Delights 6: library

Our library is undergoing renovations. They’ve moved small sections of books to a community center a block over from the library and put the rest of the books in storage. You can still browse their catalog and put books on hold and eventually they will be back in their own building. Before Christmas, I dropped by the community center to return some books and see what their new space looked like. 

They have a cozy room for the kids on the main floor. And they have some adult books tucked into a corner on the third floor. It’s definitely bye-bye to my library browsing for now, which I so enjoyed last year. I will yearn for its return. 

You might be thinking, “what sort of delight is this?” This is an extolling of libraries. I have loved our library and I know I will again. And I love it for what it is now for some people. 

What I also love is the small library I have been curating in our home. I’ve been intentionally collecting books that I love and want to reference and reread. Probably half of them are theology books. I have a nice stack of my favorite kids books that I read with the boys. We have Percy Jackson and Harry Potter and the Wingfeather Saga. But my fiction collection is the one I’ve been focusing on lately. 

One of the first things I do when I go to an Airbnb is to peruse the bookshelves. What books have they put out to share? What do they find worth reading? When I am in someone’s home, I find it delightful to look at their books. What books have shaped them? What has earned a physical spot in their home? (This is also why digital books have very little appeal to me. I do not like reading on a screen really but also, how do you share them? How do you enjoy the books when you aren’t reading them?) I want a well-curated library in my own home. 

Over the weekend, I rearranged a few of our shelves. It’s not a perfect arrangement. I have some of my favorite books beside my bed, which means they aren’t with their partners on these shelves. I have some poetry and essays upstairs that could be down here. Nevertheless, for now, this arrangement makes me smile when I see it.