HOW many inches? (Of books!)

I had the very great pleasure of attending World Fantasy Con a few years ago, and fortunately my friend Laura warned me about the bag of books given to attendees.  How wonderful!  Of course I also purchased a few books.  Oh, my aching shoulders—what a heavy carry-on bag and suitcase for my return home.

While in the midst of unpacking I realized yet again that our bedroom bookcase was absolutely stuffed, and my bedside table already groaned beneath two piles of books stacked to the edge of the lampshade.  I put away my suitcase and wandered into our office.  Nope, that bookcase was also full, as was the one in the hallway, and there were three unread books on the coffee table in the living room.  I shrugged and headed back to the bedroom, where I stacked the new books on the floor between my dresser and reading chair.

How many inches waited for me?

For a true picture I would need to include the unread books on my ereader as well as the ten or twelve books tucked here and there on the bookcases.  Oh, and then there’s the thirty-some odd books I have noted on various lists; books I know I want to read but haven’t yet purchased.  Should I count those?  Perhaps not.

Hmmm.  Forty-four inches beside the dresser, approximately twelve inches on the bookcase, seventeen inches on the bedside table, three on the coffee table, and on my ereader I'd guess somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty-five inches.

Books, books, BOOKS! How many inches do you have?