Like Mrs. Cowell, I have issues with shelf space. I try to use the library to keep this under control, but family members not only know I enjoy reading, but they also know what I like to read. Books are my Christmas and birthday presents. My kinfolk have good taste, and when I finish one of these gifts, it joins the dusty crew on one of the many bookshelves in various places in the house.
A neighbor of mine has a solution to overcrowded shelves. He constructed a dollhouse-sized structure, mounted it on a pole, stuck it in his front yard, and filled it with books, a top shelf for adult books and a bottom one for children's reading material. Neighbors are free to help themselves to anything they like.
People interviewed on television in their homes or offices often position themselves before a well-filled bookshelf. This is especially true of those in academia. Do shelves of books reveal some intellectual prowess? America's fortieth President, Ronald Reagan, had walls of books in his private den in California. He never read any of them. His interior designer put them there to create an ambiance of sophistication.
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