If it were only up to me (and I had unlimited resources at my disposal), I would have a gigantic book and movie library in my home.  You know, one of those floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall built-in shelving units, all filled with books I love reading, and movies I love to watch.  I’m such a junkie for both.

A couple of years ago we went with some friends to Toronto.  Not an unusual trip for us, since we lived in the Buffalo area and could drive there in a couple of hours (depending on the traffic at the border).  But this time we stayed with our friend’s sister and her husband.  He’s a professor of Italian literature at the university there, and their grown daughters are all talented artists.  Their home was filled (and I mean filled) with books and paintings.  It was amazing.  Yes, it was cluttered.  You couldn’t find a bare spot of wall.  I have no idea what color their walls were painted.  But it was fantastic.  I felt like I could just relax even though we were staying with strangers.  And don’t get me started on the food – that’s a different subject entirely.

And this is only the aesthetic aspect of books.  Movies don’t look quite as nice on the shelf, but that’s what doors are for, to hide the stuff you don’t want in plain view.  So I’d put cabinet doors on the bottom of all of those bookshelves.  And behind those shelves would be a collection of classics like the Godfather and Casablanca, the real classics like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and the Princess Bride, and all of the cheesy chick flicks that I DVR whenever I find them on cable.  Plus television shows, because I’m a junkie for those too.

The thing is, while I love the look of all of these things, I just plain enjoy reading or watching movies.  One of my favorite movies to quote is “You’ve Got Mail,” which I can’t enjoy watching as much these days because the technology is so dated.  But they write back and forth about things like “bouquets of newly sharpened pencils” and getting lost in the language of Pride and Prejudice.

I only recently watched The Godfather for the first time, and I can’t get over how much it is quoted or referenced in other things.  From my favorite television show (sadly ended in 2007) Gilmore Girls to the aforementioned You’ve Got Mail, it’s all over the place.

As far as books, my favorites run the gamut.  I read the last two Harry Potter books as fast as I could, because I wanted to know.  I re-read Jane Austin almost every year, and love the Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and Anne of Green Gables (all of which are excellent movies, by the way).  My one guilty pleasure in reading is anything by Robin Jones Gunn, a Christian author whom I started reading in junior high when she introduced the Christy Miller series.  She’s continued with the same group of characters from that through some other books dealing with Christy’s friends, and I enjoy reading those for their story lines.

In the last few years I’ve developed a taste for non-fiction, from autobiographical accounts of ordinary people (some were started with blogs) to theology books that focus on the ministry and how to make it better.  I actually don’t have a lot of books at home right now – most of the theology is in my husband’s office at church, and I weeded out a lot of stuff that I’m not reading before we moved.  But oh, to have a home library.  That is the dream.