Souire / Lire

I always liked that the French verb for to smile rhymed with the verb to read; it's a nice symmetry, isn't it?

I love to read.  Unfortunately, I think I share the plight of many adults: not enough time to read for pleasure.  But when I was young, I could be found without fail curled up on the couch with a book - I can trace my childhood from The Boxcar Children to Nancy Drew to Judy Bloom to Tamara Pierce and beyond.  (Sarah, I know you're laughing at me right now.  Stop it.  I mean it.  Stop!  Ah, hello, readers.  Ahem.)  My love for reading was probably encouraged by our lack of a TV and my hatred of exercise when I was young, but I think that, essentially, it was more primordial than that.  I think I simply devoured books because I understood that they were meant for my soul.

As I was a fast reader, my parents used to have a rule about buying books: if I could finish a book in the store by the time they were done browsing, they wouldn't buy it for me.  They weren't against purchasing or owning books - you probably could have paid a year's worth of Montgomery County residents' late book fees at the public library with what we spent annually at Barnes and Noble - it was just that they were aware that we had a finite number of shelves.

I, too, today, have a finite number of shelves.  I dream of the day I have a library like that in Beauty and the Beast.  In fact, I tear up a bit when I watch this clip:

Alas, though, I don't think I'll ever have a castle.  And, for the nest few years at least, I'll probably have limited space for books given the sort of flats I'll be able to afford.  Good thing there are options when it comes to shelving!  Check out these nifty ideas for open storage:

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Love these!  What wonderful options.  Hooray for books and places to put them!

(By the way, check out me and Sarah when we were little - and notice what we're reading.  No idea why she's crying, but I guess she was a sensitive thing back then.  Also, notice the early-1990s flannel nightgowns.  Boy, we were classy.)