A few days ago this email conversation occurred with my friend Tasmin, who is another writer.  Another somewhat (ahem) book- and space-challenged writer.*  She's spent a lot of time (and money) over the last year or so in turning the second parlour in her old farmhouse into a library**, and now, finally, with the shelves in, she is beginning to unpack. 

I asked her if I could use her email and my reply as a blog entry because I felt that rather a lot of you would understand what happened...