You're walking past your bookshelves (or piles, this is a judgment-free zone) or looking through them for your next read, when you see that book: the one that just looks perfect on your shelf. Maybe it's because that particular book is actually a disguise for suitcases full of memories. Maybe it's because it is a beautiful edition that you saved up to buy or a series that looks awesome lined up on the shelf. Or maybe it's just a book you've read or look through over and over that makes you happy every time you see it sitting there. Today at The Readventurer, we're talking about the books we just love to see on our shelves.
I know that you will all probably expect me to start listing off beautiful, pristine, rare copies of my favorite books, but when I think about the books I love to look at the most, none of those adjectives apply. This is the first book that comes to mind:
It’s an older paperback edition that’s water damaged, dirty, and one corner of it has been chewed off. It turns out that, when it comes to my favorite books to look at, I’m a sentimentalist. My favorite books to look at have stories beyond the ones within their pages. They have my stories.
My mom has struggled with depression for my entire life, but when I was fourteen, she went through a period of very deep depression and anxiety. She stopped being able to fully care for us, and often became overly frightened about things like rare diseases and natural disasters. (Don’t worry, this won’t be all doom and gloom. This story actually has an eventual happy(ish) ending. Years later my mom finally got help, became a therapist herself, and now works at a fancy pants rehab facility treating the rich and sometimes famous.) That summer though, she decided that we were going on a road trip, for reasons unknown and to points unnamed.
My mom has struggled with depression for my entire life, but when I was fourteen, she went through a period of very deep depression and anxiety. She stopped being able to fully care for us, and often became overly frightened about things like rare diseases and natural disasters. (Don’t worry, this won’t be all doom and gloom. This story actually has an eventual happy(ish) ending. Years later my mom finally got help, became a therapist herself, and now works at a fancy pants rehab facility treating the rich and sometimes famous.) That summer though, she decided that we were going on a road trip, for reasons unknown and to points unnamed.
Did I mention this book is also illustrated?
As a lifelong planner and stability-lover, this was basically my worst nightmare. We spent hours and days in our beat up old Volkswagen station wagon, going from place to place with no goal in sight. Our little dog Cody came along in the car and got car sick at least once or twice a day. I can still remember vividly sitting in the back seat with him and trying desperately to will him not to throw up on me. When we had money, we stayed in motels. When we didn’t, we went “camping.” We drove from Washington State down through Oregon, California, Nevada, and Utah (and then all the way back).
In a tiny town in Utah, sitting on the front porch of a general store, was a box labeled “free books.” Inside that box, stuck in between romance novels and westerns, I spotted this copy of Little Women. I had checked it out years earlier from my school library and had found myself completely bored. In the middle of that crazy journey, I picked it up eagerly and buried myself in it. To be honest, I think I expected to be bored once again, but I would have taken anything at that point. However, I was not bored. Far from it! I can still remember sitting on a blanket in the dirt completely absorbed by that certain scene which will live in infamy! I read it when we were in shitty motels; I read it outside whenever it was light enough; I read it in the car; I kept reading it even after my dog chewed off the bottom right corner. That book took me away from everything that was going on and delivered me into another world. I can honestly say that it saved me!
In a tiny town in Utah, sitting on the front porch of a general store, was a box labeled “free books.” Inside that box, stuck in between romance novels and westerns, I spotted this copy of Little Women. I had checked it out years earlier from my school library and had found myself completely bored. In the middle of that crazy journey, I picked it up eagerly and buried myself in it. To be honest, I think I expected to be bored once again, but I would have taken anything at that point. However, I was not bored. Far from it! I can still remember sitting on a blanket in the dirt completely absorbed by that certain scene which will live in infamy! I read it when we were in shitty motels; I read it outside whenever it was light enough; I read it in the car; I kept reading it even after my dog chewed off the bottom right corner. That book took me away from everything that was going on and delivered me into another world. I can honestly say that it saved me!
In college I re-read Little Women and it didn’t absorb me in the same way. I’ve never been able to connect with it like I did on that horrible road trip. Maybe I’m not a true fan of the story, but this book – this particular book with its damaged dirty edges and teeth marks – will always remind me of how I discovered that reading could be an escape. And I think it's also directly responsible for forging in me a fondness for beat up old versions of my favorite books. Sometimes when I see them set aside at library book sales and thrift shops, I feel like it’s my duty to rescue them and give them a good home. These older versions of four of Thomas Hardy’s novels (which are almost falling apart) are some of my favorites to look at.
I was a goner.
| My old version of Pride and Prejudice, with its slightly bending spine, page creases, and library mark-up is my absolute favorite thing to see on my shelf, and that is because it reminds me of my junior high life of crime. Now because I was a minor and I'm sure the statute of limitations has run on my crime, I'll tell you that I may or may not have never returned it to the library. (it may or may not have been due in 1998) But my crime was not even for the sake of reading the book, it was for the love of architecture. You see, junior high Flann was dying to be an architect. She spent hours and hours drawing floor plans, elevation drawings, and no joke, subscribed to Architectural Digest and several upscale real estate magazines. She bought books of floor plans and knew all about different styles of buildings. So when junior high me found out there were floor plan drawings in this version of Pride and Prejudice after checking it out, there's really nothing the library could've done to get me to return it. Slightly bigger than one of my new Babysitter's Club postcards, the book fits perfectly in my hand. Why don't they make more hardback books this size? |
| Next up in the random factoids about me section is my absolute love of geography, maps, and completing lists. I recently told The Unread Reader about my list of US National Parks and Monuments and how I keep track of how many I've been to. Well, I love looking at my atlas (not pictured) and this USA bookof great sights to see that one of my sisters bought me. I love the entire sections of travel books which are scattered around my house. While I was looking at my books (and thinking about my lists), I saw something else that always makes me smile, sitting on top of a pile of Nora Roberts books: a magnetic map of the US. As you can see, tons of states are missing. That's because I (and some of my friends) are sending them to Maja from The Nocturnal Library and her daughter to assemble on their fridge! They arrive with drawings, candy, fact sheets, postcards, temporary tattoos, or other fun things from that state. (I think her favorites so far have been a scorpion lollipop from Arizona and a sand dollar from Florida) If you have any fun ideas and want to participate, shoot me an email! | 
I want to go to there.
