Books

A good percentage of our books are currently in boxes in the basement. We just don't have shelves for them all. In addition to the ten or twelve boxes in storage, we've filled one large and two small bookcases to capacity at home, and then most of my Jesus books fill two large and one small bookcase at work. We haven't even read them all, though we culled most of the ones we probably would read (or reread) back in California. Still, we go to the library once or twice a week and check out stacks of children's books. Still, I occasionally pull over at the Half Price Bookstore in town because I've caught a glimpse of a paperback in the window display I've been wanting to read (lately, The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan and Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen).

And now this new trend of releasing classics with gorgeously designed covers. I can hardly bear it. Last week, when Aunt Lisa and her beau, John, were in town, we stopped into 57th Street Books in Hyde Park, which is part of the Seminary Co-op. I couldn't resist this $5 edition of Heidi, which I've never read but will start this afternoon:In the same series, Lauren Child illustrates Anne of Green Gables. Another one I failed to read thanks to the addicting adventures of the Babysitters Club. One that I did read, and love, albeit with a much less appealing cover: The Little Princess. Oh, did I love The Little Princess. Meanwhile, Penguin Classics - a sister division of Puffin Classics - is releasing seminal nonfiction titles. This is just so iconic: And I love the late 60s vibe of The Grand Inquisitor, the brilliant short story that is folded into The Brothers Karamazov:Who says wonderful books can't have equally wonderful covers?

Maybe we just need more bookshelves.