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As a former bookseller, I first heard of Harry Potter in the late nineties when a bright young fellow, maybe eleven years of age asked if we had the (first) book in stock. We didn’t, but we quickly realized that demand came from kid culture, not something manufactured by a corporation. So I read the entire series, and saw all the films on an IMAX screen, with the last few in3D. What can I say, sheer magic!
I've spent my Sunday morning watching your dream fantasy library come to life and I wanted to let you know I thoroughly enjoyed it! So much time, work, love and attention to detail went into it and it really shows in the end result. I would love to see how you transform(ed) the rest of your home, if you feel like sharing that, of course. A while ago I've 'Potterfied' a small corner of my home (and made a video about it too) but seeing your wonderful project makes me feel like doing more! Oh and The Sword in the Stone is one of my favourite Disney films, so it was so fun to learn where your nickname (partly) came from! Hoping to see more of your video's pop up in my subscription box in the future! Sending love from the Netherlands.
Thank you! I’ve spent all of an evening in the Netherlands, but I am very keen to see more in the near future. And you will very likely see other spots of our house in the future. 😉
I found your library-videos today while dreaming about my own dream-library taht I hopefully will have at some point in my life. It does also involve stars 😊 your work is very inspirational!
Amazing! So many questions for your next q&a ♡ - how long did it take to create your collection? Especially with the move to the UK. - can you please do a tour of the books about/with books? - have you read 'Burning the Books'? You should ♡ A book collection of non-fiction on YT is a rarity and youre incredible ♡
Not sure when my next Q&A will be, so I'll answer here for now! - It's hard to say how long it took to "create" my collection, as it's always an ongoing process. I started building a large library of books in about 2015 when I moved back to my home state of Nevada and discovered a wonderful secondhand book store that used to do these monthly warehouse sales where everything was $1. But that was more gathering reading material than the sort of collecting I do now - that is, collecting specific editions of books. That only started after I started working at the bookshop of which I'm now the manager, so around mid to late 2018. Probably half or more of what's in my collection now has been from that point on. In moving to the UK, I had to greatly pare down my books, but we had about a year to prepare for the move in which my now husband and I would visit each other a few times each, so with each flight, we'd carry an extra suitcase full of my possessions, including quite a lot of books, so many books did make the trip over the pond with me in the end. There are still a couple of boxes of books in my parents' garage at the moment waiting to do the same. - I'll add a bookshelf tour of my bookish books to my ideas list! It may be down the road, but I'm happy to do that. - I haven't read Burning the Books, but I've just had a look at it and immediately added it to my wish list! Thank you for the recommendation. Thank you so much for the kind comments and for watching!
Wow you have an absolutely stunning collection and room to enjoy. I have to say I'm a bit envious lol. Happy reading. Subscribed too. Peace love and happiness ~ Tracey
Oh my goodness I’m also from Nevada and girl I felt you on deep level when you said it’s a dryyyy heat 😂 I hate the heat so much I complain about it far more than what is probably necessary!
Just found you today. I really like your library; I now need to go back and view the series. (And yea for the Lincoln Imp! I have one, too.) Greetings from Indiana.
I loved your library series! You can clearly see how much love and consideration went into it. I absolutelty adore your ladder/chair. I have a question for you, what "books of the brain" did you enjoy the most or gave you the biggest aha moments?
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker changed my life. I also love Derren Brown’s Tricks of the Mind and recently listened to the audiobooks of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers as well as Talking to Strangers, the latter I highly recommend in audiobook form as it’s enhanced with extras, not to mention it’s a book I genuinely feel every single adult should read. Thanks for watching!
