BOOKS

[labellementeuse]

This is what I did with my extra fortyfive minutes this morning: unpacked all my books onto the bookshelf in the laundry. (The drier is in the garage, don't panic!)




That's about 170 books in my collection (okay, I stole some of them off my mother, but I know she won't miss them.) I estimate at least another 2-300 still at home. Of the ones here, I haven't read about twenty of them; about the same number is non-fiction (okay, maybe a little less. But The Science of Discworld COMPLETELY counts as non-fiction, right?); about the same number is poetry. Of the remaining 100, probably 60 are fantasy or YA fantasy and the rest is fiction or YA fiction. Man, going through these and unpacking them from the boxes sent me into complete joy spasms; I forgot I bought my Frances Hodgkins Burnett anthology, for example (Secret Garden, Little Princess and Little Lord Fauntleroy; the big pink book centre right on the third shelf up).

Astute readers will notice that they're, um, not terribly sorted. Maybe I'll do that this afternoon- poetry, fantasy, fiction, non-fiction. By author alphabetical or subject alphabetical for the non-fiction, because I am not quite dorky enough to implement the Dewey system at home. (Not that it would make much of a difference: sixth_light mocks me for my nonfiction "selection," which I can only respond to by mocking her fiction selection, because at least I own non-fiction. Anyway, not even she sorts her nonfiction by Dewey. I think.)

TO THE BOOKSHELVES.

ETA: DILEMMA: where do I put my Blackadder scriptbook? :O so much confusion!
ETA2.1: The Screwtape Letters: fact (theology and/or satire), fiction (not actually real letters :p) or fantasy (apprentice devils!)? discuss.
ETA 2.2: The Little Prince/le petit prince: fiction or fantasy? fact (social commentary)?

ETA 3: done and dusted (literally), and may I say, if I never have to decide again whether Tom's Midnight Garden is fantasy or fiction my life will be a lot less complicated. (I picked fiction, in the end.)

Interesting things discovered:
-I have two copies of Anne French's Wild, a poetry collection, and Tessa Duder's Songs for Alex. If you would like a copy, drop me a comment (The closer you live, the more likely you are to get it. :P)
-I have both English and French copies of The Little Prince/Le Petit Prince. I think I stole the French from my school.
-Somehow when packing up my Tessa Duders, I managed to pack only books 1 and 2 of the Tiggie trilogy. *TWITCH* I know exactly where the third is at home, too.
-I am missing the first four Narnia books. *doubletwitch* I know my LWW has long since fallen apart but I know I have the others at home somewhere. Grr.
-I bought Abhorsen a month ago and I've already misplaced it.

Well. I'm going home for the holidays in a week and a half, so I know I can replace some of these. But still. *twitchy* I may start developing a tick.

ETA 1001: now meme-ified! If you recognise a bookcover from my shelves, I will write you a drabble or short fic (in a requested fandom. If I had guts, it would be in the fandom of the book guessed, but I'm worried about some of the selections. :D)

Comments

[sixth-light.livejournal.com]

Actually...yes, I do sort by Dewey. And I have a fiction section (thirty to fifty books), a non-fiction section, _and_ a sci-fi/fantasy section, so any mockery of my tastes will receive what it deserves.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Damn, I knew you would, you giant adorkable geek, you. Also, two words: poetry section. Also: well, I guess if you could Enid Blyton, the Swiss Family Robinson and Ngaio Marsh as a "fiction section," I'll buy that...

... wait, no.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

PS: The Screwtape papers: fact or fiction? (or fantasy?)

[sennical.livejournal.com]

I cry when I look at my giant bookshelf and think about how tiny my dorm room will be next year. Wherever I end up going.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Dude, you have no idea how bad it was last year. I had one shelf the size of the five- I ended up double-layering AND stacking books on top. This year it's a little better but, man, 2/3rds at LEAST of my collection still at home. It hurts, precious!

[shoeless-girl.livejournal.com]

The majority of what I own is books :D Friends hated helping me move flats as I generally had 10-20 boxes of books alone.

I recognise a lot of your collection. Have you read Sir Thursday yet?

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmm, books.

(I know that's Sabriel in your icon. But that cat is so not Mogget: he reminds me of the cats in Maurice Gee's Halfmen of O. Which is something else I forgot, now that I think of it...)

I have not, unfortunately... can't afford it and have no time for the library. Hopefully during the holidays I'll be able to get hold of it.

