This morning my son came in my bedroom as I lay sprawled on my bed, gazing at the bookcase next to the bed.

"What are you doing, Mom?"

"Just looking at my books."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I just like looking at them. It makes me feel good."

I've often felt odd or weird for having such a love affair with books. Book stores are very dangerous places for me--once I go in, it's as if I've entered the black hole. I emerge hours later, glassy-eyed, pocketbook empty.

Last night I was a guest speaker for a writers' group that met at Barnes & Noble (I left my wallet in the car). When I mentioned that I just love to stare at the books on my shelf, the other writers nodded. "I do that, too!" they confessed. "I thought I was the only one!"

Bookcases are in strategic locations all over my house. The one next to my bed contains my favorite books. Here's a sampling:

• The complete works of Jane Austen



• Four Thomas Hardy novels



• Richard Llewellyn's How Green Was My Valley Series (including a rare book I searched for for years and my hubby surprised me with one year -- my favorite gift EVER)



• Well-worn copies of The Lord of the Rings series



• Jan Karon's The Mitford Years series



• James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small series



• Ann of Green Gables series



• A sprinkling of Chicken Soup for the Soul books



• A Maeve Binchy novel (have you guessed yet that I love British lit?)



• Autographed copies of books by my author friends



• At least 30 books that are waiting paitently to be read.

Bookcase #2 (in my son's room) has a selection of classic and contemporary children's books.

Bookcase #3 (in my bedroom closet, of all places) has old yearbooks, photo albums, and my husband's fantasy and science fiction novels.

Bookcase #4 (in the hallway) contains adoption books and stacks of books I picked up at a booksellers trade show that I want to read and review.

And my office has floor-to-ceiling bookshelves with reference books, books on writing, Christian books, math textbooks (my husband is a math teacher), and a bunch more books about adoption.

What's on your bookshelf?