Monday, January 28, 2008

Fun Monday #9: What I Like to Curl Up with at Night

This week, the Fun Monday host is AOJ & The Lurchers. She wants a peek into the privacy of our bedrooms, specifically, she wants to see our nightstands and, if we're so inclined, what's inside them.

The little set of drawers beside my bed holds my bedside lamp, a crystal dish for my jewelry, a little candle the children gave me on my birthday this year, coasters, my booklight, and a stack of books that I am currently reading, just read or want to read soon. Really a bit boring, I think.

I'm reading The Queen of Subtleties, the one with my booklight tucked inside. The stack includes Middlemarch, On Chesil Beach, and Origin of Species.





The drawer is full of more books, magazines, some bottles of lotion, a hair clip and ponytail holder. There are stashes of books all over my house. Stacks on tables and shelves, drawers and cabinets stuffed full to the brim. I love books. I always have.



I find it very hard to part with most books, and even some of my magazines. In our other house, I had some beautiful built-in bookshelves with cabinets underneath them. The shelves and the cabinets were full of books, magazines, and photo albums. My built in bookshelves in this house are small by comparison, so there are books in my nightstand, on shelves in my closet, in cabinets in the half bath and even in the bottom of my large double linen closet. I continue to buy books, and I continue to hold on to them. I need our lovely daughter to finish growing up and go to college already. I need her bedroom for book storage!

45 comments:

Celeste said...

I have a hard time parting with books as well, but somehow, in the last 5 years have stopped accumulating quite so many.....it's all the journals that arrive at my house that would make a forest!

Randy and Kim said...

Funny, I just ordered another book from B&N online. I don't have the shelf space for all of my reading material. I have magazines as well. Most of my books are in boxes and though I wish to build a wall bookshelf in my "library" I will have to settle for retrieving them as I need them. Oh, I also have a large collection of audiobooks CDs now - coz a lot of people frown on you if you are reading while you are driving... NLM

Alison said...

Oh..another book lover like me!! I am the exact same way! I love your little lamp, it is so cute. Your table looks very inviting..makes me want to crawl in bed and read!!

Gattina said...

Looks very neat your bedside table ! Mine is quite boring !

Joy T. said...

Love the blue colors and how everything matches. So pretty!

Hootin' Anni said...

Wow.......everything matches....colors, textures. All oh so pretty.

Happy Fun Monday. I hope you can find time to drop by for a visit today.

Aoj and The Lurchers said...

If there is one thing that links all these FM posts today, it's books!

wakeupandsmellthecoffee said...

Gosh, you're so coordinated. Your lamp even matches your bedspread! I have stacks of books everywhere too. I should do a cull, but I can't.

laurie said...

ah, clutter with order! a fine compromise.

i find it hard to get rid of books i love, too. and to be even more neurotic about it--when i see a book i loved in a bookstore, i have to fight myself NOT TO BUY IT. EVEN IF I ALREADY OWN IT.

i guess i just want to give it a good home.

Scott said...

I have a stack of library books, which I necessarily have to part with, so high I can't see my clock. Also there is a ceramic nose that my son "bought" me for Christmas when he was two on which to hang my glasses at night.

ellen b. said...

We've got books all over the place, too! I love the blue and white in your room...

Kim said...

Celeste, I have books that I owned as a child. I know what you mean.

NLM, I had an English teacher in high school who read while she drove and didn't see a thing wrong with it. She scared me to death!

Thanks, Alison. I love that lamp.

I think mine is boring, too, Gattina!

Thanks, Joy. Our bedroom has been blue and white, checks and toile, for years now. I like it, but I'm beginning to wish for something new.

Thanks, hootin' anni. I'll be over to see you.

Bloggers seem to be book readers, don't they, aoj?

I can't get rid of any of my books, either, Wake Up. I think it's probably a character flaw. ;)

You're worse than I am, Laurie. Books are wonderful, but the only one I have multiples of is the Bible.

I'd like to see a picture of that nose, Scott. It sounds very cute.

thefoodsnob said...

I love Middlemarch.
I made a rule for myself to only keep one year of the magazines I get so they don't pile up!


Lisa

Kim said...

Lisa, I have that rule for myself, too. Of course, I take three magazines . . .

the rotten correspondent said...

I like the idea of an extra bedroom for book storage. Or two.

You just can't go wrong with books, you know?

kitten said...

Your room looks so cozy.
No wonder you read so much. LOL!

Swampwitch said...

This Fun Monday has turned out to unveil a plethora of reading material for me.
Last year, I finally took 67 books and donated them to the library. It still hurts.

ped crossing said...

You table looks cozy.

I quit buying books. I am now dedicated to the library. Now I only purchase books that I will read again. Plus I get overwhelmed by the choices.

Kaytabug said...

