Speaking of house hunting, I'm looking forward to setting up our home library once we close and get settled. In fact, it's the one room I look forward to doing the most. Really, is there any room finer than the home library? A desk for writing, a leather armchair or two, light cast from a lamp or even a crackling fire, and heavy oak doors to shut in the privacy and silence while one reads and writes to the heart's contentment... I'd say the only other room in the home that rivals the wonder of a good library is the kitchen (for the woman who enjoys her cuisine).

For the past several years, we've had most of our books in storage--boxes and boxes of them, waiting to be taken out, dusted off, and placed delicately on the shelf for perusal any time. Having little children who like to climb (shelves provide the perfect opportunity) and potentially topple over a heavy bookcase has put a bit of a twist in things, and so we've had to lay aside the idea. That, and the fact that we never seem to stay in one place for any length of time, it makes little sense to unpack the hundreds of volumes only to repack them a few months later. As we'll soon be settling into a more permanent abode, out they'll come, and on every topic one can imagine (although, for my husband's part, they lean a bit heavily toward the chess, mathematics, and Russian). Can't wait. Enjoy these photos of various home libraries: