Reflections on the Books of a Family of Ten...

Posted by a busy Gabrielle

One of the projects that has been keeping me so busy these past few weeks
is heading a complete reorganization and inventory of our books...I'm serious!
A few years ago I would have pushed this off as a "dream in the clouds".
No more.
I've gotten tired of not knowing where certain books on various topics are,
not knowing what we even have,
and just running out of 'reading material'.
Solution:
Actually materialize our family dream for years of organizing our vast library.
I certainly can't say it hasn't been fun exploring shelves of books I
hardly knew existed and quite literally "uncovering" loads of
new reading material!
It came as a pleasant surprise to realize I'm actually
equipped with plenty of new books to keep my mind occupied after I get
my wisdom teeth out some time soon. :)

One of the biggest challenges has been categorizing every single book into one
narrow- well, in some cases not so narrow -category.
It provides a wonderful opportunity to scan the back-cover summaries
of all those books! :)

Here's a sampling of the categories I've created:

Christian Theology/Commentaries/Apologetics
Church History
Literature/Classics
Home Education
Biography/Autobiography
Children's Classics/Fiction
Poetry
Sewing/Crafts/Origami/Decorating
Art
History
Law
Economics/Finance
Science
Herbs/Nutrition/Health

So, with all these books and such a busy schedule, what have I been
reading lately?
Quite a bit! :)

In the hour or so every evening that I have time to curl up with
a book, I've been fairly devouring a stack of
wonderful reading.

First and foremost, the Bible. I'm currently going
through a Bible reading schedule that goes through the NT in a year.

The Feasts of Israel by Bruce Scott is a fascinating study of the
OT Jewish feasts and their significance in pointing toward the
coming of Christ. It's a great book to supplement my study of Hebrew
and I'm really enjoying it.

A Path Through Suffering by Elisabeth Elliot has been a wonderful
and encouraging read. I'm inspired to find the rest of her books and
read those now.

The past few months I've been enjoying Emma as I have the others of
Jane Austen's works that I've read.

I just started The Poet's Homecoming by George MacDonald as it came
very highly recommended. I am only a couple chapters in but enjoying it so far.

And, I'm just finishing Endurance by Alfred Lansing. It's the riveting
adventure story of explorer Ernest Shacklton and his crew from their
ship Endurance who set out to "conquer" the Arctic and the North Pole.
When their ship was caught in the ice and they had to abandon it they
set out on a trek to the nearest civilization that brought them a different
sort of fame. Very interesting.

What on earth is this???
It's one of my two diaper-box bookshelves! You read and saw that right!
Bookshelves, especially more custom ones that fit the spaces I need them for are
so expensive and out of the question right now budget-wise.
The Solution:
Diaper boxes!
Not the most sturdy structure but with a few well-placed metal clamps
and gentle handling they accommodate my rapidly growing library well.
They almost deserve a post in and of themselves! :)