Today was my first visit to your channel: your Dream Library, Vol. 3, and now this one. I must say it was VERY lovely, as well as, enchanting, inspiring, and relaxing to watch them both! I am in love with the design techniques of your ceiling and beam! I've always wanted a 'library', too! I love your little ladder/chair__however, I gravitate more toward the idea of a 'library ladder' on rails. 😛 Anyway, I appreciate the time and effort you put into your special project and look forward to future episodes! Love, Light, and Blessings. 🙏😇✨💫🌱🌿🌻🐝🌳🌎💖🙌🙌🙌😺 PS - Your library needs a plant, or two. 🌿😺
Thank you for the tip about the lacquer shelves. I don't plan to paint my shelves when I do get my own Library together though am not sure what color shelves I'll go with. Your Library looks wonderful, cozy and a touch magical! I love how it turned out and I love the shelf you have set up out in the hallway! Looking forward to seeing future videos!
Very cool that you own a copy of The Dictionary of Imaginary Places! I have had a copy of that myself along with The Timetables of History, An Incomplete Education and The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge. The last three are interesting and you might want to look for them.
Love it! You'll be my inspiration when I can finally make come true my library. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is one of my favorite books, too, and I am in Hufflepuff!
I just binge watched your Dream Library videos and I'm in love with it! I enjoyed watching the whole process and the result is so magical! Also loved seeing you talk about books so passionately! Your videos are cozy to watch (don't know if that makes sense). Just wanted to say thank you for the videos, you are very inspiring, and send some love from a fellow Ravenclaw all the way from Brazil. P.S.: Would love to know what books are in the side table/shelves on wheels (the bookish books), just got curious about them!
I apologise in advance for this comment which will probably come across slightly psycho-stalker, but as a fellow obsessive geek I hope you'll indulge me and not immediately run screaming. I've spend the last 4 hours binge-watching your channel (when I probably should have been doing other things). It's been a delight. While I don't share your enthusiasm for either Disney or Harry Potter specifically, I find the joy you clearly get from them infectious. After watching your library build videos I can say I've developed quite a nice little crush on you, which I fully intend to bask in for a few days yet, before I force myself to get over the nice woman in the TV I've never met... The first thing that struck me watching your first dream library video was, damn, you have one incredible sense of style. I absolutely love your hair and outfit in that video and you are absolutely gorgeous in it. I'm glad you feel you can express your sense of style like this now you're older, and I must say you're killing it. Then I saw your eye for detail in the following video, and it is incredible. The design work on the beam and the choice to stain the shelves created a truly amazing look for the room. Every decision you made was adorable and I felt captivated watching. Finally we topped it off with your bookshelf tour which is possibly the single most appealing and interesting bookshelf tour I've ever seen. It's personal and genuine. These books mean something to you. They're books you've clearly actually read! The fiction you've chosen is a little limited compared to the average booktuber (who hasn't read their library) yet still you have a few stand out classics, some great dystopian works (I love Fahrenheit 451), high fantasy, a good selection of contemporary works; and they all seem well loved. Seeing works like War & Peace, Atlas Shrugged, and Middlemarch alongside things like The Hunger Games, Dan Brown, and well read children's books shows you're someone with a wide reaching taste and someone who's not ashamed to be yourself. Then there's the non-fiction. You're a woman after my heart here, so many great books. I see books by James Randi and Christopher Hitchens, books on skepticism and philosophy that I rarely see. A clear passion for stage magic that I also share, Penn & Teller are amazing. Then your science section is a delight, multiple Dawkins books I recognised as well as a few more that made me light up to see. A curated list, and I was so pleased when you described it as "the real magic of our world". It's so refreshing to see a non-fiction section that's not filled with pseudo-science bunk on crystal healing or astrology, a row of extremist feminist or racial agitation books designed to just drive a further wedge between people, or naval-gazing stoicism filled with obvious nonsense that people only read to "extract value". I have genuinely NEVER seen a bookshelf this respectable and interesting, and this was the point when I felt myself fall for you a little... (your husband is a very lucky man). All I can say is, (and I promise I'm not a psycho-stalker). It is a true delight to find a beautiful, stylish, creative, intelligent, and interesting woman on the internet like this. You brightened my day and I thank you for that. I'm definitely subscribed and I find your whole channel enchanting. Perhaps it's the Disney influence working it's magic. Thank you for a thoroughly lovely evening, I apologise again for this likely uncomfortable para-social one-way relationship I'm foisting on you here, but I really appreciate you sharing your passions. Good look for the future, and I look forward to more videos from you.
