lisah, I'll send her that link too. That looks like it would be a good "interactive" book.

it is totally fun and there is a SHOCKING bit at the end. and the illustrations are gorgeous.

In re books (yes, I'm among those who furnish with books) - a while ago the Post magazine section had an interior design issue with lots of uninhabited rooms with knick-knacks and other fancy decor. One of the rooms shown was the "library" ... with not a single book to be seen. Lots of glass thingies - nice ones, but .... Anyway, there were quite a number of letters from people saying that if it's a library, where were the books. Stoopid decorator!

The only time I agree with removing books when redecorating is when you're trying to sell your place. The A&E show "Sell This House" always has people packing away all their tchotchkes, photos, and excessive books to make the place more impersonal, so potential buyers can imagine their stuff in the house. I personally think that people who can't look beyond the furniture and personal things are not seriously house-shopping, but too many bookshelves can cover up the actual amount of wall space in a room and make it look smaller. Also, packing up stuff early helps when you have to pack up after you sell.

One place I worked built some model homes to demonstrate energy-efficient features. The home had some books artfully arranged on the built-in bookshelves and scattered about the living room. The books were a very odd assortment, and I asked the decorator about them. She told me there were companies that sold books by the pound to decorators.

it's a library, where were the books.

I saw one picture of a room described as a library, and after some hunting in the picture I saw one shelf with some books tucked behind the couch. It looked like a bunch of law books intermingled with Reader's Digest Condensed books.

Amateurs.

the new fad of putting the books on the shelves so that the pages, not the spines, are showing?

I had no idea this was a trend. On my shelf the backwards books are the ones I'm embarassed to own.

too many bookshelves can cover up the actual amount of wall space in a room and make it look smaller.

The flip side is that when looking at homes with no bookshelves, I always have to remember to mentally subtract about a square foot of wallspace from every room to get an idea of how big it will really be once all our books move in!

Ha!

We switched our plans early on to go from slab to crawlspace. The designer had put in a plumbing wall when it was supposed to be slab, but now that it's crawlspace it's not necessary (the pipes will go under the house). So the builder was asking us did we want to switch those 2x6 walls back to 2x4.

And I was thinking to myself. Two more inches! That means I might be able to fit my bookshelf in there! And it was go.

neither of us wants to read it again, no reason for it to languish on our shelves when it could be out there making some other reader happy. I look at getting rid of books as giving a gift to that mysterious other reader, which makes it a lot easier.

A while back, I found I no longer felt a need to hang on to every book that made its way into my house. I'd rather re-home them than hang onto them for the sake of hanging on to them. I think moving all my possessions cross-country may have had something to do with my new willingness to re-home items I had once clung to the way Gollum clung to the One Ring.

I will admit that in the built-in book cases in my living room, I do have some non-book objects in there. Part of the reason is thaty they're safe from the cat up there (He cannot jump more than counter-height). Also, the backs of the bookcases are a very pretty red and it's nice to have bits of that peeking through.

One of my plans for my basement involves an entire wall of shelves. That will be an all book (and DVD) and no tchochke zone.

our not quite 8' by 8' bookcases were full before we finished them. Dh was surprised, I was not. What did surprise me that when it comes to keeping books - I am the one responsible mostly for that. oops.