Books

Searching for a particular book I got caught up in a real SHE moment...let's organise the books! The photos are of downstairs, in the family room, which had been friendly and tidy; maybe it's still friendly?

Books are a my "peché mignon" a real indulgence, a not too secret vice, a guilty pleasure. When I was a child my mother complained to a friend about the number of books I had. The friend suggested that my mum give the books to a jumble sale. "But Karen would simply buy them back again" was my mother's anguished response. It was true too.

Books and plants make a home, for me. Oh, and photos too. I have photos all over the house, old, not so new since the advent of digital cameras, but with DD1 we decided I should print out some more.

Books are alive to me. In the photo, not deliberately, or at least not consciously, you can find "women and self esteem" hmmm..... Just out of the frame is "Long walk to freedom" by Nelson Mandela. You know, you find kids called Nelson in France, a long way from Trafalgar. This copy was bought in South Africa, as my marriage was crumbling, although I was unaware of that. Not so ironic perhaps



A bit better organised, again a photo taken without regard to the books themselves. They do say something of me. My heritage (Buchan, Stevenson and Austin), my youth (the chalet girls) my aspirations, (Rousseau) my search for spirituality (prieres des chretians, living inspirations) some more offbeat,(tarot) some basic, (lavender pots pouris) and some French (various)

I cannot imagine a life without books, without words, without all the doors that they open.