Boston Bibliophile started it off, then Eva of a Striped Armchair wrote a post on it and now I’m jumping on the bandwagon. Building my Home Library. Really the thoughts started on Saturday when I got a new bookcase from IKEA (BILLY, what else) and I decided to organize my books according to the Dewey Decimal system (sort off, I’ll outline the differences in another post).
I thought I would use this post to set up my goals for my home library (like the Boston Bibliophile did).
- Classics
I would like to grow my collection of classics. I will be teaching English and Swedish and so by extension I will in all probability be teaching at least some classics each semester. I want to be able to rotate which once I teach so I don’t get stale and repetitive. In addition I usually like classics so I want to read them for me as well.
I want to get “good” copies of my favourites and keep cheap paperback copies that I can write in for teaching. Being able to keep my notes in the margins is a good way for me to think about what I want to teach and learn.
- Reference
I would like to grow my reference section. I would like a good Swedish-English Dictionary and a good English (or Swedish)-Latin one. I would also like a good book of quotations. A good Swedish Dictionary and a good English one. I have a few books on grammar but they are written for ESL students. I would like native speaker English grammar books (I own Strunk & White).
I would love some books on lit theory and lit history again somewhat connected to my profession but also for my own sake
I would also like a few simple gardening books and a good field guide so I can look up different species.
- Children’s
I have quite a few of my old children’s books still but there are some I want to replace. Rabén & Sjögren who publishes Astrid Lindgren’s books has recently re-issued the books in hardcover in a matching set and I would LOVE to have them all.
- Growing Non-fiction
Although I have touched on this in one of the above points I want it to have it’s own heading because the above point deals primarily with reference books and what I want to grow is my collection of popular science and biography books. When I was organising my books I realised that I have very few books in these categories, especially popular science. So I would like to grow that selection.
Copyright ©2010 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.
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5 comments:
What is the Dewey Decimal system? Sounds intriguing.
How I wish to have a Grand Home Library!
TSS: Celebrating India's 64th Independence Day.
Your library sounds amazing already! So much fun (and work) to organize all of the books in a way that is pleasing to you.
Donna
Ah, Billy bookcases! I've got some of those. Now I'm waiting for some that are made to order - I hope they live up to their price!
It's so nice to have a library! Do you have a separate room for it?
Rikki~~the Dewey Decimal system is a system that categorizes books for libraries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewey_Decimal_Classification
Leeswammes~~I currently live with my parents and the answer to having a separate room is yes...and no :D. We do have a library but my books don't live there. The new bookcase (holding my fiction books) lives in my bedroom, whereas the shelves with my non-fiction lives in my study (which is just off my bedroom). We can't actually fit all of our books into the library, so they are spread around the house. Most of the childrens books are in a cupboard in my mums sewing room, along with her quilting books. My dads old school books and photography books are in his study. YA books are in my old bedroom. And no we don't live in a mansion :)
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