Scene of the Blog Featuring Adam of Roof Beam Reader!

This week,we're traveling to Illinois, where I'd like you to meet Adam and his excellent blog, Roof Beam Reader. (And if you'd like to know where he got that intriguing name for his blog, you're just going to have to visit!)

Adam is currently working as a freelance essayist and creative writer, and he is also a full-time Student Advisor for a private University in Illinois. His interests are primarily American fiction, especially ethnic and minority literature of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

You're going to find all sorts of bookish goodness on Roof Beam Reader, so please visit Adam and say hello. I wouldn't be at all surprised if you wound up subscribing to his blog!

As always, if you'd like to see more detail in any of the photos, just click on them. Now let's go see where the magic happens!

Adam's desk

This is where the magic happens!  I do all of my actual blogging right here, in my study.  You can see plenty of books on my desk (even propping up the beautiful lamp that my sister got me as a house-warming gift), but what you can’t see are the shelves and cases and piles and mounds of boxes of books lining the wall behind me. I was a bit embarrassed to show you all that, actually – as it’s a tiny bit insane.  So, what do I have around me all the time?  Books, fruit (Craisins!), water, and coffee mugs.  There’s also usually chocolate somewhere around, but it’s apparently hiding from this photo.

Adam's car

It’s not what you think!  No, seriously, this is the backseat of my car.  I read in my car almost daily.  When I was in high school, I used to go out on my lunch breaks (from school or work) to go read in my car because it was quiet.  This is a habit that just never went away – 12 years later, I work at  a University in a building filled with reading spaces – library nooks, chat rooms, quiet rooms, offices, etc. but, still, I go out on my lunch, grab a coffee, and read in my car.   

In the living room

This is where most of my reading gets done.  I’m a bit on the short side so, curled up, I actually do fit on this little couch.  I love to read here because (1) It is super comfortable (2) It is right by my balcony and across from my fire place, so yay cozy! And (3) I love the pictures of England and France that I’ve hung above the couch.  I haven’t yet had the chance to travel to either of those places, but the paintings let me daydream about what it would be like to read in a little French café, or while sitting outside a British hotel, listening to Big Ben chime.

I haven't had the chance to read in a French café, but I have had the opportunity to browse English bookshops, read at the foot of a Scottish castle and in the quiet beauty of the English countryside, and I certainly hope you are able to as well, Adam.

Also... there's absolutely nothing wrong with taking reading lunch breaks in your car. I did it for years, although I usually sat in the driver's seat and used the steering wheel as my book rest.

I love the windows and the light in your home, and the couch looks comfy. The prints of Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower immediately caught my eye.

Thank you so much for allowing us this glimpse into your home and your creative spaces. We really appreciate it!

Don't forget to stop by next Wednesday when I'll be featuring yet another wonderful member of our worldwide book blogging community!