It's time for another Bookshelf Travelling for Insane Times post which is being hosted by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness.
The idea is to share your bookshelves with other bloggers. Any aspect you like:
1. Home.
2. Books in the home.
3. Touring books in the home.
4. Books organized or not organized on shelves, in bookcases, in stacks, or heaped in a helter-skelter fashion on any surface, including the floor, the top of the piano, etc.
5. Talking about books and reading experiences from the past, present, or future.
Whatever you fancy as long as you have fun.
Today's 'shelf' is a pile of books I keep on the top of the bookshelves in the bedroom. They're books about books and thus one of my favourite genres.
From the bottom:
The Pleasure of Reading edited by the writer, Antonia Fraser. I haven't read this and I don't know why. It was produced to celebrate the centenary of booksellers, W.H. Smith, and in it 40 writers talk about their love of reading and the books they love. I'm keeping this one out to dip into.
A Passion for Books edited by Harold Rabinowitz and Rob Kaplan. This is simialar to the previous book, famous people discussing every aspect of reading and books. I've dipped in and out of this over the years but never quite finished it.
What Makes This Book So Great by writer, Jo Walton. I have finished this one and I love it, one of my favourite books about books as it's so personal. Jo Walton describes all the books she's loved over the years and why. It's a sort of a non-fiction version of her fantasy book, Among Others.
The Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski. This is a book on the evolution of bookshelves. I haven't read it yet but I will.
The Bookshop Book by Jen Campbell. I see I read this in March 2016 but didn't review it because it was a busy month. I don't remember much about it other than it's a homage to bookshops and I must have liked it because I gave it 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. I fancy it must be time for a reread.
Howards End is on the Landing and Jacob's Room is Full of Books both by Susan Hill. Words can't explain how much I love these two books. I've read them both several times and love how personal to the author they clearly are. And they are *so* beautifully and lyrically written. A joy.
Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman. Again I can't remember a lot about this but believe I've read it twice, obviously quite a few years ago because Goodreads has no record of it so it was before I joined that in 2007. Yet again, time for a reread.
So, have you any favourite books about books you can recommend?
8 comments:
Goodness... pahleeze.. don't make me buy more books! I have trouble enough on my own without you putting up books I will check out! Gah! lol..
I've read both of those two Susan Hill books. I agree they are a joy. I still keep dipping into them now and again.
The only other book about books I can think of at the moment is Lucy Mangan's Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading - a book that gave me hours of nostalgic pleasure.
I really loved Howard's End is on the Landing. What a great book about books and reading. :)
I love books about books. I haven't read many of these, I will have to look into them.
I did read Howards End is on the Landing and I did not like it as well as you did, but it was still good reading because it was about books.
I totally agree with your assessment of Jo Walton's What Makes This Book So Great. I loved it and could read it again... but it is so long. I am in the middle of reading An Informal History of the Hugos by Walton but it is taking me a long time. It covers a lot, including short stories.
It seems like I have read a lot of books on books but can't remember many of them. I have read all the Nancy Pearl books (Book Lust, etc.) and Book Lust to Go is my favorite.
I do love books about books!
Gosh, Cath, This was a marvelous theme for a bookshelf. It's given me the idea to trot out the books I own on this theme.
I have Susan Hill's Howard's End is on the Landing, but haven't read it yet. I didn't know she had another, and will make note of that.
And I'm making note of the books that you especially enjoyed--flagging that for sure!
And it's true that of the books on this theme that I own, very few I've read from cover to cover. It's much more often I pick one up and read a few chapters and wait til later for more.
What a great stack of books for book lovers, Cath.
Your book-stacks are so much fun to look at that I've been sort of inspired to try the idea out on Book Chase - if I can find the energy. :-)
Ex Libris is one of my absolute favorite books, as is her other essay book, At Small, At Large.
I've read all the chapters in What Makes This Book so Great that correspond with books I've read. Jo Walton is great.
I recommend the book How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen
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