Books!

"Books!" said Tuppence.

She produced the word rather with the effect of a bad-tempered explosion.

"What did you say?" said Tommy.

Tuppence looked across the room at him.

"I said 'books,'" she said.

"I see what you mean," said Thomas Beresford.

In front of Tuppence were three large packing cases. From each of them various books had been extracted. The larger part of them were still filled with books.

"It's incredible," said Tuppence.

"You mean the room they take up?"

"Yes."

"Are you trying to put them all on the shelves?"

"I don't know what I'm trying to do," said Tuppence. "That's the awkward part of it. One doesn't know ever, exactly, what one wants to do. Oh dear," she sighed.

~ The opening lines from Postern of Fate, by Agatha Christie ~



I do so love Tommy and Tuppence! My deepest apologies to sweet Miss Marple and clever Hercule Poirot -- but really, Tommy and Tuppence are Agatha Christie's dearest characters. And having recently finished sorting out all our own books, I can fully sympathize with their plight in Postern of Fate.

Yes, all of our books are finally sorted -- and we even managed to go through and weed out the ones that we really didn't need or want. Painful, certainly, but rather cathartic in a way. Really, how many copies of the same book can one have? I confess, I still have a few duplicates, though! Some books are just too beautiful to part with, but one must have a knock-about reading copy, mustn't one? At any rate, the only books left in boxes are children's books, neatly stacked in the nursery and awaiting one final bookshelf to end their imprisonment.

Best of all? Our diligence in getting rid of unneeded books has paid off in a bit of empty space on some of our shelves. Which means that I don't have to feel guilty when I take my inevitable browse through the bookshelves at every antique and thrift store. *wink*

As Tuppence would say, "Books!"