When I moved out of my mom’s house two years ago, I had to pick and choose which books I wanted to keep and take with me to my dad’s. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, so I kind of just tried to grab everything I could (which turned out to be a lot, and mostly everything).
One of the things that I left (that I completely regret leaving) was my entire Nancy Drew collection. It was made up of Nancy Drew books that I’d bought at Barnes & Noble and at garage sales and at library book sales. I read them mostly in the 2nd grade, along with a lot of books by Andrew Clements (Frindle, anyone?). I didn’t own the entire series. It was the most rag tag collection of a series I owned, but it was mine.
I had an obsession with collecting books when I was younger, which I still have now despite a lack of space to keep them.
I think it’s because I like owning books. I like buying books, having my own to dog-ear and wear out and flip through and take notes in and just be mine. That doesn’t mean I don’t love libraries. I love libraries, or at least the concept of libraries. I like places with books that people have read, that have their own memories and have been worn by others. But there’s something I love more about keeping and having books that are my own and making memories with because they’re mine.
Anyway, I dumped all of the books that I had at my dad’s and that I’d taken from my mom’s in this little back room in my dad’s house that my sister and I kind of used as a playroom, and put off organizing them until now.
These pictures are the final product, post organization!
They’re not organized in any particular way– I literally just stacked them so they weren’t all over the place and they wouldn’t fall down. I don’t have a bookshelf, so it was kind of difficult to place them. Maybe one day, if I ever move and buy a bookshelf, I’ll organize them in alphabetical order or something to make it easier to find things.
Many of the books that I took to school with me were my all time favorites, or books that I was planning on reading. (For example: I took my copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and The Princess Bride, which are my all time favorites, and then The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer which I’ve been planning on reading forever and am reading right now.) I still haven’t completely unpacked my car yet (oops), so all of my books that I took from school are still sitting in the backseat and have yet to be placed in my library.
Going through all of my books that I hadn’t looked at in literally years was a nostalgic experience for me. I got to go through all of the books that I’d read as a tween/teen/little kid. I found the TTYL series by Lauren Myracle, and all of my old Julia Alvarez books. Julia Alvarez used to be one of my favorite authors. I loved how she wrote historical fiction, and wrote about strong, female characters.
I found my Cat Who series books by Lilian Jackson Braun. I read those all throughout the 7th and 8th grade, and they were a little bit too violent for me, but exciting to read. I also found that I owned an excessive amount of joke books, as well as creative writing help books and Audrey Hepburn biographies.
I found I had a lot of really classic young adult/middle grade books, like The Book Thief and John Green books. I found books from the Charlie Bones series by Jenny Nimmo, and my old Hebrew School prayer books, and Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris (which I LOVED). I went through a phase where I exclusively read cheesy teen romance novels, like everything by Emma Harrison, and discovered all of my old copies of those which was pretty cool.
Surprisingly, I wasn’t a Sarah Dessen fan.
I think that my favorite thing about organizing my library was remembering where I was and who I was and how old I was and what I liked when I had read these books. It makes for a nice collection of memories. It’s very telling of my childhood and growing up.
I’m wondering– if you have your own library or collection of books, what do you think it says about you? Let me know in the comments!
Amanda Under Construction 
That’s a lot of books! Wow.
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I know!! I love it. My library just keeps on growing. 🙂
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Terrific !
Danny Livingston
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Thanks doodad!
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And I thought I had a lot of books! Wow, your collection is awesome.
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Haha I know, I have a lot! And I can’t wait to read/buy more. 🙂 Thanks!
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More! But where will you put them all? Lol
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Haha that is an excellent question! 🙂 I may have to move things around. I’ll figure it out!
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Awesome that you still have all your books from your childhood, I have four younger brothers and sisters so most of the books that I read when I was younger all got passed down, which is also really nice the idea that they were shared but I really wish I still had that huge collection. I mean I have a huge collection of books but from my teens onwards and it would be great to have everything. I’m not sure what’s happened to them now, I think they got left at the camp site in Canada my parents owned for a while. I’ve slowly started recollecting the books I had so I can share them with my children when I get round to having them in a few years. The books your Nancy drew books reminded me of were the Famous Five books by Enid Blyton I absolutely loved them! I think I did read a couple of the Nancy drew books, not sure though… Great post! Look after that collection 😉
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Hi Alicia! I like how you got to share your books with your brothers and sisters, although I understand that you would want to keep and have your own collection. I feel like I lost a lot of books over the years too, whether I lent them out to people or just left them at my mom’s.
