Good day, Book Dragons. So, I was thinking this over some time, and I finally decided to count the books I have here at my folks home, and conduct a complete tour of ALL my books. of course, not all my books fit in my room, and I no longer have my house to place all of the in. The books are dispersed in different locations, including public storage. I searched thoroughly through each box, and brought the books I need for my story research and ALL my art books. The rest I placed in storage.
Now, I know what you’re going to ask. Why are my books all dispersed? Why in public storage? I purchased a two-story home after living two years in an apartment in Victorville where I taught for almost six years. I’m grateful to have my folks who took me in after my health took an unexpected turn beginning 2022. Major surgery would come on D-Day that year, and it was the worst 3 months of recovery I’ve ever experienced. I moved back in with them, and purchased a storage unit that just fits about 90% of my household, including more than just a ‘dogpile’ of books. I consider them like mini-Everest!
Now, I’m in a bit of a pickle! Inflation has skyrocketed, and the price of my storage went up $200 more than I can afford. I called and left a message, explaining that I’m between three part-time jobs, and I’m below the poverty line. That’s the hard reality. I asked them to extend the price until the end of the year. I’m going to have to work my dragon scales off to earn enough to either keep them in storage, purge through each item prior to selling and move them to another storage facility for less, or find another place to live altogether. I’m hoping to get a full-time position once my father and I return from our trip later this year, or complete at least one of my stories and publish it.
Back to the book tour! I took pictures of library shelves from different sections of the house and storage, including last minute ones I glanced over when they were right in front of me. I used Zoom and shared my screen of each picture. The book count is just below 700 in my folks’ home alone. I must have approx 1-2,000 more in storage. I recorded my ENTIRE library on D-Day, and I stopped recording to make six video segments. Throughout each segment, you’ll also hear my personal stories from behind the books I have for my collection. This includes college textbooks I decided to keep.
After much editing time, I then had to re-record the books I accidentally skipped or glanced over during the recording. This made my entire dispersed compiled of seven video segments. Following up, I then decided to separate the videos into four parts: part 1, part 2, parts 3&4, and then parts 5-7. The reason? July 4th was around the corner. In celebration of America’s Freedom, our First Amendment Rights and Library Rights to read freely, I decided to post each video segment from July 1st to July 4th. I also included a few shout outs to YouTuber channels behind the book inspirations. You can view the entire library tour by watching the videos below or on my YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUMh4YZv3Cc4&si=hSogflrsLJdxWS4O
Part 1
Part 2
Parts 3&4
Parts 5-7
Becca B. | The Book Dragon 