Sunday, July 19, 2009

Sunday Salon

The Sunday Salon.com

I have acquired a new bookcase.

It was on sale at a local furniture store and is handmade. Unfortunately, we just got a new digital camera and I haven't figured out how to use it yet, so I can't post a picture at the moment. Maybe next week.

My old bookcase was made for me by my father and has three shelves. The the top shelf has all my history books; the middle is essays, memoirs, plays, and poetry. The lowest shelf is a double row of mass-market paperbacks, mostly Anne Rice, Dean Koontz, Faye Kellerman, Dan Simmons, and Star Trek, along with the complete dialogues of Plato, two Isabel Allendes, a volume of Poe, Whitman's Leaves of Grass, The Decameron, Potok's The Chosen, and Johnny Got His Gun. I generally try not to buy books in that format, unless they happen to fall into one of the first five items on that list.

The new bookcase holds all my novels. It has four adjustable shelves and can easily fit a fifth, although that is currently not necessary. (Yet.) Right now, two and a half shelves are filled. The top one-and-a-half are trade paperbacks going in chronological order, beginning with Voltaire's Candide and ending in Ara 13's Fiction. The bottom shelf is hardcovers and extra-tall trade paperbacks, in semi-order both chronologically and by size. The empty second-to-bottom shelf holds a framed copy of this picture and a leather-covered box that has my few DVD's and some MP3 player equipment.

On top of the bookcase is a small display case holding my collection of vintage shot glasses. I'll have to post a picture of those too, once I get that damn camera working.

As for books I am actually reading - I am in the middle of Pascal Mercier's Last Train to Lisbon and once again have An American Tragedy on hold. When I intend to finish the latter is, as Mark Twain would say, a dark and bloody mystery.

7 comments:

Frances said...

My life is full of many dark and bloody mysteries too. Congrats on the new bookcase. Am in need of a bit of additional book storage myself although I only wish my books to put in them were as diverse as yours. Happy reading!

Eileen said...

There's a website I like called Unclutterer. I'm a bit of an organization freak myself and generally agree with the site, but they advocate getting rid of books! They say if it's in public domain, then you should be able to find it in its entirety online, so there's not point in having it in book form.

Blasphemy, I say!

One day I hope to own a house where I can set aside a room to be my library.

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

At one point in my life, I had over 3,000 books. Too many, I decided a few years ago. I continue to read and give away books, though I still buy and buy and buy.

Gavin said...

Lucky find that. We've been looking for a shelf or two for ages. They are the first things to go at yard sales and thrift stores but I keep hoping. Have a great week!

Eileen said...

Debnance: 3,000? Yikes! How long have you been collecting?

Gavin: I got my bookcase brand-new at a furniture store that was having a sale. I considered buying second-hand too, but you're right, I couldn't find anything.

Anonymous said...

I love organising my books, which is weird seeing that I'm completely organised in everything else.

I have shelves for my non-fiction; divided into categories of cultural theory, philosophy, science, history and books on literature. Then it's poetry (usually anthologies), and then fiction and then my comic books.

I do give away books but it's only for books I know I'm never going to read again.

Wendy said...

Yay for new bookcases!!! You will LOVE your digital camera...I don't know how I managed before I bought mine last year :)

Related Posts with Thumbnails