Gayle Brandeis, author of The Book of Dead Birds (one of my favorite novels), and Storage Space (scheduled for release on January 23rd), e-mailed me this photo of her bookcase. Isn't it a beauty? In addition to the photo, Gayle included this lovely meditation on books and bookcases:

I have always dreamed of a house full of built-in bookcases. Most of our bookcases are of the Ikea or yard sale ilk--utilitarian, not too beautiful to behold (other than the fact that they house scads of gorgeous books). This is our only built-in bookcase so far--I believe the frame used to hold a window into the backyard of our 1920s bungalow before an addition was tacked on in the 1960s. It feels fitting that a window was transformed into a bookcase; every bookcase offers a window into the passions of its owner (I adore looking at people's bookshelves, seeing what books have called to them).

As I sit at my writing desk, I look over at this bookcase which holds many of my poetry books, along with some of my science, art, and nature books, plus most of the anthologies that include my work, and objects that speak to me (a wonderfully creepy baby doll head, a birdhouse shaped like a trailer, a bobble-headed, swaying-skirted Bharat Natyam dancer, an amazing altar my friend made for my 30th birthday), and I am grateful for the window it offers into my life.