Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Care to snoop?

I love looking through bookshelves, either in person or in photographs and I thought I would show you some of mine. These photographs are of my new shelves which contain lots of favorites and many unread books. I have another bookcase filled with Viragos and other shelves all over the house.

The top left shelf contains all the grey books as well as my vintage books. It is difficult to read the titles but I have copies of Little Women, The Mill on the Floss, Maggie Now by Betty Smith, Because of the Lockwoods by Dorothy Whipple, A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband (more on that book later), and The Shuttle.


The decending four shelves contain fictional books. This is a small part of my stash.




The top right shelf contains much of my English history and biography collection. The one beneath it is also nonfiction, some grouped by country, some miscellaneous.


Here are most of my cookbooks.



This bottom shelf has a bit of cookbook overflow and other nonfiction titles about food. There are also some children's books, including my 1937 collection of My Book House books. My daughter is enjoying these despite being continually told to "be careful!"

14 comments:

nutmeg said...

So much to say; not enough room! I love looking at other people's bookshelves. I could spend a very pleasant hour, or two or three at yours! We have a lot of the same books - I think my version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is exactly the same as yours - I got mine from Borders here in Australia but it is the American edition. I loved I Capture the Castle and The Crimson Petal and the White and Fingersmith and Middlesex etc etc etc!

I see you've taken the cover off The Lost - does that mean you are reading it now? I really liked that the book - and the ending, I just couldn't put it down. I recently got to see Daniel Mendelsohn at The Sydney Writer's Festival and asked him a question afterwards - it was a lame question but I couldn't help myself!

Cath said...

Oh wow... wonderful bookshelves to peruse. We have quite a few books in common as you know from LibraryThing and it's good fun to actually see them there. Have you read Miss Garnet's Angel by Salley Vickers? It's lovely - I like all of hers though I haven't read her latest yet.

Lotus Reads said...

Oh mi goodness, Tara, that's a lot of books, those pictures have me drooling all over my keyboard! :)
Thank you so much for sharing!

If you would like to see mine (which I color-coordinated - yes, I have too much time on my hands some days, lol)
please go here:

http://lotusreads.blogspot.com/2006/09/how-do-you-organizeorganise-your-books.html

Cornflower said...

Tara, I see you have The Red Tent in your wonderful collection. Have you read it? If so, what did you think of it? The reason I ask is that I once had a very vivid dream in which that book's title was being repeated to me as if I had to remember it - and presumably read the book!

StuckInABook said...

I love looking at bookshelves! Especially those with Persephones - I see you've followed the same route as me; keep them all together, rather than splitting and putting them in with other fiction.

Tara said...

Cath, I haven't read it yet - I picked it up fairly recently based on some wonderful blog reviews.

Karen, I read The Red Tent a few years ago for a bookclub meeting. I loved it and would count it as one of my favorites. I would like to read it again someday. What a fascinating story about your dream - I'd love to have a similar experience!

Stuck in a book, I do think the Persephones look so nice all together like that - I can't imagine splitting them up. My copy of Hostages to Fortune has the title on the spine in a different place so they don't line up perfectly - it irritates me!

Danielle said...

You have such nice neat bookshelves--I'm very envious!! And look at all those Persephones--you have so many! I am trying to read what I have as that postage is a killer (no doubt I will order a few more before the year's out though). Anyway, you have lots more than me!! It looks like we have lots of similar books on our shelves. Thanks for sharing the photos--I love snooping in other people's libraries!!

kris said...

Love the book shelves! It's always fun to look through other people's collections - part of why blogging is so appealing!

I've read The Red Tent too - it was a very special book imo. I recommended it to my mom when we saw a copy at a garage sale this summer. It'll be interesting to see what she thinks.

I just checked my emails and saw that you left a comment about the Hawkeyes. Does your husband go to all of the games in Iowa City? I probably wouldn't be too happy about that either!! Iowa fans are VERY loyal - lol!

Tara said...

Danielle - you should see the ones in my bedroom - not so neat! Most of my Persephones were gifts - I give my husband a list and he chooses 3 and has them shipped. I don't feel so bad since it's usually for an occasion like Christmas or my birthday.

Kris, I'm glad to hear you also enjoyed The Red Tent. When we were dating he went to all the games - grrr. He gave up his tickets for a few years and now that he has them again I put limits on how many times he can go to Iowa for games - 3 this year. He gives the extra tickets to his parents, friends and usually one set to the Ronald McDonald house in Iowa City.

Caroline@Bibliocook said...

I love to see other people's cookbook collections! Mine are on several sets of shelves, divided between two houses in Ireland (with a pile in a box in New Zealand) but I'm hoping to consolidate them on a new kitchen shelf in the near future.

Tara said...

Hi Caroline - thanks for stopping by. Do you find yourself looking for recipes in books that are not with you? I'm certain I would be if my books were in different places.

JANET said...

Wow! Your house has lots of bookshelves and books like mine! But I don't have nearly that many cookbooks. I keep them in a big drawer in the kitchen.

Tara said...

Hi Janet - thanks so much for stopping by. I wish I had enough room for the cookbooks in the kitchen, but 'luckily' my house isn't so big so it's not far to walk!

Bookfool said...

Holy Toledo! You're almost as bad as I am!!!