old books

the floating bookshelves Brooke got me for Christmas!! finally up! :)

I used to think old books smelled like my grandparents' house.

When we were staying with them and I got bored, I would open up the basement cupboard where they kept children's novels (Anne of Green Gables, Gentle Ben, From Anna...) And I would stick my nose deep inside these books and take a long whiff...before settling down to read, with the smell of age and history and rich stories lingering inside of me.

I used to think old books smelled like my grandparents' house, and then as I grew a little bit older, as more and more books passed through my hands, and that wonderful, enticing scent never changed...I realized that it was the other way around. That my grandparents' house smells like old books.

Maybe that doesn't mean anything to you. But for me...to have a house that loves books so much, that holds and treasures words so much that even the smell is changed...

I used to think old books smelled like my grandparents' house...