That’s very kind. Thank you. I’ll admit haven’t read all my books, though. I wouldn’t want to give off some false impression. I, like probably most bookworms, find buying books much quicker and easier than reading them! But I also quite enjoy living around books I’ve yet to read (and may indeed never get to read) because it’s a constant reminder that there is always more to learn and explore in the world. Keep up the geekiness! 🤓
@@SquirrellyNerdyJess Oh, no-one's read every book they own. I certainly haven't. Almost 400 books in my personal library and at least half are unread. What can I say except that my ADHD addled brain knows how to buy books and that's a far easier dopamine high than reading the ones I already have. :P
New here and loving watching the book backlog so far!! When you said bookish books (stories that include authors or writing), it reminded me of one of my favorite series that is written by one of the best storytellers of our time, and the main character is a story teller telling a story about himself. Kind of meta. Kind of similar to your bookish books. I was hoping to see it on your shelves, but didn't so I'm here to mention it!! ::: The Name of the Wind series (Kingkiller Chronicles) by Patrick Rothfuss. Cheers!
Greetings! Love your videos. I too have future plans to creat my dream library and found your videos where you did yours to be helpfull. So, thanks! Also, I know have like... 7 new books on my ever growing mountain of books thanks to your "bookish books" video😅 Oh, I almost forgott to ask... Where did you find the "I cannot live without books" sign you have on your wall? I want one too😁 Thanks and keep up the good work!
Aw thank you! I got the sign from the gift shop at Monticello (Thomas Jefferson’s home). I believe they have an online shop but not sure if the sign is available there.
@@SquirrellyNerdyJess Oh, hello there~ What a wonderful surprise to recieve such a quick reply! Thank you, I will be sure to look it up if it's possible to get my hands on one for myself or not at a later date 😊
Congratulations! I can’t imagine the Herculean efforts made to bring this into creation. I hope you get many years of enjoyment from it. Job well done! If it’s not too late, I also have a question - since you mentioned that you had a keen interest in such a diverse amount of topics, I am curious to know how you organized your shelves? Alphabetically? Or intuitively perhaps? What was your method? And did you know that you would have enough space for your entire collection? Thanks in advance and I look forward to seeing what’s next!
Thank you! At the end of the video, I go through how they’re currently organized, but as far as deciding on putting them into those sections, it partially depends on how the shelf space worked out and partially on intuition. For instance, I began my non-fiction shelves by subdividing into distinct subjects, but then I had too many half-filled shelves and not enough shelves overall, so I then collected a few subjects into, say, my “brainy books” shelves. Within sections, I then always alphabetize by author. Hope that makes sense! I’ll probably reshuffle them over time as my collection grows, too. And no, I didn’t know at the very beginning whether I’d have enough shelves, but I could estimate based on my previous setup that I would. Plus, I knew I had the rest of the house, should that fail. 😉
In Europe, we don’t use air conditioning as you do in America. In France, we even say that it makes us sick to keep “la Clim” (air conditioning) on, or to not cover our throat when we go out and that it is windy/cold ! I could NEVER sleep with a fan on, or anything !
To be honest, when I no longer lived in ideal climate controlled comfort 24/7, I noticed my body simply acclimating to the temperature variations much better. I wouldn’t go back generally. It’s only those really strong heat waves that make me miss having just a bit of relief. As far as sleeping with a fan on, however, I cannot sleep in a room that’s too warm so if needs must, I do use a fan in the summer. Actually, sleep scientists have determined that colder environments (not freezing, but slightly below general room temperature comfort) are far better for one’s sleep as it causes your body warmth to move outward, dropping your core body temperature and allowing sleep to come easier and last better. Everyone should seriously read Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker or at least listen to one of his interviews/speeches/podcasts about sleep research. It changed my life!