:D I love looking at photos of bookshelves- or at bookshelves in person- you can tell so much about a person by looking at their shelves.

[bad-mushroom.livejournal.com]

I always thought it was called The Screwtape Letters. But that could be Americanized, because unfortunately everything is these days.

My room at my mother's house alone contains over six hundred books. I kid you not. I have two bookshelves and a huge closet full of boxes. Then again, books are basically the only things I own. I can barely remember the last time I purchased something that wasn't a) food b) hairdye c) a book. Seriously. It's an addiction.

Love to the YA books though :)

(I spy Monstrous Regiment! Yay!)

[shoeless-girl.livejournal.com]

I love the picture of Sabriel so I deal with Mogget looking a bit... well, not Moggetish. I love the Halfmen of O. I should so take a photo of my YA collection :) Hmmm... not that it fits on one bookshelf :S

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

I therefore lust for your YA section. *drool*

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

hahahaha, oh, it is- I was attempting to solicit advice on where to shelve the damn thing.

Wow. I mean, I have a lot of books, but... wow, not that many. I wish I could admit to being that selective about my commerciality, but I can't- I own books and clothes and CDs. Other than that, what else is there?!

(heh, I just love bookshelf photographs. You should see a lot of other pratchett there, too, and you would if I had the American covers like I do for MR. :P)

[bad-mushroom.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the picture's a little fuzzy and I can't recognize other covers by soft-focus-digital-photograph sight. (Even I'm not that good.)


"Selective"? I thought the word was "geeky" myself :)

I think I ought to post some bookshelf photographs. Eeeexcellent.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

XD I can see quite a lot of them, but as I said- most of them are different covers to what you'd be used to (although can you recognise the Potters on there?)

Selective, geeky, what's the difference? Both are clearly superior...

YES! take a photo of your bookshelf and I'll try to guess books!

... ahahaha, we should turn it into a meme. Optional variant: a drabble for every book guessed correctly! I'm supposed to write 500 words of fanfic a day, that would make it a lot easier. What's your poison?

[pyralid.livejournal.com]

I like the photo. Your bookshelf is lovely.

I have no suggestion for placement of any of the problem books; I tend to think everything is fact, even the wildest fantasies. I wish them into being...

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)

I know exactly what you mean. I ended up putting them all into fiction as my "half-way mark" but, seriously, I could completely put LPP into non-fiction without stretching. It feels true to me.

I realise you're just starting really, but...

[disturbed-kiwi.livejournal.com]

The bookshelf next to my computer is roughly that size. However, I have the books in at least two rows deep on each shelf. And some piles. And there's a bookshelf a third of the size with textbooks and classical texts. And two cardboard boxes of stuff I don't read much in storage. And small piles of books around the house.


And I have nothing compared to the five bookshelve sin my mother's room, the two massive ones in her study, the three amoung the bedrooms and the two plus tens of boxes kept in the attic.

I have songs for an Mp3 cd. Would you play it as is (using vastly advanced technology) or would you have to go through and copy them onto something else to listen? It affects whether I folderize them, etc.

I'm so sad, replying to myself. I'll use a different icon, that'll help.

[disturbed-kiwi.livejournal.com]

Also want to add that I have given up attempting to sort my books. I tried by author and popularity (if I like it it goes higher, hence easier to get) but there's just too many and the kid doesn't help things either...

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

1. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
2. The Amber Spyglass
3. Almost Like a Whale
4. A Wizard Alone
5. Lord of Chaos
6. The Book of Night with Moon
7. I believe that fat one is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
8. Something I can't identify by Diana Wynne Jones, darn.

Re: I'm so sad, replying to myself. I'll use a different icon, that'll help.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

:D (hey, I loved Neil Gaiman and the Satanic Tomato...)

And, like I said, I have at least twice as many at home, although some of them probably won't ever come down with me. :( or not till I get sprogs of my own, anyway. Also, if I tried to fit the books currently floating around my room/back packs/living room, I wouldn't have enough space on my shelves. It's the "creative" or "interactive" method of book storage, and isn't it

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:D (hey, I loved Neil Gaiman and the Satanic Tomato...)

And, like I said, I have at least twice as many at home, although some of them probably won't ever come down with me. :( or not till I get sprogs of my own, anyway. Also, if I tried to fit the books currently floating around my room/back packs/living room, I wouldn't have enough space on my shelves. It's the "creative" or "interactive" method of book storage, and isn't it <i<wonderful</i>?

