Over the years, I have posted photo’s of my library. Since a library is almost a living creature that ever changes and evolves, I thought it would be nice to show you how my library looks today. But first, I will take you back in time.

2007

The first time I posted a picture of my library, it was on Kimbooktu’s sister website Yourshelves.com. Click here to see what my library looked like on July 14 2007. Back then, we still lived in our apartment and had only four cases with about 200 books in them. A couple of months later, on September 18, I posted another picture to be seen here. Still in the same house, but now with a few more cases. And a bit more books. We realised our house got to small for our books and started to look for a new house.

2008

We moved into our new, much bigger, house six months later. I kept you updated on how my new library was coming along. My biggest wish came true. An entire room for all of my (our) books! It was so much fun putting the shelves in and unpacking all of the boxes of books. All the books were placed in a certain section, so they are easy to find back. There were a few empty cupboards back then, to be filled up in the years to come. You can read this post of April 30. 2008 and see the photo’s here.

2009

Now, over a year has passed and the library has changed a lot. Not only are there more books it. There are now a little short of a thousand books in there. So, the empty cupboards are getting filled already. Along with these cherished books, I keep special possessions. Things that people I care about give me, nicknack’s I bring back from my travels. The room has gotten far more personal.

The decor has changed too. I replaced the chairs, that so many of you loved, with a little sofa. So much more comfortable when reading! Above the faux fireplace hangs a fantastic picture now. My parents gave it to me last Christmas. I adore it. Next to the picture are little shelves to hold nice bookmarks, special books and different sorts of book related things.

Click ‘more’ below to see the photo’s I took less than an hour ago. Kimbooktu’s Library at Night. (Title pinched from this book, by the way) Sorry that the pictures are not as sharp. I hope the nightly atmosphere makes up for it. I hope you enjoy the photo’s!

As you might know, I am a keen (amateur) photographer, next to a book lover. Back in 2004, when my husband and I were still dating, a photo project came to existence. It all revolves around a stuffed mouse, our love and our passion for photography. And travel. I won’t say anymore, because I want to surprise you.

After 5 years this project, Mouse, is  still going strong and I wanted to let you know about it. I have posted about it before here, and I was not sure if I should post about it again. This because it is not bookish and it really should not belong on Kimbooktu. Since it turns a smile on the faces of a lot of people, I decided to mention it again.

Since we – and the people around us – are so excited about our project, I hope you will enjoy it too. I recently made a short YouTube film about the project. You can view it below.  If you like it, I hope you will rate the video, visit the website, sign up for the newsletter and spread the word. I would love it if Mouse could put a smile on as many people as possible. And have them experience the world in a different way…

Sorry for this non bookish post…

The Belgium library of Kortrijk had a photo contest over the summer. People were asked to take pictures of libraries in Belgium and outside the country. The contest has ended and the winners have been announced. I was particularly interested in the picture of Roos Debrabandere. She went to Poland and took a photo in a restaurant in Krakow. She named the photo “Eat first, read later”. This is the photo:

You might recognize the paint work on the wall. The original painting was made by German Painter Carl Spitzweg (1808-1885), called The Bookworm. Spitzweg made the painting in 1850 and has become quite famous. (Click here to learn more about this artist.) This is what the original artwork looks like:

I love what the owners of the restaurant did with their wall. How they made their own culinary interpretation of this famous bookish painting. It will definitely provide a book lover with a great view whilst enjoying their dinner. Unfortunately I am unable to tell you the name and address of the restaurant. If and when I find out, I will post an update.

If you like to see all the entries of the contest, you can click here. The photo of the restaurant did not win by the way. Probably because it wasn’t a picture of a library, as asked for. If you follow the link you will see the photo that did win.

You have to use a little bit of imagination to see a porcupine in the Book Porcupine, but it is a nice gadget none the less. It is a book shelve, but it is not. It is a block with 18 different spaces in it to store your books in. It is meant to place next to your favorite reading chair. The Porcupine is made in white MDF and you can choose one additional color for free. More colors are available at additional cost.

Cost. This designer book storing item does not come cheap. It will set you back 950 pounds, which is about 1500 dollars. If you want two colors next to the overall white, it will cost you an extra 20 pounds (30 dollars.) Design is expensive. On the other hand, it is a great looking object. And you can adjust it to your color scheme. Click here to learn more.

Got some clutter in your library? Stuff lying around your office? This might be the answer for you! I just love this box that looks like a stack of books. You can put all your things in this BooxStore and hide it between your books. Follow this link to learn more about this nifty product.

This is a book lover’s dream! A cabinet to store your books in… that get’s bigger! This is no joke. German designers Nina Farsen and Isabel Schöllhammer designed a cabinet to grow along with your book collection. They thought of this some years ago and got the focus award 2007 for this brilliant design. Click here to learn more.

As someone who enjoys the good things in life, I enjoy good books. And good wine. Sometimes the two work really well together too! For other lover’s of a good glass of vino, I found these bookish gadgets.

