Books are Beautiful

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.  - Anna Quindlen

Who needs art?

This is so true. 

My husband and I have been doing some redecorating, which for us really means we've hung new bookshelves and rearranged our collection. So of course I've been perusing pictures of gorgeous bookshelves in the name of research. I can't just throw all of my books on the shelves, after all.

These are my favorite shelves. I love the contrast between the black shelves and the red room behind them.

I keep a list of sites dedicated to beautiful books and book art on this blog, but it has been so much fun digging through them and seeing what happens when people who are creative also love books. I've added so many new crushworthy pictures of amazing bookshelves and booknooks to my Book Love board on Pinterest in the process. I swear, I could skim through that board for hours. 

My new favorite booknook. Can't you see yourself cuddled up in there with a steamy mug of something?

There is  just something about a house filled with books, isn't there? 

When I taught high school I used to ask my students how many books they had at home. The most common response? One. One book. "The yellow one."

At first I thought, Maybe there's a yellow bible that's really popular right now.

And then I got wise. They weren't talking about a book at all. They were talking about the phone book. As in, The Yellow Pages. 

This was one of the saddest realizations I had during my time as a high school teacher. Now that we're moving into the age of the e-book, I wonder if more homes will be print-starved. Will people trade in their bookshelves for spare wall space? Will people stop decorating with books?

I know I won't. I love our new bookshelves, and searching for quirky bookends is one of my favorite things to do on a lazy shopping trip.

What about you? Is your home filled with books? Do you think you'll ever trade them in, now that you can carry an entire library on an e-reader? And if you have children, do you keep a library of books for them in your home?