'yay' by karahaupt

yay, a photo by karahaupt on Flickr.

I seriously seem to spend my life tidying up. Just as I think I am on top of it all the house just gets messy all over again. Sometimes I wish I could take everything out of the house and start again from scratch with brand new furniture which included fantastic storage. I'd also like to find places for things like in this photo. Books and cameras are two of my favourite things so how lovely would it be to have a cute display like this?

'Story fairy' by Me

Story fairy, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

Books have always been an important thing in this house. I've always loved them and now my daughter does too. She has loads and I love buying them for her. We always go to the library every three weeks and we have our favourites we borrow time and time again. In fact there have been times we've loved a library book so much I've just had to buy it. My daughter loves reading books as much as she loves hearing them read to her. She is always reading books to her baby brother and to be honest he is totally mesmerised by her. Of course she's not actually reading the words, after all she's only three. But that's my next challenge. I really want her to be able to read a little bit by the time she starts big school next September. She's doing well with her words and letters so far so fingers crossed.

I love this picture of my daughter. You can't tell because he's not in the shot but my little boy was actually lying on the floor next to her listening to the story. I also can't help but smile at the fact that she's dressed up as a fairy princess. So pretty.

'Children's bookshop' by Me

Children's bookshop, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

Here is a photo of a bookshop in Lewes, East Sussex which is dedicated to children's books. I loved it! I could have spend a whole afternoon browsing so imagine how excited my daughter was. I love books and over the past few years I have totally fallen in love with kid's books. It's fair to say that my little girl has a lot of them as I feel that they shouldn't just be as a treat. Everyone should have lots of books!

I had to take a snap of the shop as it's just so quaint and lovely. Just how a little book shop should look. I wish I'd taken some pictures inside too. I always feel guilty taking pictures in shops though in case the shop owner disappoves for some reason and tells me off!

'Book Stalls, NFT/South Bank, London' by andie butt

Book Stalls, NFT/South Bank, London, a photo by andie butt on Flickr.

I read an interesting blog post yesterday about how libraries appear to be on the decline and sadly today I appear to have experienced it for myself. My local library is fantastic and my daughter loves visiting and borrowing books. We were going to a different town in the same county today so I thought I would take her there instead to return her books and get new ones. It’s a lovely new library and looks like it has a lot to offer but the children’s section was so disappointing. There was hardly anything to choose from. We did manage to get a small selection to borrow so went off to get them checked out. Sadly there is no personal service at the library it’s all done at a self service issue desk. I know that times are changing and this is how things are done now but it made me sad. It felt more like taking money out of a cash machine than borrowing a library book. And it meant that my daughter didn’t get to do her usual job of handing over her card and the books and having a little chat with the librarian. And of course the books don’t get stamped when you do it this way. You get a receipt and have to have the write the return date in yourself. Nothing too taxing but all a bit silly really when there were staff actually wandering around looking bored. Anyway, I apologise for my little moan there. My blog just seemed like a good place to get this off my chest!

It also means a good excuse for a booky photo! I love this one because I love the book stalls you see along the South Bank in London. Wouldn't it be great just to spend the afternoon flicking through all these books. I bet there are some real gems in there if you look hard enough. When I look at this I can really get a whiff of that second-hand book smell. But what I love the most about this is the light - it's just beautiful.

'Ladybird books' by Me

Ladybird books, originally uploaded by PhotoPuddle.

A couple of weeks ago I posted a fantastic photo of vintage Ladybird books. This inspired me to point my camera at my daughter's very own collection of rather more modern Ladybird titles. This was my favourite of the the pictures I took. I think because of the angle and also the bright colours. I do wonder whether someone will stumble across this photo in say 20 years time and think "Wow, I remember those book from my childhood!" and feel all nostalgic. As I mentioned before I'll definitely be keeping a few of these aside for my daughter to have back when she's all grown up.

'My Secret Stack Of Vintage Ladybird Books!' by Vintage Pleasure and Agnes Darling

My Secret Stack Of Vintage Ladybird Books!, originally uploaded by Vintage Pleasure and Agnes Darling.

