Linda Herrick, the Herald's award-winning arts and books editor, loves reading so much that books are taking over her home. As a former librarian, she occasionally feels the need to impose some order, but the books have a will of their own.

NZ Herald journalist Linda Herrick photographed at home with her library of books. Picture / Babiche Martens
NZ Herald journalist Linda Herrick photographed at home with her library of books. Picture / Babiche Martens

"I'm not exactly sure when books started taking over just about every flat surface in the house but it must have been when I was able to end the treadmill of renting and settle down with a mortgage. At last, I had room to indulge in something I'd always loved - books. But slowly, the "collecting" has turned into what some people have unkindly called an obsession. To which I say: I don't care.
"Way back, I used to think I was a bit fancy when I had a tiny flat in St Mary's Bay, with a meagre three-shelf bookcase in the hall that was jammed with rubbishy old thrillers. The thrillers have long gone but the bookcase has survived, now in the spare room and exclusively reserved for books I will read "one day". Some of them have been there for years.

 "Also in the same room are two high wooden bookshelves. These are shelves of shame, a failed effort to establish a system, which offends my sensibilities as a former librarian where order is all. One bookcase holds a motley collection of old Faber classics (Zorba the Greek and Lawrence Durrell antiquities), remnants of my childhood (illustrated copies of Toad of Toad Hall, The Secret Garden), travel guides, poetry, history, politics and large-format fashion and photography books.
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