See Beautiful - Books

I missed See Beautiful Friday!

I visited all the blogs on the See Beautiful hop in the morning, but didn't have an inspiration for a post of my own. While walking Toby I had the idea to write about my and Ted's addiction to books. We are true bibliophiles, just loving reading and owning books, looking at them, recommending them, talking about them...

Currently most of our books are piled into the room over the garage, pending the building of new bookshelves to start the remodeling of the room into a home office.

Bookshelves three deep - and completely filled!

Even have to put some on top for lack of room...wait, there's more...

Thirty-four years of collecting books. 
Early in our marriage we joined one of those Classic Book Clubs. Later there was the History Book Club and in California we had access to Barnes and Noble and Borders for the first time. 
Oh, and as our children grew, they of course were given Newberry and Caldecott award winning books as fast as we could afford them. In the meantime, the public library was a great resource. Growing up I had to wait for the Bookmobile, but we could walk to the library in California!

A small sample of our kids' books. See all the yellow Nancy Drews and the Harry Potter books above them? I'm not going to show you the boxes in the attic.

We say we're saving them for the grandkids, but in truth it is painful to get rid of any of our books. Now, here's a treasure - an autographed copy of Sally Ride's book after we listened to her speak in Washington, D.C.!

We inherited some really old books when Ted's father passed away. Here's a different sort of treasure - his Masonic Bible.

SO - back to why I missed See Beautiful Friday! While I was in the shower I heard the doorbell and Toby barking madly. The postman was delivering my eagerly awaited copy of Pukka's Promise by Ted Kerasote. Once dressed, I couldn't wait to get started. Literally. I carried the book straight to the living room and started reading. 

On the end table beside me sat the history book I'm reading, the Pulitzer-prize winning THE SWERVE. That's where I got the idea to write about the beauty of books in the first place. Its subject is the rediscovery in the 15th century of ancient manuscripts and how their influence change the course of history, in particular The Nature of Things by Lucretius.
So all day and into the evening I read my new book. Every couple of hours I thought, "Oh, I have to get in there and get my blog post done. Well, maybe just one more chapter." Before I knew it, it was dinnertime and my husband was cajoling me to get Mexican (he has to cajole because I don't like Mexican food much but it's his favorite). 
So that is how my poor blog was shamefully neglected yesterday, and I missed my favorite blog hop. I was seduced by the allure of yet another new friend - a book.

Gold, silver, jewels, purple garments,

 houses built of marble, groomed estates, 

pious paintings, caparisoned steeds, 

and other things of the kind offer a mutable and superficial pleasure;

 books give delight to the very marrow of one's bones. 

They speak to us, consult with us, 

and join with us in a living and intense intimacy.

-Petrarch