Controlling books

So you all know that the people that tell you that books are inanimate objects are wrong, don't you?

Anybody who listened to even a few of their biology lessons in Primary School will recognise instinctively that inanimate objects don't breed. They don't multiply of their own volition, and they definitely don't gather into groups to attack the unwary. Those types of behaviour belong to highly developed races like man or...well, wolves even.

Anything that can form itself into seemingly haphazard, but actually highly organised, piles around the walls like books do is clearly of a significantly higher life form than that to which they try to convince us that books belong. Hah! They don't fool me!

Books are alive. Their growth is exponential, just like that of bacteria and viruses and ummm, humans. They are unbeatable too. Their will to survive and procreate is too strong for mere man to restrain for long. Sure, we can corral them for a short time in book cases and on shelves, but they will escape again. That much is sure.

There have been times in our peaceful home that we have had our books more or less under our control. Each has had a home amongst its own species. Spiritual with spiritual, travel with travel, children's with children's. Not for some time though. Those piles are evidence of books that no longer have a place to rest their heads at night. They are homeless waifs, and as anyone who has lived in a city can attest, it is those who have nowhere to go at night that get up to the most mischief. Toes are stubbed, heads are hit, fingers are jammed. These books get up to it all.

There is no permanent cure, of course. Coming to terms with that truism is the first part of the solution. Only then can you deal with masking the symptoms and making your home the safe haven you intend it to be.

IKEA is the cheapest option. We use Expedit, but Billy works as well. Our visit on Saturday yielded two - a five by five for the living room behind the door, and a two by four joins the five by five already in Jemimah's room to replace the little three shelf vintage beauty beside the bathroom. That's moved into our room behind the daybed. We've been arranging these shelves for much of this week - well apart from the two days that I was out of town wearing a business suit and looking professional and...er...building towers of spaghetti and marshmallows actually. But I digress. We're about half way through. The living room's looking pretty good, the study is improving, Jemimah's room is chaos.

I'll post the after photos shortly.

Next week.

If I leave it much longer than that, those books will be at it again. Procreating. Honestly, they're like rabbits, they are. Phew!

Inanimate. Sure.

What do they think I am?