Souter on the Case of House v. Books

There's a lot of stuff I've liked about former Supreme Court Justice David Souter over the years -- he's a solitary, independent-minded fellow from New Hampshire, after all.

And he's got a passion for books. When the Washington Post ran an article a few months ago about his life at home, it included this sentence: "Souter is a ferocious reader -- he has thousands of books piled up in the farmhouse -- and friends said he is eager, finally, to organize them into a library."

Organizing your books into a library may not be as easy at it sounds when you live in a colonial farmhouse, though. Justice Souter recently had to find a new house:

Gilman said Souter told him one of the reasons he decided to move was because his Weare house wasn't structurally sound enough to hold the thousands of books that make up his library.

"He said there was just so much weight from the books, it would be too much for the house to support," Gilman said.

My opinion of Justice Souter only rises -- when your books threaten your house, side with the books!

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