on bookshelves…

by D.O.

Of all the items commonly found in living rooms, bedrooms, and offices, very few draw me towards themselves the way bookshelves do.

I love bookshelves.

If someone is giving me the grand tour of their place, I often get stuck the moment I reach a bookshelf, and miss out on a large portion of the remaining tour. But it doesn’t stop there. It doesn’t have to be a bookshelf I’ve never seen before. I can spend lots of time looking at bookshelves I’ve already studied countless times before. The one that most readily comes to mind is Aaron Hendrick’s office bookshelf (pre and post The Duty Reorganization). Every time I went into that office — the office of a man I love and with whom I love spending time — I’d stare at his wall-sized bookshelf while we talked. Sometimes I’d just stare at it and we wouldn’t talk at all.

I love bookshelves.

I think that bookshelves say a lot about the person who put them together. Not only can you see what books/ type of books that person likes to read likes to make people think they like to read, you can also see how that person chooses to organize said books. I think that part is my favorite of all.

In college and in Dallas 1.0, I always organized my bookshelf categorically. Books I adored on top, decent to pretty good Christian books below, lame Christian books below that, and school related books at the bottom. My current bookshelf (pictured above) features less than 30 books arranged alphabetically first by author, then by title. The organizational options are endless.

I love bookshelves so much that I felt my Loft incomplete without one, so I put one in above my newly installed desk. The Loft is now complete, so too is this post.

If you also find yourself unreasonably attracted to bookshelves or any other household item, feel free to share your affinity with the masses. This is a safe place.