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When I was young boy, much before satellite television and all the distractions it brought with it, one of the activities I used to enjoy on every vacation was spending time at the library. Two of them especially come to mind – a lending library in the small town where I used to visit my grandparents and the other – a private library owned by an uncle whose plantation home we used to visit. I have always loved books and with quite a large collection of them myself, I have always had it in my mind that when I have my own home, I would have a nice library with my entire collection there. As such, this article is dear to me and has given me a chance to think about my own wishlist and what I would want to have in my library.
Firstly, just as my childhood was special because of the time I could spend reading, I would want to gift that love of reading to my daughter. My parents were very encouraging of my reading habit and we had an entire collection of the world book encyclopedia as well as regular subscriptions to different magazines like Fortune and the National Geographic. As such here are some of the things I would recommend when designing your own library:
Composition of material
I would definitely put books of different types in the library:-
1. Reference books such as an encyclopedia, dictionary, religious books etc.
2. Lighter books – collections of jokes, puzzles, MAD comics, Archies, Reader’s Digest etc.
3. Magazine Archives – Archives of informative magazines like National Geographic as well as business and some heavier reading like the Economist etc.
4. Fiction, Non-Fiction, History and Autobiographies.
5. Audio Material – I know this is going to be controversial but I have put it in here as I feel today there is quite a bit of informative material in audio but which require concentration and the absence of a Television to listen to.
Decor
My dream library would have the following:
1. Ample Shelves for books
2. Relaxed seating for 2-3 people – What’s the point of having a private library if there are more than 2-3 people using it?
3. Comfortable flooring – sometimes when you are speed reading stuff, it is incredible the amount of books and stuff I go through and require the floor. I usually use vacations to go through 15-20 issues of magazines that I haven’t been able to go through otherwise.
4. A bright corner for those early morning cups of coffee and reading
5. An ipod/ipad dock so that I could listen to some podcasts should I chose to.
6. A coffee machine and ….maybe a small bar for a relaxed drink if I feel in the mood.
Other stuff:
I personally used to love it when I came across books with a message in them – probably a note from a friend who gifted the book to my uncle or else from one of the earlier lenders in the circulating library. In the days before Facebook and social networking, it was fascinating for me as a young boy to look at the messages, imagine the person who had written the same and imagine the places and the kind of relationship he/she had with my uncle. I try to carry at least a few books with me every time I travel and get them autographed by people I respect 😉
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