I love this wine set! A perfect gift for a wine loving reader. The set consists of three pieces: a bottle opener, a stopper and a little booklet. The latter gives information about the right temperature for certain wines and the cheeses that can compliment the different wines. This makes it even better. As a Dutch girl, I lóve my cheese! The whole set comes in a case that looks like a hardcover book. Wanna know more? Click here.

What to think of these bookends that double up as a wine rack? I’m not quite sure where I would put them. I am pretty sure you can make a nice feature out of them in a nice country style kitchen. (Which I do not have.) The book ends would look great with  nice books about wine in between them. To find out more, click here.

I get enthusiastic when films are made about the lives of authors. A new one is just about to be released. It is about the famous poet John Keats. (If you want to learn more about him, click here for the Wikipedia page on him.) I love Keats’ work, so I look forward to seeing this movie. It is called ‘Bright Star’. Click here to see when it will be released in different countries.

The film is not about the entire life of Keats. Which was very short. He died aged 25. The story is about his love affair with Fanny Brawne. Their passionate relationship came to an end when the poet met his untimely death. I will make sure to have tissues near me when I see this. I know already I’m going to cry.

If you want to know more about the movie, you can click here to see its very weird and not very useful website. Or just here, to see the trailer. A thing of beauty is a joy forever…

My favorite Dutch bookish blog is ‘Boekendingen‘. On occasion they do a post about book covers that have books on them. They had a great selection of bookish book covers again yesterday, that I need to show you. You will love them, even if you do not understand Dutch. (There are covers with English and German titles there as well.) The sheer beauty of some books… Click here to enjoy.

Since I value the opinion of my readers, I would like to ask for your opinion. A while ago, I have created a logo for my library. I had seen logo’s of personal libraries before and I thought it would be fun to have one too. Even though my personal library is not as large as the people who have logo’s for their collection… Yet.

I would like to use the logo on – yet to be created – bookmarks to stick into books I (sometimes) loan out. And as an e-mail header when I write bookish friends. I already use this one on LibraryThing. There probably will be more occasions on which I want to use the logo. It is just a pride thing. My books (library) are very important to me and when things are important, people tend to name them. Like a child. Or a dog.

Since my library is going to be around at least as long as I am, I want to get it right. The logo. So, this is where you come in. I would like your opinion on the title and the design of the logo. Let me explain the title first. It is common to give libraries a Latin name. My Latin is not that good, so I consulted the library and the web. I came up with ” Bibliotheca ad Finitor”. Which means, if I am correct, ” Library of the horizon”.

This might seem strange, but it all has to do with my first name. Kim means ‘ horizon’ in Dutch. Horizon also means infinity, to me. Since a library never stops growing, this seemed appropriate. The logo therefor depicts a stylized book and horizon. In a clean and simple way.

So, tell me what you think in the comments. You are very welcome to e-mail me a new logo with the same idea, if you like. I will post it on the site. If you have a logo for your library, send it to me too.

Twitter seems to be the newest big thing around. I have not made a ‘ tweet’ in my life and I am not planning to do so to. Why should anybody care about my daily stuff? I would be interested to see what my favorite authors are up to. Luckily, some reading enthusiasts have compiled a list of writers that use Twitter.

You can find the first list here, and the second one by clicking here. If you find any other good lists, please post it in the comments so others can enjoy it too.

Do not ask me why, but for some reason people feel the need to use ‘book holders’ whilst reading. This product, available in many shapes and sizes, keeps your book open when enjoying a book. I have written about a couple before.

Whilst browsing the web to find you some nifty gadgets, I was quite amazed by the variety of book holders I bumped into. I will show you some I have come across. To me, this gadget is a mystery. Why do people need a device to keep their book open? It seems more inconvenient to me then handy. Besides that, I am worried about the damage a thing like this can do to a book.

If you use one and are happy with it, please leave a comment and tell what you find useful about it. I have to say, I have a book stand in my kitchen. Too keep my cookbooks standing and open whilst preparing something during cooking. But that is a somewhat different product. In any case, here is a small overview of what is for sale.

BookGem Book Holder. Click here to find out more.

Gimble Paperback Book Holder. More info here.

FlipKlip Treadmill Book Holder. To learn more, click here.

Easy Grip Book Holder. To be found here.

If the weather turns bad, or you just simply do not know what to do this summer, have a look at these games!  Board games made in a library edition. This means that the box looks like a book. From Clue to Risk and from Scrabble to Yahtzee, there must be somthing fun for you in there. Click here to learn more.

The publisher Taschen is known for their affordable art books. Once in a while they also make special editions that are a little more expensive. The book they are planning on selling now is a different story. This book is likely to be one of the most expensive of the world. Several hundred thousand dollars it is expected to go on sale for; “Moonfire: The epic journey of Apollo 11″ by Norman Mailer.

