Your personal library

I think this may belong to the Roundtable.

Anyway, I am not a big book buyer. I am a slow reader so I still have a big TBR stack. I read maybe one book every few months. I do have a good-sized library with non-fic books -- science, humor, biographies, etc.

My library occasionally seems to defy time and space. I found three PG Wodehouse novels lodged in obscure places in my car. I was going through my closet and I found a Teddy Roosevelt biography and Neuromancer along with an eleven year old supersoaker pistol.

So I'm afraid that my library repels all attempts to be snared, brought to captivity, and catalogued. It instead chooses to lurk among the strange, dusty places in my home. As soon as I'm inside I am Watched.

I've been collecting since high school. I'm a book fiend. Sometimes I think I like books more than I do reading, if that makes sense.

I've got about 4,000 or so. 80% are hardcovers.

Both my husband and I read vociferously, and our house is full of books. In fact, there are books in pretty much every room in the house.

We have different tastes, though. I read crime and horror; he reads fantasy, sf and more recently non-fiction historical books.

Because I am more inclined to try something new, I am more likely to read his sf books than he is my crime books!

My sister thinks we have too many books. I say there's no such thing.

Shara

My wife sent me this quote the other day, as she thought it was something I could well have said...

"I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves."

Anna Quindlen​

Do you folks know about LibraryThing?

scarletpeaches said:

Anyway. I was wondering how many books we all own? I keep a catalogue of mine to keep track and this evening bought my 447th. I used to have a lot more but the numbers are slowly building up again.

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When the military moved us 3 years ago, I had to catalogue all of my books (well, didn't HAVE to...did so that if they lost any of my books, I had a record of what I had), and it was well over 1,000. Since then, we have accumulated a lot...a lot...A LOT...of books. ie., we've bought four large bookshelves since we moved here. NO idea how many we have now.

Also, what genre or author dominates your shelves?

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For non-fiction, I have a lot of books on Hitler and the Third Reich (a fascinating era that I read about frequently), as well as WWII in general. I have at least two dozen books on pregnancy and such, since my husband and I are trying to have a baby. I also have buttloads of books on religion (including actual religious texts like The Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Qu'ran, and the Satanic Bible...I think I have a few others, but can't recall off-hand), weapons, history (numerous cultures/time periods), psychology, etc. Oh, and a huge section on equine movement and anatomy because I sculpt horses.

As far as fiction...mostly fantasy. Pretty much every available book by Sara Douglass, the entire Rhapsody series by Elizabeth Hayden, most of the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, and various others. I also have easily 30 books by Dean Koontz (which I'm going to be parting with -- if anyone is looking for any specific titles, please PM me). Otherwise just random titles that looked interesting.

I also have many English literature classics (Austen, Bronte and the like) but haven't read as many of them as I think I should have!

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Ditto here...I've also started buying collections lately...basically the large "complete works" volumes, since they take up less space than buying the books individually. The Complete Works of Shakespeare is freaking huge, but it's handy, as is Poe and a couple of others. I have plenty of individuals too...Machiavelli is the only one that comes to mind off hand, but I have quite a few.

Favourite, least favourite authors, which books you feel have a good or bad influence on your own writing.

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I am absolutely a fanatic over Sara Douglass' work, and I know that she and Elizabeth Hayden have influenced - positively - my writing. I tend to avoid reading either of them when I'm working on a WIP, though...I get so wrapped up in their stories that it distracts me from my own.

Will Lavender said:

Sometimes I think I like books more than I do reading, if that makes sense.

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OMG I totally know what you mean!!!!!!! I thought I was the only one.

Will Lavender said:

I've been collecting since high school. I'm a book fiend. Sometimes I think I like books more than I do reading, if that makes sense.

I've got about 4,000 or so. 80% are hardcovers.

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Wow! That's some collection!

I haven't counted, but probably somewhere between 50-100, most of which are commercial fiction and chick lit, sprinkled with a smidgeon of 'how to' writer's books. Of course, the only time I buy fiction novels is when the library has a used books sale or if there's a book I really want to read but can't get it through the library system. Otherwise, it's the free checkouts for me. Exceptions would be the Harry Potter series (which I bought [softcover] after much pleading from my daughter, and the classics--I'm determined to make my way through a lot of the authors I used Cliffs Notes for in high school.

