Building your teleporter/time machine/library

I've always like the idea of an actual teleporter/transporter like the kind you get in Star Trek where Captain Kirk commands Montgomery Scott in his most famous phrase to 'beam me up Scotty'. That my friends was probably the most nerdy thing I have ever said on the internet but these things should not surprise you, not really. An obsession for books, law and paper can only point to a slightly 'nerdy' side in any one. 

Because I am useless at physics, because I will never make it into star fleet and because I do not currently have the freedom to jet-set I have been building the next best thing; a personal library. And given that I have already ranted and raved about the importance and my love of books here and here the time can only be right to inspire your library building senses too. 

Here follows my list of advice and considerations for building your personalised library of dreams:

It requires some pennies:

Its a rather costly process this personal library business but not in the least a waste of finances. Invest in the right books and they will be enjoyed for a lifetime, and possibly someone else's if you manage to take enough care of them. The important thing to remember here is that you shouldn't expect to have a room's worth of books collected in the space of a couple of months or even a couple of years. Libraries, as a lifelong investment, are to be built slowly. Also there are always ways to cut down on costs, try searching charity shops and second hand book stores for good quality copies of the books you are after.

Organic growth is far better than Fast and Cheap!

There are many of you who without a second's thought will jump on to Amazon when you want to buy a new book. Stop! We live in a world today where it is extremely easy and sometimes cheaper to buy things at the click of a button online but we also live in a world where the independent high street bookshop works hard every day to make sales. These independent bookshops are the ones we choose to browse in for titles, places where we go for inspiration, places that put on events to meet authors or meet other readers with similar interests. In order to keep these experiences alive we need to keep them alive and we do this through buying from the high street. 

It's not a horrific thing to by from the big online stores now and then, however, when building your personal library it is always nice to look upon it and know that you are doing your bit to keep the book world in business. 

Variety really is the spice of life:

In my library I have various genrés. I have a section for classics (Austen, Stevenson, Hardy, Conrad), a section for modern classics (Hemingway, Carter, Fleming, Camus, Capote), a section for crime (inc Conan Doyle), a section for everyday fiction, a section for psychology/philosophy, a section for poetry, a section for children's literature and a section for odd bits and bobs (including biographys). In building a personal library don't just buy the genre you would normally read from, spread your tastes you might find something else you like. My personal favorite genre is probably modern classics (I have never read one I dislike) but I have also thoroughly enjoyed dipping in and out of normal fiction or non-fiction. I love having a couple of poetry books because every now and again its lovely to sit down and work out or try to memorise a poem. 

When you eventually build up a bookcase/room with enough books the range of genres will make sure that you continually explore new writers and stories and make new discoveries and avoid becoming a 'one trick pony reader'. Try out some fantasy, some sci-fi, history novels, biographies or travel writing. Read children's classics that you missed out as a child, poetry you never bothered to discover why others talked about them or science based books to show you things your boring GCSE Science teacher missed out. 

Know how to find your Hill without getting lost in Dahl:

That said, a variety of books means that the more books you own the harder it will be to keep track of them and the easier it is to lose them. There are many ways of preventing this; you could simply place everything in alphabetical order, you could place them in chronological order or you could place them in genrés and then order them according to alphabetical/chronological order. Whatever you do, just make sure you can find Tolkien or Shute when you need them. 

Keep that perfect library image in your head:

I have been building my library for a year now. I can probably fill half a bookcase... hardly ready to fill a whole room. However, I have really enjoyed reading the books I have and know that I could walk into my living room now and pick up a new title that would entertain me. One day I might be lucky enough to have that room, but until then enjoy the experiences of choosing new titles, reading new stories and watching that collection grow. Each new title is a new experience, and there are many more to come. 

Hope these tips encourage and inspire. Enjoy the library porn below:

With love

xoxo