Library Longings

Spare bedrooms tend to reflect the interests of the house owner. If you're the sociable type, it's probably set up as an actual bedroom. If you're a gym fan then it might have an exercise bike in it. If you've got a lot of clothes it will probably have an overflow wardrobe in it.

So what does mine say about me? That I am horribly messy and have too many books? I think that's fair.

In an ideal world it'd be a proper library but alas this world is not ideal. The house is rented and nice as the landlord is, I don't think he'd take too kindly to me entirely covering the walls with shelves or installing a spiral staircase:

Much as I admire the stylish looking bookshelves in the last two photos, I don't think they're for me either. The organisation required! You'd either have to have total OCD or be a complete book snob and insist on matching covers for every edition. My bookshelves are a higgledy piggledy mish-mash of books of all sizes, shapes and colours. They're double and triple stacked everywhere. Neatness does not come into it. What I really need is more shelf space.

Bookcase shopping will have to wait till another weekend and when I've got the shelves in better order I may do a couple of recommendation posts by genre. In the meantime, I've made a decent start on the room generally. Look, you can even see the carpet! The blanket chest may not be the proper window seat that I dream of, but it's surprisingly comfy to sit on and enjoy a good book.

I did a wee bit of shelf tidying today too, and discovered that I have quite a few duplicate copies of books. As there's already a big bag full of stuff set aside for the charity shop, I thought I'd offer these up as a mini giveaway.

We've got:

1) I think Harriet Evans is one of the better authors in her genre at the moment. I've given up on most chick-lit authors because their books are utter bilge but this is pretty decent. The other book, Class, is described as Malory Towers for grown-ups - can't go wrong with that!

2) I'm on a one woman mission to spread the word about the genius that is James Lees-Milne. This book is a fab intro to his writing. The Charles II book is really interesting too.

3) Anyone for a bit of 30s/40s detective fiction? I do think that Georgette Heyer's best work is her historical fiction but her detective stories are good fun too. If that doesn't float your boat then how about:

4) I can't resist buying these whenever I see them in charity shops, even if it means I end up with, for example, 4 copies of Devil's Cub. If you're not familiar with her books then repeat after me, they are nothing like Barbara Cartland. Heyer is a truly wonderful writer.

Just mention which (or all) of the options you'd like in your comment and I'll pick some winners on Wednesday. Don't want to make life too complicated by imposing all sorts of terms and conditions.