I'd copy them all onto my laptop, personally, since I don't own anything that'll play mp3s. But ymmv.

[eavanmoore.livejournal.com]

The Tricksters!!!

[crankyspank.livejournal.com]

So freakin' jealous. Really. Your bookshelf makes me happ(il)y (jealous). So many lovely, lovely books.


Also, can we just talk about how I've never known another person who's even heard of Tom's Midnight Garden, let alone read it. SO COOL.

[mandor700.livejournal.com]

OMG! top left! quite possibly my fav book of all time!

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Almost like a Whale? Wow. I bow to your superior book-identification skills! #7 is correct (well, you could conceivably be looking at HBP, but OotP is there as well) and #8 is Conrad's Fate. It could be The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, but if you could read "Diana Wynne Jones" on that one's spine you'd be able to read the title. :P

1. After the bother with Mr Strange (as she referred to it in her own mind, being possessed of a sense that the mere thought of magic or magician might be enough to call him back) Miss Greysteel quite despaired of her Niece. Flora had never been what one might call a biddable child; but after what her Aunt suspected she thought of as an adventure she had become quite unpredictable. Naturally Mrs Strange was a welcome addition to their household and yet, thought the elder Miss Greysteel, her attitude seemed somewhat odd for a woman who had lost her husband. On the family's return to England that summer, Mrs Strange lost no time before visiting all her friends and acquaintances in London. As Aunt Greysteel remarked to a particular friend of hers, "Of course, my dears, it is very commendable of her to be so brave, with Mr Strange so far away--" this is how ladies of a certain disposition liked to refer to Mr Strange and Mr Norrell, as if they had merely taken an extended trip to the Continent-- "And yet, do you know, Mrs Strange sometimes seems not brave but quite unconcerned!"

But of far more concern to Aunt Greysteel was the company Arabella persisted in introducing Flora too. Ordinarily Lady Pole, by virtue of her marriage, should have been considered quite the cream of society; and yet since the histories of Lady Pole and Arabella's troubles with the thistle-headed gentleman were somehow the gossip of London within hours of their return to England, both women were considered to be terribly fashionable but not a little disrespectable. Further, Lady Pole's apparent disregard for convention and her insistence on behaving in an independent manner that quite offended the elderly matrons of London- well, Aunt Greysteel certainly did not consider herself conservative, and naturally she only wished for what would make Flora happy- yet for every moment that Flora spent with Lady Pole Aunt Greysteel imagined her becoming more intractable and less respectable- and hence less likely to make a good marriage. (In this she was quite mistaken; Flora, Lady Pole and Mrs Strange being so fashionable, and Flora being the only unmarried woman among them, the younger Miss Greysteel found herself quite beset with offers of marriage; and not all of them would wholly have offended her Aunt.)

It is necessary at this point to recall that Aunt Greysteel was still Miss Greysteel; that is she had never married and being so concerned for her neice without mother to influence her, and imagining Flora as so much like herself (for she had no children of her own), she could imagine no fate worse for Flora, so beautiful and clever, than her own spinsterhood. So you can see that she must have viewed Flora's developing independence with increasing alarm; yet there was nothing to be done, as it was undeniable that Flora grew more happy and more beautiful daily in her companionship with the two other women. So Aunt Greysteel's concerns were of no effect; it was marked only by the way, as soon as anyone in her companionship brought up the topic of the ever-interesting English Magic, she could be heard only to say that "Certainly it's all very wonderful: but we must consider our young ladies!" before chusing a subject she found to be more tasteful.

560 words. Woo, I made my daily target! Any requests in another fandom, as you still technically have another 200 words? :P

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

Actually, I could read the title of Almost Like a Whale. I'm not familiar with the book. Go figure.

I haven't actually read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which might explain why my immediate reaction to your ficlet on it is that it reads a bit like the possible result if Jane Austen took up fantasy. It's neat. :)

Um... hmm. Abhorsen trilogy, please? I'd say YW, but you'll probably do that eventually anyway. ;)

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

I can also make out Eats, Shoots and Leaves, which I think I missed the first time through because I wasn't thinking nonfiction. And one looks like Harrap's Compact, but this is sufficiently unfamiliar that I'm almost convinced I've misread it, and it feels like cheating to go looking it up.

I can read "Legends" on one, but that's really big and it's probably only part of the title. Or so I'd guess.

Also, is that one up top next to the dark blue book The Science of Discworld?