Once upon a time—perhaps the best way to begin a story about books—book shelves were often mandatory occupants at 'fashionable' houses. But they often followed a typical fashion - wooden almirahs with glass coverings, housing large and small books, sometimes looking like a decorative antique at a corner of the living room. A lot of the time, they ended up dusty covers that new kids in the house seldom took an interest in.
Designs changed, people dared to experiment with the traditional. Book shelves did not have to be the same brown almirahs anymore. They needn't even be big. They could just stick to a wall in any shape and size and colour and look pretty and attractive. They could be within the reach of the littlest one in a house. There came zig-zag ones, Z-shaped ones, even b-o-o-k shaped ones. Purpose served, 'cause well, books were not an ignored decorative piece at the corner anymore, but taken out and read and the shelves admired. True, the old shelves still look good, and would do nicely among the newer flashy ones, to be dotted and loved and to go back to like the grandma's place.
