Bookshelves
Added 2016-02-08 22:10:27 +0000 UTC(Reposted and edited from a brain blurble I had over on Instagram. Mostly it's just me replacing "alter" with "altar" because it turns out they are two different words!)
I've been seeing photos on Instagram and an article or two about how some women are really getting into keeping altars in their homes. Like, the kinds with candles and objects they feel have mystical --or straight-up magical-- powers. Part of me scoffs and part of me is so jealous of people who have faith.
But then I look to my left and what do I have but an entire WALL dedicated to my own altar of the objects I find most sacred, that have the power to give me peace of mind, that help guide the directions I take in life, that reassure me that I am not alone in a world that doesn't care.
Nearly every morning I follow my unintentional ritual of pulling back the window's curtain and taking a moment to soak in the sight of the morning light illuminating my life time's collection of books. Books I have carted with me from childhood home to dorm room to apartment to apartment to rented house to rented townhouse to my home.
I wish I believed in a higher power, but I just can't (except for when I'm on a plane that hits turbulence, then I suddenly become a lot more open-minded, but it ends as soon as the flight smooths out). People sharing their stories with the world is what lights up my life, gives me faith that there is more to life than eating and shitting and fucking. Stories make my world connected, they make my life have meaning.
Books are my sacred object, and I've presented them in a position of prominence and respect in my house where I follow my own little rituals of observance.
My altar is my bookshelves.
Comments
Erika!!! Love the bookshelves. Do you have a list of what books you own? Because I wanna know! And read them!
Dani Shuping
2016-02-18 15:16:47 +0000 UTCWow, that's just the kind of bookshelf I want to have in the future! Amazing! Hey, if it isn't too much a bother, would you mind telling us the titles of your Sex Ed / Theory books? I'd love to give them a read.
Joao Luiz
2016-02-10 00:07:36 +0000 UTClol, Awesome book ends -- that's one use for wine. And Calvin and Hobbes <3
K
2016-02-09 05:41:19 +0000 UTCI own seven Ikea Billy bookshelves. With the height extenders. They are all full; I need to give some books I have no plans to read again to the library, to make room for any further inflows. :-/
Auros Harman
2016-02-09 01:26:56 +0000 UTCthis makes me so happy. <3 and those built in shelves are beauuutiful.
Shing Yin Khor
2016-02-09 01:11:38 +0000 UTCYou have such fabulous bookshelves!
Chris Hewson
2016-02-09 01:10:25 +0000 UTCIt's nice to see a section of sketchbooks. I always debate getting rid of the old things.
N.R.M.P
2016-02-08 23:49:36 +0000 UTCI really love and relate to this idea of bookshelves as altars.
Stasia Arkham
2016-02-08 23:23:24 +0000 UTCIn my case, it's because a number of them were too tall to fit in the middle shelves, so they either had to go up on the top or the bottom! Back in an older apartment I used to have kids books and smut books right next to each other, because of their wonky heights, but then when I realized what I'd done (like, months afterwards) I moved them to different spaces because that's a bit weird even for me.
Erika Moen
2016-02-08 22:29:45 +0000 UTCI love this idea. It makes me feel *much* better about my huge book collection. I noticed that your sex ed/comic smut books are on a top shelf. That made me realize that MY sex ed/comic smut/erotica is on a top shelf...and THAT made me wonder how common that is. Some sort of latent desire to keep them out of the hands of children?
Michael Hord
2016-02-08 22:27:13 +0000 UTC