I can't pick one or even a few authors who influence my writing b/c I have purposely been reading all sorts of genres ever since I started writing, just to see how different writers do it. I tell ya, whoever said reading fiction is the best way to learn how to write it was spot on!

Medievalist said:

Do you folks know about LibraryThing?

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OH NO.

Not only am I a compulsive book-buyer, I'm INSANE about LISTS.

Now I'm never going to get ANYTHING done because I'll be too busy cataloging my books...

kpmcneil22 said:

Currently, my favorite authors are Richard Russo and Michael Chabon. They write such great characters that novels like The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay or Empire Falls have just blown me away.

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Two of my favorites as well.

But: I didn't like Empire Falls for some reason. Not sure why. Everybody I talk to loved it, but I had a real hard time even finishing it. (I eventually did.)

I LOVED Russo's Straight Man, however. An absolute classic.

If you liked Straight Man, you might like Francine Prose's underrated and brilliant Blue Angel.

(I love campus novels, as you can see. No surprise that my book is set on a college campus.)

We had to rent a storage wossname for our book collection, because especially with Tzinski 2.0 coming, there just aren't room for all the books in the house anymore. We completely filled the storage room. And that doesn't include the two bookshelves packed with books still in the living room, AND the four boxes of books stacked in my closet.

Or the books in my office.

Mostly, it's a lot of science fiction and fantasy. WE buy a lot. A handful of them are old ACE Double-book packs, because my wife mostly collected the complete Andre Norton library. Some of them are cool because they're by "Andrew North," (her old, old psuedonym) and one of them has a book by some Philip Dick guy.

But I have a lot of reference books. History books, mythology books, all sorts of stuff. A big collection of books on the Civil War that my dad read and gave to me. A book on the battle of Traflagar, things like that.

And classics, lots of classics, the Victor Hugos and John Steinbacks and CHarles Dickens. And a handful of science books.

And probably a load of other stuff I can't remember.

Shara said:

Both my husband and I read vociferously, and our house is full of books. In fact, there are books in pretty much every room in the house.

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*cough* Vicariously, perhaps?

I have something over 3,000. At least three-quarters of them are hardcovers. I have a few hundred signed firsts, including perhaps 40-50 inscribed by the authors to other writers. There are a few shelves of Penguin Classics, & most of the rest are small press books, in their trade paper first editions, or reference books. I don't keep mass-market paperbacks; they get swapped or go to the Salvation Army.

The great majority of the books are (for want of a better term) literary fiction, especially collections of short stories, published within the last 30 years or so. There are quite a few biographies & histories as well. I keep them as nearly in alphabetical-by-author order as possible, given that I don't have quite enough space to shelve them without stacking new purchases on top of others.

I prefer light reading on days when I'm writing. Wodehouse is usually perfect.

PeeDee said:

*cough* Vicariously, perhaps?

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"Voraciously" would be my guess.

Flay said:

"Voraciously" would be my guess.

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Although "vociferously" is a fun idea, in that I would love to bellow and outburst at my books as I read them.

PeeDee said:

Although "vociferously" is a fun idea, in that I would love to bellow and outburst at my books as I read them.

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I rarely shout at books. I do, once in a while, throw one--violently.

PeeDee said:

Although "vociferously" is a fun idea, in that I would love to bellow and outburst at my books as I read them.

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"GARP'S MOTHER, JENNY FIELDS, WAS ARRESTED IN BOSTON IN 1942 FOR WOUNDING A MAN IN A MOVIE THEATER!!!!"

Just starting re-reading Garp.

(John Irving is a god)

Medievalist said:

Do you folks know about LibraryThing?

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I wish I didn't have to pay to put all of my books on there. What a great site!

I'm more of a borrower than a buyer (library). I buy fiction for cheap at the monthly library sell-off, and seldom keep paperbacks (I release mine into the world with Book Crossings.)
My keepers are generally non-fiction, and a few fiction classics. I seem to reach a certain number and feel the need to purge.

scarletpeaches said:

LibraryThing won't let me catalogue all my books unless I sign up for the special gold standard in-crowd membershippy thing. Bah!

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www.bibliophil.org may.