Name: At Home with Books
ISBN: 9780517595008

Christopher Simon Sykes

Estelle Ellis

Caroline Seebohm

Presents the personal libraries of forty bibliophiles and offers ideas for library design

How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries

At Home with Books

Sarah Sammis

I have curbed my willy-nilly library borrowing to focus instead on reading books from my wishlist. I have started with my oldest wishlist books first. Many of these early ones I no longer remember why I wanted to read them in the first place. At Home with Books by Estelle Ellis and Caroline Seebohm is an exception to that rule.

In fact I remember perfectly where I learned about the book; Bookcrossing. I was a fairly new member and read about it in the Book Talk forum. The book sounded fascinating, especially to someone who just gone through the fourth move in short succession and who no longer had a good clear idea which books were in my personal library.

At Home with Books is a coffee table book that looks at a select group of large personal libraries. These are libraries of people who can afford to have a lot of books, displayed beautifully. These aren't libraries like mine or like people I know where books are stacked two and three thick on shelves, are stuffed in boxes under the stairs, are under beds and in dresser drawers.

These are libraries where someone has decided on a theme; like the one that is devoted only to New York books. Each book is labeled and catalogued and different subjects are in different rooms. But the whole library itself is only about New York.

While I found the photographs gorgeous to look at and some of the stories fascinating, the overall effect of the book was overwhelming. After awhile the book got to be too much and I believe it or not, I felt like my library was inadequate. Sure I've catalogued my entire family library, but there isn't a central theme (beyond we like these books) and they aren't shelved with specific call numbers. Nor are our books in perfect shape or especially rare or unique. They are old, new, dog eared, and odd ball.

Melissa Palmer

Book #121 Read in 2015
At Home with Books by Estelle Ellis et al

This book is perfect for book lovers. It shows lovely photographers of the libraries of the rich and famous and literary. Each person's section details that person's organizational method when setting up the library. It is amazing how a room filled with books can provide insight into a person's inner workings. I borrowed this book from my public library.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

At Home with Books How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries

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