by Jas Faulkner
Some fans refer to it as a grown up version of the big, thick Wish Books that arrived in the mail sometime around Thanksgiving (in the US.) Other followers use a racier term for the category of websites and social media gathering places where people share ideas and pictures about their passion: shelf porn. The names really don’t matter. The rows by any other names are still breathtaking in their creativity and their ability to speak to the deepest wishes of book lovers.
They give us images of the grown-up versions of dream houses that align more closely with our desires than the prototypes we were offered as children. Barbie’s dream house, the Brady’s split level ranch, and the Huxtable’s brownstone had beautiful furnishings and rooms any kid should envy. The one thing that made them seem lifeless was the absence of any kind of library. Dream homes should have dream shelves.
