Self Portrait Tuesday

Megg has been writing about books in her latest posts and it´s really inspired me to take a closer look at my bookshelf. As long as I can remember, I have loved books. I still have a couple of novels that I read when I was a young girl...my favourite was "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" which has just recently been popular with my children. I really liked the idea of stepping into a wardrobe and going into another world...or opening up a book and stepping into another world. I often lingered over the last page of a novel for ages because I was sad to leave the book´s world, it was so hard to say goodbye to all the characters and not know how the story continued. When I was older, my friend Bettina kept buying me the most amazing novels for my Birthday or Christmas. She introduced me to John Irving and I have most of his books. I later discovered another wonderful writer Edward Morgan Forster who wrote my 3 favourite books of all time "A Room with a View", "Where Angel´s Fear to Tread" and "A Passage To India". It´s amazing how some writers can describe things in such a way that makes it seem as though you´re right there with the characters. Rosamunde Pilcher has a reputation as a romance writer here in Austria so her books aren´t taken very seriously but I love the way she describes houses, people and landscapes.
In recent years I have had a tendency to reach for other books like decorating, cooking or craft books. I also love any type of book which depicts real people, their homes and lifestyles. There is a 3 storey book shop in Graz which I can spend hours in, I have to give myself a money limit before I walk in the door or I would buy more books than I can carry. It was there that I discovered this book, I am hoping to get it for Valentine´s Day.
In the town where I work, there is a library which has quite a wide range of books but not many in english. I usually borrow some decorating magazines and if I really like the issue I´ll buy it for my collection. I made the "I love books" bag for us to take to the library as the kids were always forgetting where they had put their library books. Now, when they are finished reading, their books go in the bag which hangs near the front door and if we decide on a spontaneous visit to the library I just grab the bag.
Now it´s all your amazing blogs that I can´t wait to read every day...a world full of inspiration and creativity right here at my finger tips. Thankyou all for letting me in!