"Skip to the final chapter of the book"

I wrote this post a long time ago and didn't publish it, but Swiss Toni's pictures of his books reminded me of it. So I added some pictures. I will say that my collection pales in contrast to ST's, and my CD collection is so pitiful, that it would not allow it's picture to be taken.

My family was always reading. I asked my father when I was 4 if he would teach me to read. He took me out and we bought the book Big Dog, Little Dog. Then he taught me how to read that book. We would often take our books to restaurants - oh, the joys of communication! The library and bookstore were my favorite places. I used to love the smell of the university library stacks, with all it's old books. Books have been my great escape.

I'm not a hoarder, so if I read a fiction book, especially those romances, it's mostly going to be resold or passed on. But I do keep many of my non-fiction books. I have 4 bookshelves in my apartment and they are mostly full...or would be if I put all my books away.



In my bedroom, the bookshelf holds a number of partially filled journals (I have a spotty history with journal writing...I'll start one, then move on to another without finishing the first), my collection of Octavia Butler novels, a selection of science fiction and lesbian fiction, gender and queer theory books and some erotica.



In the living room, the freestanding bookshelf has my poetry, feminist and women's issues books, political, spiritual, travel books, history and the hodgepodge of unread books - both fiction and non.

The built-in bookshelf, which I did not picture because...well, it's just a disorganized mess (yes, worse than the previous one and a little embarressing) has my professional books and books on witchcraft and paganism. Strangely appropriate that they are together since I use the word "practice" when talking about both.



But, perhaps, the most special bookshelf of all is the one in my kitchen. It is, of course, dedicated to cookbooks. I love cookbooks. I love reading cookbooks, mostly because I love to cook (especially when I can convince someone else to clean up...hard to do when I live alone). Most of them are vegetarian...except for 2 - a cookbook put together by my family and one put together to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Lutheran Volunteer Corps.

Of all my books, my favorite is Octavia Butler's Imago. My best used books are the poetry. The hardest book that I'm glad I read is the biography of Katherine Graham. The quirkiest and most Spinsterwitch is Pope Joan. And my favorite cookbook is 1000 Vegetarian Recipes.