Is there a difference between a bookcase and a bookshelf? I debated that a second ago when writing the title of this post. Let’s not focus on that though. Today we went to Ikea or IKEA if we’re being technical.
It was a fun family trip. I should have taken pictures like we were at a museum or something but I did not.
When we first entered my wife told me the boys hadn’t eaten and it was right on noon time so we visited the cafe and ate. I ended up drinking a Swedish beer soda made with malt and hops that was actually very tasty along with IKEA’s world famous meatballs. The boys ate a smaller version of the same thing and both enjoyed the cranberry sauce a lot.
After this it was time to shop. We went to IKEA today because it was something to do. We really needed nothing but we did have wants. We wanted to get more plates for the children, cushions for our kitchen chairs, a new set of dinnerware for ourselves, and I wanted a bookshelf.
At some point in the recent past my wife stole a shelf on one of my existing bookcases. It made me sad as when I started putting books on this set of shelves I declared it mine and mine alone. Then it became mine and hers. The other bookshelf like it is the same way. I do not have complete ownership of any of the bookshelves or cases in the house.
I decided when I first saw those books along the bottom shelf, taking up almost all of it, that I needed another bookshelf in that room. I knew IKEA would be a good place to look as they have good prices. I found two I liked almost right away and wrote down their number and location. They were both $149. A decent price for a nice set of shelves but not perfect.
Then we came to a room of almost nothing but bookshelves. I looked at a couple that were shorter and longer but then I saw it. One for $49, but then I looked next to it and saw the one we ended up getting which was $19.99. I don’t know how that price can be beat.
The bookshelf is now assembled and sitting in the other room. It is a naked and virgin bookshelf waiting for me to fill it, and fill it I will, but that time is not now. It is part of the pattern now. Here is my system. I have the top shelf of a bookcase that is filled with the books I am planning on reading, once those books are read a decision is made, and those books either go on the bottom shelf of the first bookcase, alone and isolated, or they get moved to a different set of shelves where they are alphabetized to be joined in the future by more books by that author.
It is a system that works and the main set of shelves is about 40 books away from being filled. At my current reading pace of physical books that won’t happen until next year at some time. Until then my new bookshelf will sit in that room empty waiting for me to fill it. Its time will come but for now it waits.
David Huzzard Writes 