What’s on the shelf?
picture by lungstruck
When I was a child, I was a voracious reader. I remember loving Enid Blyton, then Nancy Drew, then Trixie Belden, and devouring Archie comics on the holidays. I used to go with my mother to the local book dealer, in the main street of my home town. While Mum traded paperbacks, I used to browse the second hand books and traded comics and always got to come home with a brown paper bag full ‘new’ reading for myself. I remember how dog-eared and sticky-taped some of the comic books were, but they still had purpose enough, so long as I could turn the page.
In highschool it was Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, George Orwell and John Wyndham. In university, it became Edgar Alan Poe, D H Lawrence, Doris Lessing, I even read Fyodor Dostoyevsky (just don’t ask me about it ‘cos I didn’t understand it).
And then I stopped reading literature. I don’t know why. I can’t blame it on having children because I had stopped reading long before that. Maybe part of it was having to read so much academic content at uni, reading became a chore. Maybe part of it was my magazine addiction, which gave an instant hit of wisdom without having to give much of myself to the reading experience.
Maybe part of it was the accessibility of television. When I was a kid, there were only two channels and between them not much to watch. Now I can get a story or three every night of the week, and follow the series week after week, so who needs to invest in Catherine and Heathcliffe, when we can have any number of dramas at the push of a button? Careful, don’t strain yourself.
And now the wonderful world of books has returned to me and it’s been something of an epiphany. My tastes are eclectic, I will read almost anything, fiction or non-fiction, and derive some kind of pleasure from it. I’ve begun collecting with a vengeance, and particularly love finding a classic hardback, no matter what edition. I have a copy of House at Pooh Corner, dated 1956, and a 1968 edition of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Not necessarily old or valuable, but they give me pleasure just having them on the shelf.
And I suppose the example my mother made trading books at the old bookstore back home has stuck with me as I’m a happy book lender and, particularly with fiction, am happy to keep passing books along a chain. They are communal property, to be consumed by as many people as possible. Ever noticed how people will gravitate to the bookshelves when they’re wanting to get to know you better? Like the contents of the bookshelf are an outer representation of the inner person? I like to get rid of my old stuff.
I have a growing collection of women’s health, pregnancy and parenting books. My shelf is loaded most heavily with non-fiction in the form of memoir and biography, psychology, Neuro-Linguistic Programming and titles by Bernard Salt and Malcom Gladwell, visual arts, architecture and gardening. I might call myself atheist, but I have a rather broad collection of spiritual and self-help and motivational literature. I’m drawn to encyclopaedias of any variety and have two books (you know, in case we lose one) on How To Do Just About Anything. You wouldn’t believe how handy they are.
And then there are the back issues of National Geographic, Australian Yoga Life and Simply Living. I still don’t know why I keep them. Like I’m some kind of squirrel stowing it all for the long winter.
So what’s on your shelf?
January 31st, 2010 - Posted in gratitude, nostalgia, play | |
6 Responses to ' What’s on the shelf? '
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on February 2nd, 2010 at 9:59 pm
I’ll play
… Recipe books, books about aromatherapy, herbal medicine and gardening, and story books that give some social commentary (many are fun like Discworld)
on February 5th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
I’m looking at my bookshelves right now and they are absolutely bare. We moved house today and all the books are still in their boxes. The Hubby and I have decided to make a feature wall of all our books and eventually get custom made shelves for them. In the meantime our two huge bookcases will have to do. I do have two books free of the boxes - both of them I have to read for work, nt that it’s a chore at all, their both crime fiction.
on February 5th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
…they’re both crime fiction!
on February 6th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
And you call yourself a writer Mary-Lou! Sounds like the move is going well. Didn’t know you like crime fiction.
Andy, I relate to your cookbooks too. This past Xmas I indulged myself a brand-spanking new copy of Stephanie Alexander’s Cooks Companion. I have wanted it for years and it just doesn’t come up second hand very often.
on February 6th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
I am so jealous! Cooks Companion looks like a great book. Do you have Mrs Beaton - she’s wonderful.
on February 6th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
No, but I still use my highschool home-ec text, Day to Day Cookery almost every week.