Unpacking books

and everything that goes along with that

I had an office put together for myself the other day. I got to reflecting—as I’m known to do—how my office/library has grown with each move I’ve made in my life. The first tiny studio I lived in—my charming A-frame cottage on the back of a retired elementary school teacher’s property—I angled a cheap desk I’d found on craigslist or a garage sale in the corner of my living room and that was my work space. I adored that place, my computer was set up there and I worked from home. I had my address book, birthday book, and my reference books for writing (think, Strunk and White’s “Elements of Style”), and all my stationary.

Then I lived in a small house in Monterey, again I had a corner office simply because there was a shelf built into the corner and it made it easy. My reference books had expanded, to reference books for yoga and poetry, grammar in multiple languages, style guides for the Chicago Manual of Style for the journal I edited and APA for the newspaper. Again my trusty address book and birthday book, which have both now seen their fair share of page turns and tea spills.

Now I have a whole office room to myself. At the expense of our second child getting their own room. Maybe we will regret this later but I shared a room until I was 12 so I don’t think it’s that uncommon or torturous for kids to share a room. It is so important for me to have some space for my books, my address & birthday book, my stationary (my pens!), my altar, my peace, my things.

I am unpacking my books and unpacking everything that goes along with it. Each book has a story that I could tell you…if you’d want to listen. There are so many books that were gifted to me when I lived in Spain and also so many books I have bought on my travels. Travel, which feels like a distant memory and one that I’m perfectly OK with. I always said I would welcome sitting still when I had children. As you know I couldn’t not travel when I was single and even after I met Joe but we didn’t have kids. My soul is active, maybe as active as my legs and my heart. I yearn to explore, to talk to new people, to see new things. And now I get to see all those through the eyes of my children and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I hope to travel with them one day and experience the wonder of wanderlust through the eyes and legs of my babies but for now I have my books and their books and our house and our garden and the beach.

some of my books

I noticed a pattern while unpacking my books. I have befriended bibliophiles and librarians a lot in my life. So many books I own have been gifts and what a beautiful thing. When someone gifts you a book they love it’s like they’re sharing a piece of their heart. So unpacking my books was such a sentimental task for me. I read the cover page inscriptions of so many books that were gifts and thought of that person. I also have a whole section of my bookshelf devoted to books that people I know have written and that’s super cool, too. I have a textbook on Coronary Angioplasty, written by Dr. David Clark (a local cardiologist) and one of the first doctors to perform angioplasties (a minimally invasive medical procedure used to open narrowed or blocked arteries) in this country. I interviewed him for the newspaper a few years ago and was so fascinated by his story that he offered me his book, signed.¹ I have memoirs, like Blessed and Zany written by a local friend and fellow writer, Hans Lehmann, who is an avid reader of mine but also has his own charming substack "Walking My Ways” about his life in Carmel-by-the-Sea. The Little Bach Book by David Gordon is a brilliant biography, if you will, of J.S. Bach written by a tenor who sang for the Carmel Bach Festival. I met and interviewed him, also for the Carmel Pine Cone a few years ago and he gifted me his book.

I’m not going to get started on my poetry book section…my numerous poetry books with post its and highlights and notes in the margins. Other than to share one of my all-time favorite poems by Hafiz translated by Daniel Ladinsky:

                                                           The Sun Never Says

                                                                       Even

                                                                       After

                                                                 All this time

                                                 The sun never says to the earth,

                                                                  “You owe

                                                                        Me.”

                                                                      Look

                                                               What happens

                                                         With a love like that,

                                                                It lights the 

                                                                    Whole

                                                                       Sky.      

Happy Friday, beautiful souls. I hope you have a space that brings you peace like my office, even if it’s just a corner of your room or garden that you can sit in and collect yourself. I hope you can find as much joy and peace in your books, or whatever it is that brings you joy and peace. I am happy to report that Giovanni loves his books, too. He aggressively rips them off the little bookshelf in his room and throws them on the floor. He stands on them and shouts “dump” (which means jump) and he likes to jump off of them, from 1/2 an inch off the ground. This is a step up from chewing the bindings a few months back. But he also really does love them. We read to him every night but also throughout the day. He loves to point at images in the books and he certainly recognizes his favorites. I think his love and appreciation for books has begun, even if it is non-traditional for now.

1. If you’re interested in reading my profile on him in the Carmel Pine Cone, it can be found on page 18 of this PDF.