Here is an article I read a while back that made me think about my bookshelves. I have a LOT of books. I love to read. I like to buy actual books, used books, hardback, paperback, Kindle versions, you name it. I am also a frequent patron of our local library - a couple of times a week usually.
But sometimes I feel guilty. I have a LOT of books in my to-be-read pile. I belong to a few book clubs, I read background research before my cross examination posts, I read for pleasure. But I never have enough time. I would love to have a lot more reading time. I want to read more classics, more non fiction, more genre fiction, more literary fiction, more poetry, more graphic novels. More. Of. Everything.
The picture above is what I wake up to every morning. I love it. I love books, words, lettering, fonts, typewriters, anything that has to do with the written word.
Here are a few books I need to read, but for some reason haven’t quite made it to yet:
Cormac McCarthy’s The Road
Willa Cather’s My Antonia
Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad
T. H. White’s The Once and Future King
Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
They are all on the shelf pictured above, with a couple of hundred others.
What is on your shelf of constant reproach?
I trump you on overflowing bookshelves, but then I have a few years on you. I completely understand your passion; I breathe, eat, sleep and dream words. I’ve been this way ever since I learned to read (thank God for Theodore Giesel!) And before I learned to read I was filling pages of notebooks or any blank page with my own writer’s marks (endless lines of oooooooo’s). I just feel bettter with books around me, so many places to go, so many points of view to explore, so many dreams to fulfill. Yes, I LOVE books!
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I forgot to answer your question about my shelf of constant reproach. I have many things there, not just books. I have a pile of recipes that need to be copied into my lovely personal cookbook, photos that need to be transferred to that waiting photo album and an ever-increasing pile of books to be read (and that’s just part of it). My list of books include:
The Wizard of Oz collection
Dracula
Call of the Wild
Farewell, My Subaru (about the last 50 pages)
Pride and Prejudice
Shit My Dad Says
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
The Life & Times of a Boomer Baby
And on and on and on and…well, you get the picture.
Chances are, I won’t read them in the near future. I’ve just volunteered to read books that are being considered for the common reading for our incoming freshmen. But then, maybe at least one of the above might be on the list! I can only hope.
The Road was an AMAZING book and it was one of those reads that it seemed you just picked the book up when you finish and go to put it back down…
I have inherited my own blessing and curse in the form of another reader; my husband. When we married he brought all his books. So, instead of one very packed full unit that I had almost made my way through- we now have 4. AND he took the ones I had on my list for his recent business trip! But hey I shouldn’t complain. Its hard to find a man who loves books so much :D
One of my favorites is Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse. If you have yet to read it, check it out!
I recently read the series that starts with “Shadow Man” by Cody McFadyen…a definite MUST read! There are 4 books in all, and it didn’t take me more than 3 days to read each one. A friend of mine actually got in touch with the author via e-mail, and he credited his writing to his wife (AWWW!).
Yes, I do have a shelf of reproach…and it seems like every time I start to catch up, I end up with more books to read, lol. Plus, hubby either buys me books or gift certificates for books every Christmas.
Karen, I have a 3mo and a 5yo, and what I do is on Satuday night, we do “Special Movie Night”, and the boys come in the big bed with me and watch a Disney movie, and I read (my 3mo is usually asleep by the time it starts, lol), when the movie is over and my 5yo is asleep, we move them to their own rooms. Also, I time the boys’ bedtimes and mine so i can get at least 30 minutes of reading in every night. :-) Oh, it helps that my 3mo wakes me at around 4:30am every day, so I get alot of stuff done after he falls back asleep til 9am.
Oh, I can find the time to read, Cheryl. That’s no problem. The thing is, since I was a kid, I can’t put em down. I have no discipline when it comes to reading. I will not sleep, eat, work, pee … seriously! … until the last page is done and I need to mourn the end. So … with kids? This is not an option. For the moment, unless I am sick in bed, I am limiting myself to shorter reads as a means of discipline. ;-) Thank heavens for fantastic blogs!!!
And it never helps that a little one wakes us up at 4:30 am (as much as I loved those years) … it’s just, well, inconsiderate. Those 3 month olds!!!
Glad to say my kids are all following in my footprints, and in the long run, that will buy me the forgiveness required when I fail to make their dinner in years to come when I am, er, otherwise involved!
I just bought “Keep Sweet: Children of Polygamy” by Debbie Palmer & Dave Perrin today, and am starting with the polygamy book. I’ve been working on Kathy Reichs books lately too, either buying them where I can find them cheap or borrowing them from a friend’s mother.
I also have “The Land of Painted Caves” that I need to finish, but the inside jacket spoils most of the general plot, turning me off the book. Which chokes me up, because I was so excited to read it and now I dread it. I’ll finish it at some point.
I still have It Gets Better (http://www.amazon.com/Gets-Better-Overcoming-Bullying-Creating/dp/0525952330) on my pile to read.
(In case anyone is unfamiliar, IGB is aimed towards to LGBT teens to tell them to be patient, not to hurt themselves, because life does get better. http://www.itgetsbetter.org/)
I wish I had just one “shelf of constant reproach”…I worked for B&N for 12 years & took advantage of the discount every chance I got…Now they are all staring at me, begging to be read…
I’m currently reading “The Book of Flying” by Keith Miller & as soon as its released I’ll pick up “Dance With Dragons” by George R.R. Martin, and I’m also excited about Margaret George’s Elizabeth I…you see where this is going, right? :)
I have 8 years as a book buyer for independents (so I’d get free books from publishers) and 5 as a manager at Borders… I completely understand your dilemma. I’ve thought about trying to turn some of these books into furniture or start building a house out of them :-)
I LOVED getting advance copies! And I have thought about making some cool furniture out of all mine…definitely have enough for a coffee table, end tables, maybe a reading chair & ottoman… I’ve found some neat book related ideas at this blog…http://thesteampunkhome.blogspot.com/
The Once and Future King was one of my favorites as a teenager. I had totally forgot about it. I must read it again.
