My Library Part 1

Some years ago--when I was in my late twenties or early thirties--my brother would visit and make snide remarks about my growing, but not yet expansive, home library. At the time, I probably had 1000 volumes sprinkled throughout the parsonage, and my brother didn't believe that I had read most of the books. Sometimes he would take a book from the shelf, open it, and ask some piss ant question like, "What did Louise say to her husband Jimmy on page 313 of the novel Your Momma Wears Combat Boots?"

Of course, I didn't know my library that well.

I would, however, challenge my brother to a best of three blind challenge, where I would leave the room, he would select a book title, and then, upon my re-entrance to the library, I would have ten seconds to locate the book on the shelf where I had catalogued it. I always won.

My brother just couldn't believe that I knew where all of my books were located on the shelves.

That was years ago, however, and just a few days back, my son asked the question, "Dad, just how many books do you have?"

It was a great question, and I didn't know the answer. However, after a bit of finger pointing and tallying and estimating, I've come to the conclusion that my library is now somewhere between 3000 and 4000 volumes. That's not a huge library, but it's large enough that I can no longer locate books the way I used to. The other night Becky asked me to find a business book I had recommended, a title on leadership. It took me the better part of fifteen minutes to poke, prod, sort and cull through the double stacks and the backlogged piles strewn throughout the house to locate the book.

Having a library of size also has its advantages. Every now and then I come across books I had forgotten about. And even though Becky wonders why I keep buying more books and adding great heaps to the already mountainous tally, she's sort of enamored in her own way of being able to find most anything she needs among my shelves. I've got everything from encyclopedias to trashy novels (actually, far more trashy novels . . . for Becky, of course).

This week, I'll relate some fun and funny stories about my home library and how some of these books have impacted my life.

As Forrest Gump once said, "Life is like an expansive library . . . you never know what you're gonna find."