I want to improve.

One of my strange hobbies is to collect old books. I don't read them (some of them I have already read, like the classics) but for the most part, I don't want to ruin them in their fragile condition. I know it's rather shallow of me to buy books just to collect. But I also have a large collection of new books that I've read and purchased, but for some reason, they're not as fun to have on display. Not only that, but maybe someday these old books will be worth something and my kids can sell them to pay for their college. :)

In my search, I like to find the classics, but I also have a twisted sense of humor and I love buying books with meaningful or funny titles. For example, for my nightstand I have a book entitled "Bedside Humor." I also like to collect old church books. I get them at the thrift store for only a couple of dollars each, and every time I go there, I pick up a couple new ones. Today at the thrift store I scored a second edition Hemingway "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and Dicken's "Great Expectations."

Picture taken by me

I hope to have a large library someday, and not just filled with display books, but books I love and have read and want to pass on to my children. One of the things I think about is what I want to pass on to my children (both possessions and personal qualities/interests/values, etc.) after I die. And one of the things I hope for is that they love books because they love learning and discovering as much as I do.