Hey, Jess! Thanks for answering my question. Your library looks stunning. I often come here to rewatch the library videos to take inspiration. Another question: how do you deal with the fact that you’re a potterhead nowadays? because I am one, who wants to fully display my love for the series, but I am terribly afraid of being taken as someone “mean”. Anyway, great video! 🤍
Hi! I know exactly what you mean, and I have a lot of thoughts on the subject, so bear with me. I’m very much an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, so I would never want to give the impression that I support any beliefs otherwise. I think situations like this are more nuanced than people want to make them, and everyone should have the right to make their own decisions regarding how they separate a creation from its creator, or going even further, separating criticism of a creator’s specific beliefs from the rest of their actions and creative endeavours. For me personally - and I’m fine with people feeling differently to me - I’m comfortable acknowledging the truth that I love these stories and will continue to even if the author of said stories says things I disagree with. This, again, is nuanced; I might feel differently if this person did much more objectionable things like support drastic, inhumane actions against a community, but I also feel in this situation it comes down to more of an ignorance on her part than actual malice. I’ve personally read all of J. K. Rowling’s essay on the controversy, and I can understand where she’s coming from while still disagreeing with her statements. My main problem is that she’s doubling down when people try to explain why certain things she’s said might be problematic, mainly in that people who are actually antagonistic to the trans community can use her words to support their own hate. That said, she has also stated specifically that she is not against the trans community, which is what draws me to the conclusion that it’s more about ignorance than malice. We are all ignorant about most things, and I feel the best community is one filled with compassion for those around us so that we may all learn and grow. Unfortunately, in the divisive world of cancel culture, it’s much easier to become defensive. On a practical note, I also know selling my Harry Potter possessions, nearly all of which were in my collection before this controversy happened, affects her not one bit. The few I have bought since have been purchased secondhand, which does not support her either. I also buy most of my clothes nowadays secondhand for similar reasons of not supporting companies hurting the environment and using inhumane practices. There are ways around that aspect if one chooses. The few things I have bought new are things which also support other creators, not just Rowling, and it’s not necessarily fair if they lose support because of something she tweeted. And even if some of my money goes to her, she does still put a hell of a lot of her money to very good use with charities and such. Humans are complex. Like I said, make the decision that’s best for you. I think you’ll find there is still a huge Potter community out there filled mostly with love.
@@SquirrellyNerdyJess Thank you for your words. That is exactly what I think, but I never knew how to say. I do believe that J.K one day will come to her senses and apologize for her ignorance and unfortunate speeches. After all, she is a good human being, I think.
@@lenadesouza I hope she does, but I also understand how one can be blinded by a very deep and passionate devotion to other causes. I also agree it doesn’t make her a bad person. As a famous wizard once said, “The world isn’t split into good people and death eaters. We’ve all got both light and dark inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on.” She’s said a few questionable things online, but her actions from what I understand are focused on much better things. That’s not to say I won’t criticise the darkness if and when I see it, and I’m always open to resolving my own ignorance if I’m unaware of further hurt committed.
@@SquirrellyNerdyJess You are completely right. There is place for criticism (the constructive one) and also for recognizing something good when we see it. I don’t believe in “canceling” people, that only make things worse - what is the point in excluding people for excluding? I don’t get it. I also read her essay, and as you said, I understand it but don’t agree with it. In some messed up way she wants something “good” (can I put it like that?). I just think it is too bad that she can’t apologize. But honestly, I still love her writing style, I think she’s a great storyteller, and she made me a very happy little kid. I simply cannot hate her. (Sorry for any misspellings, I’m not English native and my keyboard is in Portuguese 😅)
Hello Jess. I'm new to your remarkably congenial channel and working through your back catalogue. I had a little bet on with myself that there'd be a copy of Infinite Jest on your shelves, and sure enough ... 🙂
Hi there, just discovered your channel :) First of all, love your library! Absolutely beautiful! Secondly..... was that a replica of the Sports Almanac from Back to the Future II?
Thank you! And it is! I’ll be doing a video about it at some point. I have a video up currently reviewing a different version but I’ve upgraded to an even truer replica. 😉
It’s an early printing of the first edition published by Hodder and Stoughton in 1911. The first US edition (and first few reprints) looks the same as well, published by Charles Scribner’s Sons also in 1911.
