Mmm, the smell of books!

This is my attempt at a self portrait. I'm still trying to figure out how to effectively use my point and shoot so bear with me.



I took this photo in a Virginia City bookstore. I love the way they named their book section!



I immensely enjoy the smell of old books. I'm not sure what chemical they used in making them but books, especially 1960ish and prior, smell so lovely! It immediately brings to mind every cherished book and adventure in my collection. Which book is your favorite?

My latest reads in my 501 books are Treasure Island and Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories. I saw the movie Treasure Planet with my kids which, obviously, is an adaptation of the book, minus the more bloody bits so the basic plot line was already familiar. Maybe I'm too jaded by other pirate stories with what seems like a deluge of them in the last few years (no complaints here, I love those) but this particular book, while good, is not going to be in my favorites list as a book that stands out from the rest.

This was my second attempt at the Just So Stories. (To clarify, I didn't finish it the first go-round for lack of time, not because I didn't like it.) The tales are very similar to the ideas many of us parents concoct to satisfy the constant streams of "why" and "how" from our children to explain the things we have no explanations for. (And secretly we hope they'll immediately forget some of these explanations as soon as they're told so they won't be repeated to school teachers who know better.) If you want to read it without buying a hard copy here's an online link: Just So Stories.