I am continuing to investigate the four little Shakespeare plays I have for this post. They currently rest on the second shelf of my bookcase (the middle shelf) in the front. I specify “in the front” because I have acquired too many books for the sanity of my tiny yard-long, foot deep, and yard-high bookcase. I have begun “second” rows in front of the first rows on both the bottom and middle shelves. It is on this middle shelf, in the front, towards the right hand side of the shelf that my plays rest.

Their placement is quite important. They are nestled in among the rest of my Shakespeare plays, and my small collection of “the classics.” Namely, between T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland and The Tempest (a Norton edition). Ironically, I did not place this eloquent collection with my complete collection of Shakespeare’s plays – the Norton Shakespeare – which is similarly bound in red cloth and also has the thinnest paper imaginable. Instead, it is placed with the other individual editions of plays, most of which are used Signet editions – how fitting considering I originally purchased the collection in a used section of a bookstore as well. The other end of my Shakespeare collection is marked by a playbill of Othello – the play I saw on opening night of The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival this past summer (it was June 28, a Saturday night). That is the only other *important* piece of writing on that shelf.

This spot on the bookcase does hold some value, however. The books that I place in my created front row are ones that I am either currently working on, or I wish to see as a reminder to read them. For instance, Daniel Deronda and The Grimm Fairytales are a few books down on the same shelf, also in the front row. I haven’t reached past page 24 of the first, and have only glanced at stories of the latter. Quite honestly, I am not all that intrigued by Daniel Deronda, but I would like to return to it someday, and so, I must remind myself that I have it.

The top shelf of my bookcase only has one row of books, mostly hardcovers, and all ranking top on my list of novels. The entire Harry Potter series takes up about half of the shelf. I chose this because the weight of the hardcovers is heavy enough to steady the overused lower shelves without causing the shelves to become top heavy and tip forward. You see, I am cautious about this for fear of my books becoming damaged in the case that they should topple forwards.

I believe that the placement of the books reveals a bit of my personality, but mainly my reading interests – I like the classics and I like used books. It makes the classics seem a little bit more realistic in my mind as the older editions help to bridge the gap between the time the books were written and the year in which I am reading them. It almost tells me that the books have lived.

Another aspect of where the books rest has to do with where the bookcase is. It sits in the corner of my bedroom, between the two outer walls, is at the foot of my bed, and is nestled between two windows. I call this my reading corner because the natural light is always best here. The windows face south and east, so morning light is ideal. And I actually considered this when rearranging my furniture a few months back. My bookcase used to sit next to the door of my bedroom, which wasn’t very inviting.

I am partial to morning light – sunrises are beautiful, and the light is much stronger than afternoon rays to me. Allowing the sun to shed light on my books keeps me looking at them, my eyes follow the sun’s rays.

I also chose this corner of my room because of the height of the bookcase. As a mentioned, the bookcase is about three feet high. I have painted my walls, and the wall that sits behind the bookcase is painted sky blue with brown tree branches that only have a few leaves on them. Also on the branches are funky owls that I hand-painted in a modernist interpretation of Athena’s symbol (the owl). The lowest branch is three feet high, and I didn’t want to block the branch from my view, so I placed the bookcase in front which sits perfectly below the branch. It has become a bit of an ode to her, being that she was the goddess of wisdom, it’s fitting that books should rest below her.

The entire corner that houses the Shakespearean play collection is evidence of my interest in literature, especially the classics. From my ode to Greek gods (I have another tribute to Neptune on another one of m walls) to my unread copies of classic works that are begging for my return, I have undoubtedly created a challenge for myself – to expand my knowledge. This is quite telling as I love challenging myself with books I hope to eventually read, or with learning new painting techniques and interpretative skills, or simply with engineering my arrangement of books to obey the laws of physics.

I think that most of all, this corner reveals that I like to give things a purpose – my walls are for self-expression, for remembrance; my books are for enjoyment, yes but also to repurpose (since a great deal of them are used), by bookcase is being pushed to its limits rather than me just throwing it out for a larger one or adding one to my room. Perhaps it’s evidence of my ability to adapt – making the bookcase work for me, or adopting someone else’s books into my own hands and having them adapt to a new life, or making my walls personal and making the room m own (my brother and I switched bedrooms a few years back). The placement of the Shakespearean plays is one of my own – they aren’t given special privileges over the other books – they are still housed on the same bookcase, with the other editions of used Shakespeare plays. They are being used as partly as a book should be, but partly as this particular edition was intended – for collection. I recognize their nature as gifty, but have made them part of my own collection.