First, mea culpa. When I mentioned web designers with good reputations and pretty portfolios, I forgot my friend Terry! Check out Daily Troll Design. Terry is also the personality behind I See Invisible People, a great blog about pop culture, politics, writing, and lots of other things. I've known her for over 10 years now. We first met on the now-defunct GEnie bulletin board system–waaaay back in '93, I think.

Second, did you see the NYT article about the woman who got the entire Penguin Library as a gift from her husband? He ordered it from Amazon, it cost almost $8000 (free shipping, however), arrived in 25 boxes and weighs over 400 lbs. It's 77 linear feet of books. *sigh*

I'm envious, though I do have the Great Books, and I do have lots and lots of good books on my eleven bookshelves. And I probably wouldn't really want all those books that look alike (the spines, anyway). I've got variety in height, color, pb or hb, trade size and mass market. Pleases my book-hoarding eye.

I got to thinking, though, how much I must have paid for all the books I have. I've never counted, but I reckon I have several hundred. It's scary when you think of it like that–5oo, for instance, times $10 (averaging out hb and pbs). Whoa. Don't tell my husband.

On the other hand, I didn't buy them all at retail. Some were gifts, some inheritances from others, and some I got at library sales for bargain basement prices. (Yes, I am a believer in buying books at retail so the author gets paid, but when I see a title I want in a library sale, I'm going for it.)

Where do I find the time to read them all? Reminds me of a Groucho Marx quote. I find television very educational. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.