An Avalanche of Books

This evening I was in the basement organizing my very large collection of books and trying to find something fresh to read. I don't know if I bumped a shelf, or a bracket gave way (our bookshelves consist of planks balanced on brackets that hook into standards screwed into the wall), but suddenly four shelves' worth of books started raining down.

I screamed something without words, jumped back, and grabbed at a lamp as it was knocked over by the avalanche of paper, wood, and metal. Finally things stopped falling. My husband called to me from the living room, asking whether or not I was hurt. I told him that I had managed to avoid injury, but that a section of bookshelves had collapsed and had shattered a glass plate that had been sitting on a table. He came down with a hand vacuum and picked up as many of the shards as he could find, then moved enough of the fallen books and shelves to set the lamp back upright. I picked up most of the other books and threw them on the open futon in the basement for reorganizing later.

I never realized before how many books I have on so many subjects. The futon -- which is a queen size -- is completely covered in books on religion and philosophy (including Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Judaism, Kabbala, Christianity, and Islam), anthropology, psychology, medicine, Chinese history, foreign policy, foreign languages (Chinese, French, Spanish, and Welsh), writing/editing, and jewelry-making. I also have a large collection of science fiction/fantasy, mysteries and children's literature.   PEGGY HU'S READING LOG

Perhaps it is time to start trimming down my book collection? At the very least, I think I need to buy some sturdier shelves ....