I’ve never heard of the Famous Five, I’m going to Google them though and check them out.
Thank you bb ❤ ❤ ❤
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I just looked up the Famous Five series, and they look so cute! Definitely a series I would have been into when I was younger. Also, it reminds me of the younger kids version (and not a mystery, of course) of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. Have you ever heard of that book?
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They were great, I bought and reread the first book last summer just for the nostalgia, it was still great but probably because it was so familiar. They even made a TV series out if them. We Were Liars sounds familiar but no clear picture springs to mind, I shall check it out 😉
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I highly recommend it! (Also I love doing that– I reread Harry Potter all the time for the same reason!)
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That’s quite the library you have! It sure beats mine. And I found a similarity in you liking the Nancy Drew series when you were younger in the same way I loved the Hardy Boys books 🙂 Sadly, I had to leave mine behind as well when I started attending boarding school.
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Thanks Seth! I find that a lot of my favorite books got lost along the way, like my Nancy Drew series and a bunch of other ones. It makes me sad, but my library grows and changes all the time. I read a few Hardy Boys books when I was younger too!!
I’m sure your library is great too. To each their own! 🙂
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Amanda, your photo looks so familiar! I can’t bear to part with books; I love them as objects and as memories. Sometimes I play a game with myself where I pretend I’m a stranger and I peruse my bookshelf and try to imagine what kind of person has books like mine. Is that weird?
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Yes! Someone who understands! 🙂
That’s totally not weird. I find myself doing something similar– when I’m trying to find something in my library and go through my books, I remember who I was when I was reading each one.
Keep on reading, my friend! xx
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All your book photos make me drool a bit… I adore books! Some of the ones you mention are ones I forgot existed–I too have a copy of Once Upon a Marigold tucked away somewhere. If my personal connection reveals anything about me, it’s that I have a preference for British lit over American and really love Harry Potter (I collect various editions from around the world.)
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I think we were commenting on each other’s blogs at the same time haha! I saw that you’re an English major and that you write about books, so I’m happy to find a fellow blogger bibliophile.
I think that’s SO cool that you collect editions of HP. Have you seen the collection where when you line up all seven of them they form a picture of Hogwarts? It’s beautiful.
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We totally were commenting on each other’s blogs at the same time! I was going to point it out, but you beat me to it.
I have seen that version if HP! It’s so beautiful! My collecting has been limited of late (due to lack of room on the shelves), but will hopefully pick that one up someday. (Also, Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite of the series as well!)
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I’m literally squealing because we have the same favorite HP book. EVERYONE LIKES THE GOBLET OF FIRE THE BEST! I mean, it’s good, but that’s where the series gets all dark. I love POA.
Anyway, good luck collecting, with a limited amount of space to keep your books. I’m glad we mutually follow each other and I can’t wait to read more of your posts. xx
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Amanda, I love this! I can totally relate! I am a book hoarder. I love collecting books versus having them electronically on a Kindle. I also went to my parents house to collect all of my books from childhood. I’ve filled up my bookshelf so my overflow is going into a basket now. I hope to have a library in my house one day (which is part of the reason why I keep the books). Something else that I’ve been doing for the past few years is writing my name and the month/year that I am reading the book. Sometimes I’ll even write where I was or what I was doing when I was reading the book. For example, Caroline – June 2015 – Family trip to Hawaii (or whatever I’m doing). I’ll probably write something about just starting a blog in my current book. I just think it would be cool to have a little book timeline in my library. Also something cool to pass down to children/family one day.
Any chance you are on Goodreads?
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Hi Caroline! Thank you, I’m happy that you enjoyed my post, and it’s nice to e-meet you! 🙂 I’m glad that you’ve also collected the books from your childhood. I actually used to do something similar with each Harry Potter book after I finished reading them– I would write the month/day/year/exact time that I finished each one so that I would remember!
Unfortunately, I’m not on Goodreads. But I’m definitely considering making an account to connect with other readers.
xx I hope you’re having a fab day!
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