Lost in the Stacks Home Edition: Tiina

I've been following Tiina's blog almost since she began it.  What I love about blogging and the virtual reading community is getting to know other readers from all over the world.  Time zones my separate us, we may speak different languages but books and our love for reading brings us all together.  I always think it's so amazing that however huge the world is, it seems a little bit smaller when we get together to talk about books.  Tiina kindly shared a few things about herself (and you can read a bit more here).

I'm a librarian from Helsinki, Finland. I work as the chief librarian in our main library. I'm also a dancer. I compete in dance competitions in standard dances (=waltz, tango, Wiennese waltz, foxtrot and quickstep). I've been dancing with the same partner for over 20 years (that IS a long time!! :)). Just last weekend we danced in the Finnish Standard Championships and finished 3rd in the senior 1 age group (both parthers have to be 35 or older). I first came to blogging in 2008 through food blogging. In 2009 I started my book blog A Book Blog of One's Own, named after Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own. For a while I tried to manage two blogs, but then decided to give up food blogging and to concentrate on blogging mostly about books and reading. In addition to books and dancing I also like tennis, writing, making bead jewellery and travelling. This far I've only travelled in Europe, but one of my dreams is to some day visit Australia and New Zealand.

1. Describe your library/bookshelves. Are the books randomly placed or do you have them organized in a special way?

I have four smallish bookshelves spread around the apartment. My books are not organized in any particular way, though I do try to keep books by the same writer together. For example I have a whole shelf of books by Elizabeth Peters and also all my books by Virginia Woolf are together on one shelf. And in all my bookshelves the front row of books hides another row behind it. :) Strangely enough most of my books are in English (my mother tongue is Finnish) as I get all the Finnish books I read from the library and also books in English are cheaper. I own lots of fiction and books about history, especially women's history, as that was my speciality at the university. When I first started working in the library I organized my books alphabetically, but that did not last long. :) I much prefer my books to be in no particular order.

2. Do you like to weed and recycle as you read or do you prefer to hold on to all your books?

I used to keep all my books, but that just became unpractical. Nowadays I do a fair amount of weeding. If I know that I'm not going to reread the book or it did not make any special impression on me I will recycle it. In our library we have a special shelf for recycling books and I use it quite often..

3. Are your books confined to one area or are they spread out over your house?

My books have pretty much invaded every room in my apartment. No books in the bathroom, though. :) I have two bookselves full of books in the living room, plus a third one which contains my dvd-collection. I have one bookself in the bedroom and my cook books are in the kitchen.

4. How long has your oldest unread book sat on your shelves.

That's a tough question. I honestly don't know! I probably have a book or two I bought in the early 90s or even late 80s that are still unread.

5. What is your most treasured book?

My most treasured books are signed copies by some of my favorite authors:
Purge by Sofi Oksanen, The Hours by Michael Cunningham and The Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.

I also treasure my battered, second-hand copy of Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf and my equally well-used collection of Sylvia Plath's poetry. And why? Mrs Dalloway is my favorite novel and I especially love the idea that my copy has been read and -hopefully- enjoyed by others before me. Sylvia Plath is my favorite poet and over the years I have enjoyed reading her Collected Poems many, many times.

6.  If you could pick one "lost in the stacks/on your bookshelves" book to rediscover and share with other readers, which would it be?

This one might be difficult to find, but I would like to recommend Letters from Finland by Rosalind Travers. Travers spent about eight months in Finland in 1908-1909. Her book about her time here is a fascinating read.

Many thanks to Tiina for sharing photos of his bookshelves and piles with us.  Check back next Friday for a peek into another reader's library.