Classic Books and Vampires
Thanks to Hooked on Houses for hosting Hooked on Fridays and Fifi Flowers for hosting Fashionable Fridays.
At Casa Petrie, we love books. Seriously, I’d rather eat beans for three days in a row and buy an awesome book I’ve been waiting for. I believe in decorating a la Jackie O. with LOTS of books everywhere. But not just any books. Our library is filled with the classics.
A picture from Jackie O.’s NYC apartment:
My husband and I met at St. John’s College. It is a Great Books of the Western World program and all the texts are original and sometimes in the original language. Having the classics lining the shelves of my home gives me a sense of comfort and history.
One wall of the Casa Petrie library.
When I look at my copy of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, I think of my senior year, when I realized I was in love…with math. I decided I wanted to be a math teacher.
Mmm...Non-Euclidian Geometry is SO good!
Looking at these beautiful, green Loeb books, which have English on the right and Greek on the left, I think of translating Homer in freshman Greek or The Book of John in sophomore Greek. I remember realizing I could garner more information from the original language, even if it did take me hours to translate.
Isn't that green heavenly?
Of course, when I need to ground an idea in books I know and love, I head for the classics. But when I need to immerse myself in magic, romance, and excitement I head for paranormal romance, particularly vampire stories. If you are having Twilight withdrawal, head for these authors. I’m slightly embarrassed to admit my love of vampire fiction, but we’re all friends here, right?
These have been some of my favorite vampire series. Like the Twilight books, these series have a philosophical bent that make them more inspiring than other campy vampire fiction.
Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Series
J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood Series
If you haven’t read these books, you are in for a treat!! Have a bloody good weekend. 
I am currently reading Twilight, it sounds like your reading selections are right up my ally. Thanks for the post, I am going to write these down.
Books are soooooo fashionable… if only I could find some fashionable time to read them…sigh!
I love books! They are great to decorate with and fantastic to read. I really enjoyed the Twilight series. It was so unique and hard to put down.
We are a group that is challenging the current paradigm in physics which is Quantum Mechanics and String Theory. There is a new Theory of Everything Breakthrough. It exposes the flaws in both Quantum Theory and String Theory. Please Help us set the physics community back on the right course and prove that Einstein was right! Visit our site The Theory of Super Relativity: http://www.superrelativity.org
Ooooh. We are book hounds here too! Love looking through peoples bookcases. Yours was divine!
What a fab blog and book collection! I love reading, but its tough with two little kids running around.
I think the most important rule of decorating is surrounding yourself with what you love. For you, it’s books, and they are BEAUTIFUL! For me, I think it’s animals. I like to think of them as part of the decor.
If you liked those vamp books you should also read Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series, it’s great. I was never into those types of books really until Twilight when someone I worked with said I had to read it. I was hooked! Loved the movie too! Love the Casa Petrie library! Have a wonderful Easter.
Can’t believe it took your website for me to see that you love math as I do. Sounds like we developed our love of math around the same math subjects.
In high school advanced math, my friend and I did our Science Fair project on Non Euclidean geomertry. We had 3 theorems on separate boards with colored wooden pieces that you could pull out and show what the theorem meant….like parallel lines do meet.
Anyway, I am so happy to read your blog on books.
You’re speaking my language. I love books! I majored in English in college just because I knew it would involve lots of reading.
Loved Twilight. I just bought Harris’s “True Blood” novel but haven’t read the others you mentioned. Thanks!
[...] comfort zone, I am reading a book from a different genre this week. As you may know, I’m a BIG fan of paranormal fiction. If a book has vampires, weres, fae, witches, warlocks, demons, angels, [...]