I don’t have a constant shelf. Once I have some books around, I devour them. I wish I could have a job that allowed me to read all the time.
I know this will shock and horrify you, but I pretty much had to give up reading books when I had my first kid and have not been able to take it up since. You see, reading is like breathing to me, hard to stop. So if I have a book on the go, the kids don’t eat, I don’t sleep, the messy house … well … gets much, much worse. It is a sickness, I always had a book in my book or under my desk at work, read in the bathrooms at my jobs IF I allowed myself to read on the way to work … you get the picture.
I read a lot of shorter articles, newspapers, blogs so that I can stop and get something done.
Little known fact: When I was a kid, we took roadtrips. When I was done with all of my books and those of my three sisters, I would read signposts out loud until the parental units would pull over and supplement me.
I love Fall On Your Knees by Ann Marie McDonald, have read it 3 or 4 times, and each time I wonder how I could have missed the point of the story (because I get totally new things from it every time!!!).
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is my all-time favorite - I read it about every 3 years or so. I alway gain a different perspective after each read (the most mind blowing read was after I became a mother and wow, did I see the character of Katie Nolan in an entirely new, sympathetic light) Anyway, ATGIB was the no-brainer answer I always came up with for “favorite book” — at least, until I read The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. Since then, it has been a tight race between the two. :-)
Man, The Road really scarred me. I struggle with dystopia anyway - I love to read it, but then it makes my mind go in dark places. I have to be careful. I read The Road shortly after my daughter was born so I was awash in post-partum hormones. What a mistake! It took me awhile to shake that particular read.
In Steve Leveen’s “The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life”, he actually recommends keeping a healthy stock of unread books as “candidates”. That made me feel better about my own burgeoning stock of unread books. Ahem. Although, I HAVE been shocked at how quickly I have managed to stockpile unread books on the Kindle. Good grief.
I’m actually currently reading five books, but have been put on hold until I finish the 11th book in the Southern Vampire Novels (what True Blood is based off and has ruined), Dead Reckoning. I just got it last week and I buy the books the day it comes out (May 3 of each year). I’m trying to finish it before I go to England on Thursday.
The other books that are on my list of I’m reading or haven’t picked up yet (but really need to read):
1. The Stand: Extended Edition (Reading)
Can’t decide if I want to take this one or #2 to England
2. Girl With the Dragon Tatoo (Reading)
3. Laurel K Hamilton’s The Harlequin, I believe the 10th book in the Anita Blake Series (reading)
4. Moveable Feast (reading)
5. Women in Running (Need to read)
6. Colorado Fourteeners, to get ready for a hiking trip in July (need to read)
7. Surface Production Opeartions (need to badly badly read for my job)
8. Pipeline Rules of Thumb Handbook (also need to badly badly read for my job).
Also, I have the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series (4 books total…the movies ruined them) to giveaway if anyone is interested. My email is [email protected].
I vote for Dragon Tattoo, The stand is too big and too heavy to pack!
I was thinking the same thing, especially since I am backpacking. However, I won’t worry about finishing the Stand while I’m there. I may finish the Dragon Tattoo. I guess I can get another book, while there. LOL
There are many, many, many on my shelf but the one bothering me most right now is “Water for Elephants.” Need. to. read. it.
BTW, “My Antonia” is lovely…especially if you know a little background on Willa Cather. :)
I’ve been lurking around your blog since I read your Halloween post, and I love you’re writing. I’m often inspired. However, when I opened your blog on my iPhone today, the ad at the top says “say no to same-sex marriage in new York.” I wasn’t sure if you were aware of the offensive ad content. I assume that you wouldn’t support these sentiments.
Hmmm… Now there’s no ad at all after refreshing my page. Just wanted to give cw an FYI that it was there. Glad it’s gone now!
Gotta love automated ads..
Not the people making em mind you but still that’s a good question, who does provide the ads here? I, for one, am willing to complain.
As to the books, no, I don’t really have any bookish to be reads, I’m known for walking tot he store with my nose is a book.
There are a couple I’m aware of that i can’t find, though.
AAK, now I feel stupid when I realize there’s no banner ads on this site… what are you using to view the website? I’m willing to bet they’re the culprit.
Ha! I love “the shelf of constant reproach”! I completely relate. My reproachful shelf contains:
Fatal Revenant - Stephen Donaldson (I got hooked on this series YEARS ago; I need to know how it ENDS)
Algebra 1b.
At least 20 other books that I pretend not to see. Most of them books that I feel that I *should* read so that my peers don’t think that I’m illiterate (or, heaven forbid, untrendy).
Love your blog!
The biggest cravings in my guilt list are books by Nikos Kazantzakis and Thomas Shippey. K I’ve read some and really enjoyed, years ago, and have since found more titles. S has books on Tolkien that I know I will enjoy but haven’t taken the focus to get through. Meanwhile I have gone about my house and taken some photos of the various places that unread books are really piling up. Also on my list are Paul Moore Jr.’s autobiography, some books on the Tarot, some modern church-related books, pop science…. oh everywhere I look there are books that I meant to read Right Away. But seriously, I have Rob Bell’s book on order and I will read that as soon as it comes. hehe