The cheap edition of this book will ‘only’ set you back 800 dollars.  The real thing however, is a little bit more expensive. It does come with real pieces of lunar rock. Pieces that crashed on earth and somehow got into the hands of the publisher. Taschen will make only 12 of these books. If you would rather buy a house and opt for the budget edition, you still get very nice pictures provided by NASA and LIFE magazine. Each book, appropriately 1969 copies, will be signed by the second man on the moon, Buzz Aldrin.

Read more about the book here, or go the the Taschen website here.

A strange title to start a post with, Latvian shelves. I know. It has a reason though. As a big fan of all sorts of art, I am noticing for a while now that there are some interesting artists in the relatively new members of the European Union. Artists that were hardly noticed in the Western European member states before. Latvia is one of those countries. It joined the EU in May 2004. Even though the middle point of Europe is positioned in their country, we know little about it.

I am pleased, therefor, that the next artist has been brought to my attention. Stanislav Katz from the Latvian capital of Riga, has made a couple of beautiful book cabinets. The Latvian membership of the EU has provided us with a good chance these cases  might be available throughout Europe soon… Click here to learn more.

Thanks to Phoenix for the link!

A couple of days ago, I received an e-mail with the peculiar subject ‘It’s Alive!’. The curious subject got me to drag the e-mail to my bin – I thought it was about blue pills again – when I saw a glimpse of the content. Just one line: “The Private Library blogs about book collecting and book history through the lens of an individual book collector, bookseller and professional librarian.” Aha.

Even though the description fitted a bit to much in one line, I grabbed my interest. There are not a lot of blogs about book collecting around. I clicked the provided link and was pleasantly surprised. An ABC for book collectors, a glossary of book conservation terms, an extensive list of bibliographic resources, links to famous private libraries. Interesting content. The website has not been around for long, it started in March of this year, but I liked the idea of it. You might too.

So as an exception, a shout-out to this website: The Private Library. To L.D. Mitchell who created it: thank you for doing so and keep up the good work!

It is my worst nightmare to see my books go up into flames, but this bookmark is quite fun! A great way to mark the page of the hot book you are reading. Click here to find out more. This bookmark reminds me of the famous book by Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451. A couple of days ago a new adaption of this book came out, authorised by Bradbury. To learn more about this book, go here.

My friends of  the website Bookstore Guide asked me to write an article related to independant bookstores. They are adding a dimension to their already fantastic website with a series of articles by people related to the book industry. I was honored to be asked to contribute.

The fruits of my labor will be published on their website this Wednesday night. I choose to write about the fixed book price agreement and what this means for independent bookstores. Please comment on the article, I’m curious to learn what you think of it. It might even start an interesting discussion! You can find the article here as from Wednesday evening. If you would be interested in writing an article in this series, please contact the people of Bookstore Guide via this e-mail address.

It has taken a while, a long while, but there are new libraries to see on Your Shelves! (Click here to go to the website.) As you know, this website is a special project of mine. Now that I’m getting back on track with Kimbooktu, I decided it was about time to post the libraries people from all over the globe have e-mailed me.

You can find seven new shelves of fellow book lovers on the site. To my utter joy, I received photo’s from people in countries that were not represented on Your Shelves! before. There are now some shelves from Mexico, Sweden, Argentina en the Philippines added to the list. I also received two libraries from the United States, from which one is located in Hawaii. You can also see another library from Singapore. At the moment, people of 23 countries are giving you a sneak peek into their personal reading room.

Keep the pictures comming! Click here to see what to do and where to send them to. You can also go there to learn more about this project.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the new translation of “Time was soft there” by Jeremy Mercer in my native language, Dutch. (See here.) The Dutch publisher gave it the title: A bed between the books (Een bed tussen de boeken). I just read it and I can recommend it to anyone who loves bookshops in general and Shakespeare and Company in Paris in particular.

Since I’ve recently been to the shop, I could picture the adventures of Mercer in this shop vividly. (Click here to read the post about my visit to the shop.) This Canadian journalist has written a very good account of his life in the bookstore. (But not dry and matter of fact at all.) And an interesting biography of the owner, George Whitman. The style of the writing was very entertaining and quite funny at times.

I actually started reading the book this morning and finished it before dinner. I just could not lay it aside. Well, I did put it away for a moment. But just to get myself a cold glass of wine to accompany me during the last chapters. In spirit of the book. I started to envy Mercer quite early on in the book, even though he lived in poverty and not very hygienic to say the least. He did live the bookish life style to the fullest. In the best shop in the world.

As the chapters moved on – or should I say ‘raced’ on – my envy changed into sheer jealousy. The life lessons he learned at the shop changed his life. He made true friends. “Sucked the marrow out of live”, to quote Thoreau. For Mercer, Shakespeare and Co were his woods. The book is a beautiful tale that proves that books sometimes truly are more important than food.

More information on the Dutch translation, “Een bed tussen de boeken” can be found here. I hate reading translations, because they are usually not very good. This one is, I have to say. Click here for the original, Time was soft there.