Give me bookshelves and I'm yours for life

Every time I move house I try, and fail, to cull my (over-populated) bookshelves. I've always been surrounded by books - my mother instilled a love of reading in my sister and I at a very young age - and I've never learnt to throw them away. I still have books from my childhood and a lot of them are associated with my fondest memories - I still remember the first political discussion I ever had when my mother gave me a copy of Wild Swans when I was ten. My poor books are routinely torn inside handbags, dropped in the bath, covered in whatever I'm cooking at the time, filled with sand when I'm on the beach and have their spines cracked where I leave them open on my bedside table. Yet although they're abused, they are loved. I want to create a small library, complete with squishy armchair and lamp, in our new house and found a couple of examples of what I'd like to do - although they're all much large spaces than I have, (boyfriend please note) I'd far rather have a library than a walk-in closet!

Pictures from Business Week, the lovely Alkemie blog, and Homes & Bargains.