January 14, 2010

NEW FEATURE ALERT: Shelf by Shelf #1

One of the first things people do when they come into my house is look at my books -they like to compare their collections to mine.

Often I am asked, "Have you read all these?"

Nope, I certaintly have not.

"How many have you read?"

I have no idea. A lot?

"How many books do you own?"

Ummm... 300ish?

THE TABBY CATT's debut feature will help me (and you!) answer those questions by examining one shelf at a time.

I considered starting at the top and working my way down, but the top 2 shelves are dominated by my favorite series and authors, so I'll start with a different shelf that has a little more variety!

Welcome to...

Dum dum dum

Shelf #1:


L-R

#1 - AMERICAN WIFE by Curtis Sittenfeld - I was suprised to learn that Ms. Sittenfeld is, in fact, a Ms. I'm sure she gets that a lot. Sorry, Mrs. Sittenfeld! I have not yet read this novel loosely based on the life of former First Lady Laura Bush - I want to, I just keep forgetting it's on the shelf!


#2 - THE ROYALS by Kitty Kelley - I adore this 750+ page tome devoted to the House of Saxe-Coburg Gotha Habsburg Mountbatten Windsor. I have read this several times.

#3-11 - Various books about Diana, Princess of Wales. I love her. Bear and I are going to London this summer and I plan to visit Althorp, the Spencer ancestral home. I have read all of these, a couple of them more than once.

#12-14 - UGLIES trilogy by Scott Westerfeld - Read them all last year, one after another. I wouldn't say these were unputdownable, but I sure enjoyed them! Would read again.


#15-16 - THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF THE MODERN AGE by Douglas Angus and TWENTY-ONE GREAT SHORT STORIES edited by Abraham Lass and Norma Tasman. Read (most of) both. These books contain some of the English language's best short stories, including Guy Maupassant's The Necklace, Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and Edgar Allan Poe's The Telltale Heart.

#17 - THE CAY by Theodore Taylor. If you didn't read this touching WWII-era tale of survival, prejudice, and acceptance in elementary school, read it now.

#18 - ACROSS FIVE APRILS by Irene Hunt. I read this book in middle school, but this story of a family and state splintered by the Civil War (the title refers to April 1861-April 1865, the five Aprils, and beginning and end, of the war) and one boy's difficult transition into manhood is worth another read.


#19 - 1984 by George Orwell. Like every other American public school student, I was forced to read this in school. Unlike everyone else, I had to read it for 8th grade government AND senior year AP Literature! Maybe one day I'll read it again, but until then, just remember... "War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength." Or not. I still prefer Orwell's firsthand account of the Spanish Civil War in HOMAGE TO CATALONIA.

#20 - THE SCARLET LETTER by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Let someone borrow it, never got it back, bought a new one. Still haven't read it. A classic that I really need to tear myself away from YA for. Everyone knows Hester Prynne's name, but I'd like to actually know her story.

#21 - THE SPANISH BRIDE by Laurien Gardner. For the longest time, I thought this book was written by Phillipa Gregory, and could not understand HOW she could possibly be a best-seller. Did not like the writing style, did not finish the book.


#22 - A WALK TO REMEMBER by Nicholas Sparks. My favorite Sparks novel! I dare you to read this and not cry at the end. I DARE you. Another one I loaned out, never got back, and had to rebuy.

#23 - THE PERFECT STORM by Sebastian Junger. As is usually the case, the book was a lot better than the movie. A nail-biting, true-life speculative account of the tragic last days of the Andrea Gail's crew.

#24 - CANDIDE by Voltaire. Bear and I were both supposed to read this for AP Literature. He read it, I did not. I think this is actually his copy, which predates us dating.

#25 - WICKED by Gregory Maguire. I want to see the Broadway so badly, but I haven't read it yet.

#26 - REVOLUTIONARY ROAD by Richard Yates. The movie was amazing. I bought this book intending read it before the movie came out, but I ended up watching the movie first. I have heard the book is far more depressing than the film.

#27 - TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee. I read this in middle school and would like to reread it as an adult simply because... it is a masterpiece.


To sum up Shelf #1:
27 books OWNED

21 READ
6 NOT READ

2 borrowed, never returned, and repurchased

And people wonder why I don't loan my books out anymore...

What's on your bookshelf?

8 comments:

Joseph Rooks said...

What an awesome idea for a blog post.

I might have to do this soon myself.

Digital Kitsune said...

I agree with Joe, this is a great idea for a blog post. I don't think I could pull this off with my book shelves. My first book shelf consists of 30 books that are basically all reference books for various programming languages and other things on computers; probably not that the most entertaining read for most people.

Unknown said...

:) Awesome!! I remember you starting your princess diana collection!! Do you still have those stamps we got you? I have no idea where my parents found them!

Abby Stevens said...

Joe - thank you! I would love to learn about your collection!

Mark - I am not including textbooks (we have far too many between Ash and I), but I am including some of my Dummy/Idiot's Guide books. I'm not sure why I keep those on the shelves with literature, except maybe because I read those for leisure.

Jessica - I do in fact still have those stamps! They were such a wonderful gift and I still treasure them! I have so much Diana stuff - some of it is around the house, but most of it is still put up. Eventually I'd like to find those wall plate hangers to put the collectible plates I have up on the wall somewhere.

heather said...

lol, great idea!
You should def. read some of these books, I know you like young adult books still and these are some of my FAVORITES. I love talking books with you, we should def. start a book club!
Just click the link and it will take you directly to the amazon site with all the book listings.

(3 part series)
http://www.amazon.com/Ashes-Mortal-Instruments-Cassandra-Clare/dp/1416972242/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263869620&sr=8-1

shiver-
http://www.amazon.com/Shiver-Maggie-Stiefvater/dp/0545123267/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263869643&sr=1-1

wake (3 part series)-
http://www.amazon.com/Wake-Book-1-Lisa-McMann/dp/1416974474/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263869659&sr=1-1

Hush,hush-
http://www.amazon.com/Hush-Becca-Fitzpatrick/dp/1416989412/ref=pd_sim_b_9

Abby Stevens said...

Heather -

I actually got my aunt the Mortal Instruments series for Christmas. I haven't read any of those, but I've heard wonderful things about all of them.

And as for a book club, I've been looking for one for a long time, but the only one I've found is for paranormal romance, and it simply wasn't what I was looking for. I would be very open to starting a book club, but I'd like to do one that explores all different genres.

Debbie Barr said...

Oooh, fun idea! I didn't start buying a lot of books until the last year or two, so I only have 4 shelves worth ATM (plus tons of books my husband owns, but that's a different story).

I like to keep up on the books I've bought but haven't read, so I have a specific shelf (or, currently, half a shelf) designated for those books so I can keep track.

Abby Stevens said...

Debbie -

A new reader! Well, hello!

I do have one shelf of mostly unread books (largely Christmas presents, actually!), but I have this odd way of organizing my bookshelf, so often things that are unread get smooshed between already-reads.

I genuinely have no idea how many I have not read, which is part of the reason why I am doing this series. I could just go count, but this is so much more fun! :-)

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