When I'm Done . . .

No, I'm not anywhere near being finished with my list of 59 books. I am, however, close to finishing #10 on the list, and that makes it feel like the end is in sight. Yes, you may need a really large telescope to see it, but it's there. I have this fantasy about what will happen when I've read all the books in my apartment. This is how it goes: I'm sitting at home one evening with nothing to watch on t.v. I decide to pick up a book instead, only to realize I have no unread books! So, I go to the local independent bookstore and start browsing the shelves for something that strikes my fancy . . .

Now, the reality is that this will never happen for me. Yes, there may come a time when my stack of books to read has actually run dry, but I don't think I'll ever walk into a bookstore and not know what I want to buy. Even now, I have a little mental list of books I want to read once I get through my list. There's another list of books I will read before I get through my list (The Lost Symbol, Audrey Niffenegger's new novel, etc.). But, it's a nice fantasy, nonetheless.

One thing I definitely plan on doing when I finish is rearranging my books. I just read this amusing article in The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jul/21/books-arrange-james-purnell I've been practicing the "cram it in wherever it will fit" method of book shelving recently. But, as I get rid of most of these books as I'm reading them, I look forward to organizing what's left. A friend of mine has organized her books by color--it looks great and she swears she's still able to find things. I'm sort of thinking I'll do mine by genre . . . because I have my really smart books from college prominently displayed, and really, who wants to hide those in favor of all my books with red spines? Granted, underneath my smart books is my collection of children's picture books that I started when I worked for a children's books publisher. I don't know what that says, except maybe that I'm a bit schizophrenic . . . at least as far as my book collection is concerned! We'll see. I think I will have plenty of time to think about this as I work my way through the remaining 49 books . . .