Tale of Mold and Slime

I washed my books yesterday. It's the first time in my life that I've ever had to do such a thing. Why, you may wonder, did I feel compelled to wash my books? Mold. That's right, mold. Big, brassy and sassy. All over the spines of my books. I just noticed it one day. I was sitting in my big arm chair casting my gaze across my books, when I noticed that some of the spines had blotches on them. A closer investigation revealed that they were covered in a fluffy mold! Well, I was pretty upset at this. I mean, it's not often that your faced with the prospect of a $50,000 collection molding away right under your nose. First I panicked. Then I got angry. One more reason for me to dislike New England - mold. Your books don't go hoary with mold just sitting on the shelves out in North Dakota. I quickly did a little research on how to de-mold books, then I went to work. Brush off the topical mold then wash them with an ammonia-based detergent. Can't get them too wet, though, or you can get them molding all over again. According to what I read, you're supposed to let them dry in the sun cuz sunlight kills most mold spores; unfortunately, the weather did not allow me to do that. I did two bookcases full. Just two more bookcases to go. And I had to be rather careful while I was doing it too, cuz I'm quite allergic to mold. Gets my asthma going really good. Soon, I'm coughing and wheezing like a steam engine. Didn't get any of that this time though. Now we have to go buy a dehumidifier for the house. Humidity is never lower that about 70% in there. No wonder the books mold. I'm probably molding a bit myself too. Irritating really.