Hello travelers!
If you're a book nerd, you may have spent hours thinking about your dream library. Whether it was the library from Beauty and the Beast or just a few floating shelves in your bedroom, everyone has an idea of what their dream library would look like if money and space were not a deciding factor.
My dream space is a room with built in shelves, large windows with a window seat and lots of pillows, and plants and a few nature or nerdy pictures on the walls.
However, I have had the experience of moving a few times and each time my available space changes. At college, it was three shelves above my desk, in my first apartment, I shared a couple of bookshelves with my husband's music collection, and now I have five large book cases to call my own. This fluctuating library size has not cut into the number of books that I own (I don't have a problem. What are you talking about? Don't look in the closet!) but it has made me more critical when I am buying books. Do I want this in my collection for a long time or am I just interested in seeing what the story's about? If I do want to keep it, is this the copy that I want or do I want to look for a nicer edition? I am still struggling with these questions as I slowly shape my personal library into one that will last me a long time. In the meantime, I have made some decisions on what books and authors I for sure want to purchase and keep.
1) I want a collection of fairytales, myths, folk tales, and nursery rhymes from around the world. Along with these, I'd like to get a few books about the origins and history of all these tales. These type of stories fascinate me, from their history and alterations over the years to the many interpretations, to the comparison of stories across cultures. I already have a small collection started and I'm excited to see it grow. I especially want more international stories (meaning not the famous British, French, German, etc. ones that everyone already knows). In a similar vein, I have a weird interest in ancient works. Beowulf is one of my favorite books on my shelf and I'm interested in adding others to this collection.
2) Author specific shelves. There are a few authors who I will automatically add to my shelves just because I love their writing or they've impacted me in some way. Some of these authors include Louise Erdrich, Neil Gaiman, Daniel Handler/Lemony Snicket, Jan Brett, Christopher Paolini, etc. This may change as I get older or if my tastes change (or an author does something really stupid and I can't bring myself to keep the books) but for my favorite authors, they will get a special place in my collection.
3) Favorite children's books. Dr. Seuss and Beatrix Potter are some obvious ones but Jan Brett is another author who I want to collect. There are also a few books from my childhood that I want to keep: The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood and My Little Sister Ate One Hare by Bill Grossman were some of my favorites. This collection would be a little more personal and eclectic because it would be based on me and my memories or what I find cute and sweet. I'd also like to add things like the entire Magic Tree House collection just because of my memories of reading them as a kid.
4) Gothic literature collection. I have a weird obsession with gothic literature thanks to one of my undergrad classes. Frankenstein, Dracula, Woman in White, and The Monk are all some of my favorite examples. I've been reading through a collection of vampire stories that came out before Dracula which I would also put into this category that I've been enjoying even though I'm forced to take my time with them. I'd be a little pickier with this collection since I don't want to simply add books just because they're considered gothic literature.
5) Sci-fi and Fantasy collection. Again, this is going to be specific to me but I want a large selection of science fiction and fantasy books. There have been a few that I've picked up at random and ended up loving but I am also wary of picking up random books because I'm only really familiar with a few authors. This is something I'm working on and slowly building towards.
6) First editions, special editions, and autographed books. I'm not usually a big stickler for editions but there are a few that I have gotten and really love. I'm not sure I would go so far as to have multiple copies of a single book, but if my first purchase of something happens to be a special edition or I have the chance to get an autographed book, I will get it.
7) Random interest collections. This is my nature books, homesteading books, medicinal herb books, craft books, random history books, and even a few textbooks that I find interesting. This is one area that seems to be ever changing as my interests shift.
8) Manga and Comic Books and Graphic Novels collection. I would love to have enough space for long series, I want classic series like Sandman or Naruto. I want new series like Monstress or Erased. This is the collection that will take up the most space which means I should be more careful deciding what to add but at the same time, I love seeing all of the artwork on my shelves.
What about you? What is your dream library like? What kind of books would you like to collect? I would love to get ideas and suggestions from you in the comments below.
Until next time, travelers.
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