Sometimes I would even describe myself that way.

Must have been written about me!

Sarah, my daughter gave me a little dangling lady wearing a red dress with white polka dots and holding that saying on a little sign. I have it hanging on a book shelf and love it. She also has given me a pottery kind of a thing that has a hole in it to fit over a door knob which says, "Shhh! Reading."

There is a lovely calendar issued each year by Pomegranate Press called The Reading Woman. It comes in a wall calendar and an engagement calendar. I use an online calendar for my appointments these days but I'm thinking of getting the wall calendar for my study/sewing room. After all, even more than gardening, sewing, and traveling, it is my love of reading that defines me.

I suppose it is possible to be too fond of books, but I would set the bar for that pretty high.

Rosefolly

Carolyn - I'd love to have one of those dangling ladies. I wonder where she got it.

Paula (Rosefolly) - I like that your love of reading defines you. I feel the same about myself.

Sarah C, I'm sorry but she doesn't remember where she got it but is sure it was ordered from one of many catalogs we both receive. Also, I've had it probably five years. I looked a little on Google, but it's a case of TMI.

Maybe this quote is why I am still single!

ladyrose -- LOL.

carolyn - Thanks for checking into that. I'll see what I can find.

sarah canary, I used to have one of those polka dot ladies. It was a gift from a friend about seven years ago. The lady has long since vanished into the belly of my black labrador, Captain Nemo, but I think she originally came from the Signals catalog.

My current favorite from Signals is a black sleep shirt that says, 'I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books'. My boyfriend says that I carry books everywhere like little kids carry a stuffed animal. I said yes, they give me comfort. He said, 'Then you should never get rid of any books. Keep them all, we will find the room.' (I think I shall keep him as well.)

PAM

Here is a link that might be useful: Signals catalog

I had a friend who is a professional organizer come help me with my house a few years back. She tried to convince me that all the books were negative Feng Shui. I had to tell her... but it comforts me to be surrounded by books!!!

PAM -- Definitely a keeper. We just moved and my husband moved box after box of books -- without too much complaint. I love the sleep shirt. I'll check the Signals catalogue for polka dot lady.

My DH actually had a special shirt made for me with a yellow bird on it that says -- wait for it -- Sarah Canary. I love it. I took it to the reading when the author, Karen Joy Fowler, spoke. She loved it, too.

Bizzo, I have to tell your friend the professional organizer that I am disturbed by houses that don't have any books in them. No matter how beautiful they may be, to me they seem to have no soul. While I dislike clutter, shelves of books are a requirement in any house I could be comfortable in.

Rosefolly

Books are not clutter, even if they are not neatly placed in bookshelves. Books are a necessity of life.

I have a friend with whom I go to an annual decorator show house in my city. She is a reader, also, and we invariably make snooty comments about what we call "decorator books" that are set around obviously only as decor and not to read, as well as bookshelves that are used for objets d'art or photographs with nary a book in sight.

You all need to read Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch. It is a great book about reading and full of book quotes

That quote is interesting to consider.
I think of the reader who turns to a book as a source of delight, inspiration, amusement and a wonderful way to spend free time. It is a retreat into a world of almost indefinable delight.
And then I think of a person who submerses themselves into a book seeking an easy escape from reality and social interaction.

I enjoy the reader who comes out of the book and is able to share insights, inspirations and pleasures that the story has brought them...so much so that I cannot wait to read it.

A friend told me recently about a decorating trend where people put books in the bookshelves with the cut pages facing out and the bindings facing in. So how do they read the titles? And how many of those books do you suppose are being read and cherished?

Sarah, as I read your post, my eyes narrowed and my mouth set into a nasty little line that makes my wrinkles stand out. Pages facing out? Trend? Trend?! Books are not a trend... they are a lifestyle. Obviously, some folks just cannot appreciate the magic of reading like we do. Instead of feeling anger, I then began to feel sadness. They are missing an entire universe of wonder.

yoyobon, nicely said.

PAM

In addition to everything said above, why have the cut pages facing out? The books certainly are not more decorative that way. What could be the reason? That is one of the silliest things I've ever heard.

Maybe they face the books out for the same reason some people make white covers for all their books. Unformity and lack of imagination? How do these people expect us readers to analyze them if we can't see what they read?