What a fantastic nostalgic image. I love the colours. The chair, wall and bed go so well with the colours of the books. Ladybird Books will always have a special place in my heart. I had loads of them and I so regret not hanging on to them. They just got passed down to younger siblings and then when my parents moved house they eventually got given or thrown away. My two year old daughter already has a huge stack of Ladybird Books herself and she loves them. And I mean she seriously loves them. I am making a vow that when she grows up and wants to get rid of her old books I'm definitely going to squirrel a few of them away. I'll then present them to her when she all grown up and feeling nostalgic herself. It seems funny to think that one day she will look at these books which are all new and shiny now in the way I am looking at this pile here. I hope this photo makes you feel a nostalgic too.

'{13.365} Perspective' by girlishmusings

{13.365} Perspective, originally uploaded by girlishmusings.

What a great idea - take your camera to the library and photograph lots of books. This photographer has done just that and I love the results. This one is fabulous. I love the different perspective as it's means you can see all the different types of pages and how they are all well read. I love books and I love photography so perhaps this is what I might do on my next trip to the library.

'antique bookstore' by ♫ﾟnolitawanders ✈

antique bookstore, originally uploaded by ♫ﾟnolitawanders ✈.

I really want to read more as I love reading. I need to turn off the computer and curl up with a good book more often. I'm currently reading 'The Teatime Islands: Adventures in Britain's Faraway Outposts' by Ben Fogle because I'm fascinated by remote islands. After that I plan to read 'Eat, Pray, Love' by Elizabeth Gilbert basically because I want to know what the hype is all about. And I'd rather read the book than see the film.

If you love books and bookshops like I do then I'm sure you'll love this photo. Can't you just get a sense of that old book smell? Don't you just want to be sat there rummaging through the shelves? And the light shining through the window makes this perfect.

Do you love books? What are you reading?

'my tools' by 372.dpi

my tools, originally uploaded by 372.dpi.

I love notebooks and have never been able resist a pretty one, however far too many of them still lie empty. I've always kind saved them for "best" whatever that might be! I even have ones I bought as a teenager that are still waiting for "best". Sadly I don't have much use for notebooks any more (other than for writing my long 'to do' lists, but that's for another post). My hobbies are mainly computer based and of course you don't need to write much down when taking photos.

This photo of notebooks really caught my eye. I think because it's so close up. I think shots like this of everyday items can be so interesting as it makes you look at things in a completely different way. I also think the light and tone of this is fantastic. I hope these books get used for all sorts of interesting things.

'Pillows For The Perpetual' by Samantha Lamb

Pillows For The Perpetual, originally uploaded by Samantha Lamb.

I thought I'd stay with the picnic theme tonight and chose to post this lovely photo. The sunlight on this has been captured wonderfully and it looks like a blissful way to spend a summer's day. And I just know that a picnic basket full of lovely goodies was also not far away.

'P is for Purple' by slightly above average

P is for Purple, originally uploaded by slightly above average.

This photo is so sweet. I love purple and the pile of purple books looks so cool. I love libraries too. I've always enjoyed going to them - as a child, as an adult and now I love taking my daughter.

I think all the little details in this are great. The 'P' in the background, the matching nail polish and the fact the book refers to ten little fingers and the child as her cute little fingers on the table.

P is for purple and it's also for pretty and perfect.

'Self help' by Ouissi

"Self help" 010/365 * 10 01 2010, originally uploaded by Ouissi.

Yesterday I promised I'd show you a photo of books. Books actually make a fascinating subject so I will definitely be featuring them a lot more but here is my pick for today.

I chose it because I felt it was in keeping of the style of yesterday's photo, ie, the gorgeous soft tones. I also just love the texture that was used in this image. It really suits the photo. I'll also admit that when I first saw this photo I was so fascinated by the books that I didn't notice the person sitting in the background. The pose of the person makes it look like they are debating whether they need to read one of these books.

A lot of thought obviously went into this. And all the work definitely paid off.