My true passion

is books. Always has been, probably always will be. And as it's World Book Day, I thought I'd share some of my collection with you. Sadly a lot of them are still in storage as we don't have enough space or bookcases in this house despite most of the shelves being double stacked but all my precious ones are with me.

Starting with the bedroom, and my most treasured books:

This bookcase houses all sorts of oddments and ornaments but the important thing is the books.

The top shelf is all Georgette Heyer, a truly wonderful writer. Not enough people read her books so I recommend you all go out and track some down!

The one underneath that is Harry Potter, including some foreign language editions that I keep meaning to attempt, and some other fantasy.

The one below that is mostly Diana Wynne Jones (a seriously underrated author) and some Tamora Pierce.

Then it's the completely jam-packed shelf of pony books. I haven't outgrown my horsey past just yet and these books are pure comfort reads.

The bottom is Eva Ibbotson - I can't recommend her highly enough - my Beatrix Potter boxes and an assortment of oversized books that don't fit in elsewhere.

The smaller bookcase is home to my Girls Own books. The top shelf contains all my beloved Chalet School books and other Elinor Brent-Dyer works. Seriously collectable stuff! As a collection they're worth a pretty penny so Mum has instructions what to do with them should I snuff it unexpectedly!

The other shelves are a jumble of Noel Streatfield, some Enid Blytons, lots of Roald Dahl, and some classics like the Little House books, the Little Women series and the Borrowers books.

I know a lot of people seem to grow out of children's books but I just love them. I'm just as happy to sit down and read one of my collection as I am to dip into a classic work of literature. There's no pretension in children's literature, just simple stories, well told. And in my opinion, life is too short to waste time reading grim, depressing books. I'm no book snob but sometimes I do wish that people wouldn't look at me all funny when I'm reading Mary Poppins on the train.

The spare bedroom is part library, part laundry room and the bookcases there are a bit more organised:

Top two shelves - hmm, maybe not so organised! They're a bit of a jumble of stuff that is hard to fit in elsewhere.

The rest of it is crime. Lots and lots of crime and mysteries and perhaps a few fantasy books in there. The Agatha Christie collection has it's own bookcase downstairs though.

Then we have the colourful bookcase, containing an awful lot of chick-lit (and a scarf - not so sure why that's there). Hey, I've already said I'm not a book snob! The top shelf has all my lovely secondhand Penguin PG Wodehouse books though. Ah how I love them.

And I've nicked two shelves from the other bookcase to cram in all the Nora Roberts books I own (probably too many!). The top shelf holds my historical books/biographies/diaries/works of interest. It needs a bit of love and attention, poor books all squished in like that.

So that's some of the book collection. I'd natter on about some of my favourite books but perhaps that's for another post as I seem to have waffled on long enough for this entry. Hope you're not all bored!