I heart books! I have a hard time getting rid of books and magazines too!!! I read in the comments that you still own books from your childhood...same here!
I need a book light. My hubs is always going to bed before I do and I like to read in bed, but never want to turn the light on so I can read!

raising3saints said...

Gorgeous! I also have run out of room for my books, and am considering adding shelves way up high on my walls for the overflow.

Andre Veloux said...

Is that a little notebook you have there too, indispensinle!

I love your dog by the way.

Sandy said...

I love books too but I have finally started making use of our library. I just couldn't afford to feed my addiction and pay my grandson's school tuition at the same time...lol.

Kim said...

See, you get me, RC. An entire room for book storage would be a dream come true.

Thanks, Kitten. My husbands says the thing I like most of all (next to him of course) is comfort and coziness.

67 books! Given away? That hurts me, Swampy.

I rarely use the library, Ped. I never want to return the books.

Book lights are the best, Katyabug! I got mine from Amazon. Hubby sleeps right through my reading.

Books up high on your wall, all around the room? That could be really pretty!

No, Andre, just books upon books, even in the drawer. We have a pair of dogs, actually, a male and a female miniature schnauzer. I love them, too.

Books can be really expensive, but it is really my only vice, Sandy. I buy a lot of them from Amazon, but every once in a while I find them in thrift stores for great prices. I got a hardback copy of "March" in perfect condition not long ago for $2.

kitten said...

Yes, my machine helps alot, but I also have narcorlepsy. So, I have to take meds to help me through the day as well. The machine has helped a lot.

Jientje said...

What a nice bedroom! You have great taste, everything works so well together!

Faye said...

Among all those treasures what does the OK Gardener's Guide mean? Are you seriously into gardening, or like me, just a reader about gardens?

Peter said...

I've heard of taking over the kids bedroom as a craftroom before but kicking the kid out so you can store more books seems a bit harsh!!!

Kim said...

Thanks, jientje. I do like my bedroom.

The "Oklahoma Gardener's Guide" is just what it says: a book to assist you in planting gardens of all kinds in the Oklahoma climate. I did a lot of gardening before we moved, Faye. I had a vegetable garden and herb garden and did the landscaping and yard work myself. This past spring and summer, everything I grew was confined to pots because we were in a rental property. I hope to get started turning this new yard into a garden in the spring.

It was just a joke, Peter! She is in no danger of being kicked out.

eclecticblog said...

Looks very comfy there! Another bedside table with books! Me too!

Robinella said...

I've never been a book keeper. I used to and thought I would reread certain books but once I started reading them again, it was all too familiar and I would put them down. When I decided I would never reread my books is when I decided to give them away.

susansmusings said...

tee hee As much as my husband dreads our daughter leaving for college in a couple years, I can't help but make plans for her bedroom too!

Kim said...

Recently I've been really glad I'm such a book hoarder. Since the kids got into middle school and high school, I can't tell you the number of times I went to my bookshelf for a book they needed instead of to the bookstore or the library.

Since all the kids are voracious readers, my books get a lot of use. I just have to really monitor what the lovely daughter reads. She is always wanting to read something I think she's not ready for (think "The Bell Jar" or "Lolita").

Jettie said...

One day I will have time to read...one day!! Love all the books!!

ChrisB said...

Oh dear you sound like us, we have stacks of books, I won't begin to tell you how many rooms have bookshelves and we still have some in boxes. Oh and I'm currently looking to home several bags of magazines!!

Tiggerlane said...

I have the same problem with books - I have a lot of them, and guess what? I put so many windows and so few walls in the new house that I'll have to store books in a closet. Bummer.

Joanne said...

Very pretty! How's that organic gardening book?

kbbryant said...

Yoour bedroom looks peaceful, inviting and things match!
Kathy b

Molly said...

Your lamp is lovely. We have a lot of books, but I give some of them away. I have a friend who reads his books; and then, he sells them on e-bay. Then, he buys more books with the money.

Serina Hope said...

Your room looks so cozy, I love it.

sirdar said...

Books books books....lots of books this Fun Monday.

Linda said...

Books! It seems to be the common thread with these nightstands. Lovely glow from the light - it looks so pretty there. Great post, I feel like a know you a little better.

lisaschaos said...

I'm the same way, I can't part with books unless I really didn't like them. For the most part I if I like a book I'll just buy a second copy for a friend instead of loaning out my copy. I'm weird that way. :)

Sauntering Soul said...

I love your cute little lamp!

I have a hard time getting rid of books too. However, they were taking over my house which is only 750 square feet so I gave away a box and a half to charity a few weeks ago. I still have shelves full and piles of books everywhere.

-Ann said...

I'm with you on the book issue. Our rental house has no bookshelves. At all. It came with five double beds and not a single bookcase. we keep saying we have to look into getting some made, but it just hasn't happened yet.

elizabethm said...

I am really trying to contain the books in our house - lending them, giving them away, giving them to charity shops. Otherwise they will just take over!