Maybe that is why they do it, Carolyn. They don't want to be judged by people who actually read books.

This link shows the books with the pages facing out. From an artistic point of view, I can see why the person calls bookshelves with pages facing out are "quieter", but as a booky person, that takes all the fun away...

Here is a link that might be useful: Quiet bookshelves

liz, if that is the blogger's idea of quiet bookshelves all mine come under her heading of messy and demanding; in fact so does my whole house and family. The photos show pretty but sterile rooms and I wonder how in everyday life a family could be expected to live like that? Answers on the back of a very small postcard please.

liz -- I looked at that website and thought "Well that's just silly." Even if you're keeping books you have already read, as they suggest, you'd still want to see the titles. What if you want to read them again?

Seeing the books faced backwards just makes me nervous. I feel the need to reach out and turn them around. I still don't get it.

I also checked out the website linked to the inside out books. Rather than finding it "soothing", I found it irritating, like a dirty dish that hasn't been placed in the dishwasher but just sits left abandoned in the sink. I know where the dish belongs and it will bug me until I place it in the dishwasher. Likewise, I know how much I enjoy the constant comforting presence of my books and would not be able to sit and relax nor read in that house until the books were put to rights. In fact, when I came upon the photos of the "normal" library, I felt my shoulders relax and I stopped holding my breath. Ah well... I guess it is folks like that who put all of their extra books into the library book sales so folks like me can place them on my loud, messy, disquieting shelves. (I don't think that will fit on a postcard, sorry.)

PAM

Frances and PAM, my sentiments exactly. I'm a picture straightener, too, and try to control that; but I would have trouble keeping my hands off those books even in someone else's house.

Or....OR....the titles are ones which might offend more delicate sensibilities...LOL !

You know the ones.
A TALE OF TWO TWITTIES
LADY CHATTERLY'S MULTIPLE LOVERS
THE WHORE'S WHISPERER

to name a few !!! *g*

Me too! I wanted to "fix" the bookshelves of that poor misguided person. Obviously not a real reader.

Rosefolly

"A room without books is as a body without a soul."

Cicero.

"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid."

Jane Austen.

Love the Austen quote!

Oh Jane !
How true.
I always wonder, after learning that a person does not enjoy reading, whether we can still truly be friends.

Am I a book snob????

Those bookshelves aren't quiet, they are creepy. Maybe she turns her pictures to the wall too. After all, she has already seen them, they probably look "busy" and distracting.

If she never plans to touch the books or open them again, I suggest giving them to a good used bookstore.

Yes, creepy is the right word.

A recent magazine I saw showcased a room with all red books. My feathers were beginning to ruffle until I read that the owner of the featured house has been collecting books with red covers since she was a girl. When I looked closely, they were real books that real people would read. They were of varying sizes and looked pretty on her white bookshelves. Unusual hobby, though. She said she just loves the color red.

I think the quiet bookshelves are creepy too.

Carolyn, that is an interesting hobby - I wonder if you could find most books in red if you looked hard enough. Quite a lot of hardbacks are red under the dust jacket.

I am a straightener-upper of all things - pictures, books (especially in the shop) and ornaments. Must be all the Hercule Poirot I read as a youngster or the Libran in me (not librarian, although I imagine most librarians do it too).

Yoyo - I got your email and agree about the quote about missing our children. I have felt exactly that way myself. I tried to reply to your email but it bounced back.

This week, some of my work friends and I had lunch with another of us who has just moved into a gorgeous retirement apartment. She isn't quite finished putting things away yet, and one large picture in the living room was hanging crooked. I had to sit on my hands to keep from getting up and straightening it.

Just finished Ruth Rendell's The Vault and enjoyed it very much. I have a stash of good books waiting for me. Do you think my Thanksgiving guests would notice if I left them eating and went off to rest and read after getting the food ready? I do know I won't be doing any Black Friday shopping. I plan on doing absolutely nothing on Friday except reading and eating leftovers.

Oh Carolyn ! You are the model of self control :0)
I would have certainly walked over and straightened it...perhaps with a fluffy little " I need to do this, it's part of my charm ".
If someone did that for me I would appreciate their eye.
Sometimes we don't see things exactly the way we could....life as well as large pictures!