I had a bookcase built recently. It’s not fancy; in fact, it’s quite simple, made of heavy plywood painted glossy white to match the walls. But it’s custom made for me with shelf height measurements that I determined based on the sizes of books around my home.

Shopping for bookcases has always annoyed me. I’m not sure why except I think the answer may lie in the fact that most bookcases seem made for those who will not fill them end-to-end with books. The individual shelves often have too much height, leaving a lot of wasted space if all you have is books in there. Shelf weight limits control how many books can go on each one. I suspect a lot of these so-called bookshelves are made for knickknacks and DVDs with perhaps a few books thrown in to justify their name.

Most of you reading this are, I suspect, more like me having enough books to fill every inch of shelf space you have—and more. The idea of having sufficient space for curios, bookends or even breathing room for the books is laughable. So when some workmen were out here fixing closet problems, I casually asked about having them make bookcases.

I envisioned six or seven of them spread among the kitchen, living room and bedroom. Unfortunately, cost got in the way of that idea. But I have one large one—about five feet long and eight feet high—and the others will come as the paychecks come. This thing is big too. Since I rent I cannot have the bookcase built in, but living in earthquake country I have had it firmly anchored to the wall. At first it looked alarming large. But once I began to fill it, with my heaviest art books on the bottom, it took on the look of a real bookcase, and I am very pleased with how it is coming along.

Choosing the books to go in it isn’t as easy as I had assumed. Other than the bottom shelf, which is 17 inches high to accommodate the larger books, the other shelves—one at 14, four at 12 and one at 10 inches, going up—are pretty much open to anything. There are still a lot of fine art photography, art and astronomy books that will require other bookcases since their height and weight forbid their residing on any but the lowest shelf. And several books of an oversized landscape format would, were they shelved in a conventional manner, stick out as far as seven inches beyond the foot-long depth and require a red flag to warn passersby. They take up an indecent amount of space when laid flat, space that could easily fit more than a dozen books, but I see no other option. I am amazed at the factors that have to be taken into consideration; sadly, a longtime dream of mine—shelving books by category—is yet to be one of those factors. 

Pretty soon you will be able to see them. We will be adding pages that will give the columnists who choose to use them their own space in which to play. They can post photos or write what they like. Mine will carry pictures of the bookcases, among other things. And I welcome feedback from you as to what I could improve or change—as long as it doesn’t mean getting rid of any books.

Good news for booklovers! According to the American Booksellers Association (ABA), 115 new independent bookstores opened in 2007. It was the third year in a row that the number of bookstore openings exceeded one hundred.

Though the stores were spread across 35 states, the “largest number of openings was in California, which welcomed 17 new stores; followed by eight openings in New York; seven each in Georgia and Oregon; six in Michigan; and five each in Colorado, Minnesota, and North Carolina.” This is wonderful news for booklovers. Though they do include the city and state, the stores are listed alphabetically by name. It may take a bit more work, but I suggest a visit to this post to see if any are near you. After all, a newly opened independent bookstore is a treat worth seeking out.

Until next week, read well, read often and read on!

Lauren