I used to have many, many books. But moving
6,000 miles and starting over with everything I owned in two suitcases broke me
(at least a little) of the packrat habit. I still have a fair amount of books,
but it’s enough to fit in one room. That’s the other reason we’ve reigned in
our physical book-buying: my husband and I live in quite a small flat. The
other reason is the joy of the library, which I worked at for eight months, and
e-books, which I’ve embraced.
Without further ado…my bookcases!
So, in our lounge, here’s the full effect
of our bookshelves.
Two cheap Argos bookshelves and a little
Ikea one.
A closer look to the left…
Here we have fiction A-M. There’s a
hodgepodge here of fantasy, science fiction, young adult general fiction,
historical fiction, and the works. I’ve not read all of these. Ones still to be
read: Abercrombie, some of the Asimov, Banks, and Boyle. I read a couple of
Terry Brooks and he’s not my thing. Crowley, Donaldson, Harkaway, some of the
Gibsons, some of the Hayder and Herberts.
I also have a Waterstones gift card I need
to use!
Looking to the centre:
Sorry, this one’s a little blurry. Here we
have some oversize books and favourites. I’ve got all the Hobb hardbacks, and
she’s my favourite author. The Inside out book is signed, as is the Atwood. I
love those editions of Philip Pullman, my ARC I won of Days of Blood and
Starlight, some graphic novels, poems, Patrick Ness (<3 and="" angst="" books="" bottom="" diary="" french="" full="" harry="" hiding="" hilarity.="" in="" is="" my="" myths.="" next="" of="" old="" on="" potter="" right="" span="" teenage="" the="" to="" which="">
And there’s some book in there called
Pantomime—I guess I like that one all right J
And to the right…
We have Fiction M-Z and nonfiction! Bonus:
our awesome lamp.
Authors on this shelf I still need to read:
Naomi Novik (borrowed from my friend Kim Curran—sorry Kim, will read it soon, I
promise!), Rod Rees, Mike Shevdon, Dan Simmons,
some of the Gene Wolfe, and others like Blood Red Road (ALSO borrowed
from Kim!).
Then we have a break with my writing block
book and a yew box our friend Jamie made for us for our wedding, topped by the
SAS survival guide. Then there’s some literary journals—my poetry and one of my
short stories is in some of them, and the Arroyo ones I worked on while at uni.
The nonfiction was originally by rough Dewey Decimal system, but now I’ve not
worked in the library for about 2 years so I’ve forgotten some of the numbers
and it’s a bit messy.
On the other side of the room…
A few more books! This is our dining
table/work desk. On it we have two James Jean print books. I still need to
frame some of them to hang up around our house. I love James Jean’s work. Then
I have my beloved Taschen books I bought as research for Pantomime (the Circus
book) and its sequel (The Magic book—bought it as a present to myself when I
got my book deal!). Above that are our sadly-neglected cookbooks, because
there’s no room anywhere else for them.
On the shelves are some antique books I’ve
collected. Some of these were centerpieces at our wedding as well, so I lugged
them 6,000 miles to decorate my flat. Some of the titles: Latin for Beginners,
Best English Poetry, Pilgrim’s Progress, Illustrated Natural History (this one
is from 1887), Hypatia or New Foes with an Old Face, and Two Lives.
Bonus: On the mantelpiece is a LOVE sign my
dad made, as he used to own a sign business. Some cat figurines, candles,
and—morbidly—my childhood cat’s ashes.
Close-up of the Taschen books. They’re
expensive but worth the money—so beautifully produced. They can double as
weights.
And, lastly, here is my Kindle. Probably
too small to see, but some of the titles are me beta-reading a book for a
friend, Blood and Feathers by Lou Morgan, The City’s Son by Tom Pollock, The
Obsidian Mirror by Catherine Fisher (my current read), Eon by Alison Goodman,
The Escapement by K.J. Parker, and Frostfire by Zoe Mariott (loved it).
So, there are my bookshelves! Hope you
enjoyed having a nosy. J
Info:
Website: http://www.lauralam.co.uk
(Bio under the
“about” section)
Twitter: @LR_Lam
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lauralamauthor
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/micahgrey/
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