I love your channel and your aesthetics, so I really enjoyed this new video and kudos about the library, it's looking lovely. I'm also a Ravenclaw and a massive Potterhead (and yeah Prisoner of Azkaban FTW) who loves non-fiction maths and science books so I would love to get some recommendations on books you've loved if you don't mind sharing? And in the same vein, do you have any goodreads or storygraph we could follow? Cheers and thanks for uploading!
Thank you! And yay fellow Ravenclaw! A few life-changing books off the top of my head are Carl Sagan’s The Demon-Haunted World, Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep, and John Allen Paulos’s Innumeracy. The last one I’ll admit isn’t necessarily as readable as I think the author intended, but it’s short and makes some incredible points about how we are inherently mathematically illiterate, even those who study it well in school. Another I read recently that isn’t strictly in that category but still relates is Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. If I designed a community, I’d make it required reading for every educator. I do have a Goodreads account (Squirrel’s Bookshelf), but I’ll admit I don’t do much on it except note which books I’ve read over the year and star them. Best wishes! 📚
@@SquirrellyNerdyJess Thank you so much for the recommendations! I finally had some time to actually watch until the end of the video (it's been a busy day) and I got a huge smile on my face when you said: "below the fake magic I've got the real magic of our world, maths and science" YES, YES!! I absolutely agree! I have a degree in Applied Mathematics and another in Physics so people sometimes think I'm crazy for having done it, but to me maths and science are half like magic and half like a game, what's more exciting about understanding the Universe? What's more rewarding than solving a difficult maths problem? All of it is just so incredibly exciting and wonderous and it makes you want to keep learning more throughout your life. And that does always make me think; there seems to be an almost fear of these kind of subjects from a lot of students (which eventually continues on into adulthood, where in turn these adults will then carry on the fear to their children) I used to tutor high school students and had parents who talked badly about Maths and their experience with it, and then their children would have the exact same mental blocks around it. It's such a pity, and it truly is a failure of most countries' education system; to make something that exciting into something boring and difficult is quite sad honestly. All of this to say , I'll definitely checkout "Innumeracy", sounds like my kind of read. As for Carl Sagan, I loved his series Cosmos so I ended up reading the book of the same name but it didn't add much that I didn't already know. So I've been hesitant to start The Demon-Haunted World even though it's been on my TBR for years, but I may actually bump it up on the list. Any recommendations on some more high-level maths books? And if I may offer one of my own, "Quantum Mechanics: The theoretical Minimum" by Leonard Susskind and Art Friedman is a fantastic book, pretty accessible with loads of cool Maths too.
@@Luumus I know what you mean. There does seem to be this unfortunate shared sense of community when people say, “I’m bad at maths.” I’ve tutored a few kids over the years and always tried to shift their focus to seeing it as solving puzzles, which is how I always felt about it, but I think a lot of it also depends on their experience with teachers. I fell in love with maths because I had some extraordinary teachers, but not everyone does. I will say Demon Haunted World is a different book entirely to Cosmos. You may read through it and already agree with much of it, but it is essentially a book about the dangers of a world that doesn’t value science. I’ll check out your recommendation, too! I also enjoyed Lawrence Krauss’s A Universe from Nothing if you like cosmology. Have you heard of Danica McKellar? She’s an actress turned maths advocate, particularly for young girls, and has written a series of maths books for different ages. I’ve got Kiss My Math in my collection. I’m glad you enjoyed my little love note to maths and science. When I was younger, I much preferred the “fake magic” as I called it, and while I enjoyed maths and did just fine in science, it’s only in adulthood that I’ve really grown a true love for science and appreciation for the wonderful natural reality around us. It’s mind boggling how little so many people are interested in learning about. But we are not alone! There are plenty of us who are. 🤓
Such a beautiful library and study and I’m so glad I stumbled upon your channel. So far I’m at the stage of 4 bookshelves and I need another 2… and to misquote, libraries are never built in a day 😂
I am a big fan of your channel and your personality but please try to make your videos shorter so we can watch it till the end easily , life this days is so busy , you know
