My Rainbow Library

We have a spare bedroom at the new place that has been made into the library/office.  I've organized the books by the color of their spine.  Some people think this is nonsense, but it actually really works for me.  When I'm looking for a given book, I have a much easier time remembering its appearance, than, say, the author's last name.  Also, it's gorgeous.  I did it at my last place, too.  The exciting new changes are that I've done it in ROY G BIV fashion (after black and white), and there are no shelves with work stuff or photo albums intermixed - only books, books, books.

Library

Here is what I want in a room: Big windows and a comfortable chair to sit in.  The chair upholstered in some beautiful, colorful fabric.  Shelves and shelves of books.  A pot of oolong tea to pour steaming into my favorite clear glass mug (bought at HEMA in Amsterdam).  This is my perfect reading situation.

I have this now, sort of - I want to reupholster my chair (or at least sew a slip cover), I want more bookshelves (that will have to wait till I move somewhere bigger), and I want a couch that isn't godawful  ugly and covered in dog hair (and dogs).  But the dream library is not an impossible sort of dream.

With a good book, though, those things don't really matter.  A favorite reading experience: sitting on my mom's couch as a kid, reading 101 Dalmatians (the original novel, not a novelization of the Disney movie), eating piece after piece of buttered toast and drinking cup after cup of sugary black tea.  Another: sitting at a picnic table in a campsite for two hours, tearing through the last several hundred pages of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  Another: laying on a lounger in the sand by the North Sea in the Dutch city of Zandvoort, sipping Coke out of a glass, eating paprika-flavored potato chips, and reading Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros.

So while the library described above might be ideal, I truly only need an engaging book and a quiet space carved out for myself.  Snacks, clearly, don't hurt either.  Ingredients for a fantastic evening: a great book, no grading to do, and some paprika chips.