Quick! Superman! Half of the USA is missing!
|
A super awesome investment.
Two of the best book sets that have ever been published are The Complete Far Side and The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. This is a fact. (source: my dad) I will forever love both of these cartoons because they are my dad's favorites. Gary Larson made tons of scientific jokes in his cartoons and I used to sit on a spin stool in my dad's laboratory and try to figure out why they were funny while I made necklaces and bracelets out of tiny plastic test tubes. (he cut the cartoons out and hung them on the walls) Now that I'm older and much, much more mature (heh), I think Gary Larson is one of the funniest people of all-time. The Complete Far Side weighs a ton and is surprisingly hardy, especially when you consider how often I look at it. Most of the cartoons are in black and white but there are some color pages interspersed. The book designers put thought into every aspect of the design--it has beautiful covers, the box the two books slide into is heavy enough to withstand a beating, and even the outside of the package and the inner pages of the cover are Far Side-related. The Calvin and Hobbes editions are very similar looking and the reason I love them is much the same, only it is because of my brother's love of the cartoon. Both sets are an investment considering their price (about $100 each) but in my opinion, they are so worth it. Every time I see them on my shelf, I smile. And more often than not, I get lost in laughter for an hour.
| 
Right: One side of the outer case cover. Above: The inner cover of one of the books.
| 
Right: The other side of the outer cover. Above: An example of the layout of the cartoons.
| 
|
| I have tens of honorable mentions for this feature topic. I could probably ramble on for hours. But I have to mention two more of my favorites--Graeme Base and Shel Silverstein. When I see their books on my shelves or on ANY shelves, I always stop to take a look. In Base's case, it is for the gorgeous illustrations and in Silverstein's it is a combination of nostalgia, humor, and the poems with corresponding drawings. The picture to the right is a stuffed Carl Kassell head looking at my copy of Falling Up. (NPR, FTW!) | 
|
Recognize any of these? I bet you do
Wow, after Catie's and Flannery's personal stories, I don't think I can write anything that doesn't make me sound completely heartless.
Like every reader, I have a lot of sentimental value associated with books, but my sentiments are not attached to the books in their physical form, but rather to the content inside of them. This is why I can't really say that there are specific tomes that I will cherish and keep forever. There are stories that will stay in my memory forever and ever, but not actual, paper books. Those physical books I can acquire again and again.
Maybe my attitude has something to do with the fact that I had to completely rebuild my library after moving to America a few years ago, leaving behind a lot of what was important to me back then and there and discovering what blows my mind now, and maybe my ever-present drive to de-clutter is at fault. Either way, it doesn't really matter. Here are my books that I adore (if you remember, I only keep books that I've read and plan on reading again and again) and love to rearrange and fondle (just like any self-respecting bibliophile, right?). I always love looking at my bookies, I always want to read them (but then, I have only a limited time to dedicate to reading, so there is always a dilemma - to reread or read something new?), they always bring out the best memories - Mr. Darcy proposing to Elizabeth (both times), Harry Potter finding out he is a wizard, Jericho Barrons being all enigmatic and sexy, Jonah Griggs confessing and ripping my heart out yet again, Jamie Fraser announcing he is a virgin, Katniss looking at her children 15 years later after the deadly Hunger Games, or Georgia Nicolson just talking about her lip gloss and boyfriends. There is truly a whole world of experiences, emotions and people on our shelves, isn't it?
Like every reader, I have a lot of sentimental value associated with books, but my sentiments are not attached to the books in their physical form, but rather to the content inside of them. This is why I can't really say that there are specific tomes that I will cherish and keep forever. There are stories that will stay in my memory forever and ever, but not actual, paper books. Those physical books I can acquire again and again.
Maybe my attitude has something to do with the fact that I had to completely rebuild my library after moving to America a few years ago, leaving behind a lot of what was important to me back then and there and discovering what blows my mind now, and maybe my ever-present drive to de-clutter is at fault. Either way, it doesn't really matter. Here are my books that I adore (if you remember, I only keep books that I've read and plan on reading again and again) and love to rearrange and fondle (just like any self-respecting bibliophile, right?). I always love looking at my bookies, I always want to read them (but then, I have only a limited time to dedicate to reading, so there is always a dilemma - to reread or read something new?), they always bring out the best memories - Mr. Darcy proposing to Elizabeth (both times), Harry Potter finding out he is a wizard, Jericho Barrons being all enigmatic and sexy, Jonah Griggs confessing and ripping my heart out yet again, Jamie Fraser announcing he is a virgin, Katniss looking at her children 15 years later after the deadly Hunger Games, or Georgia Nicolson just talking about her lip gloss and boyfriends. There is truly a whole world of experiences, emotions and people on our shelves, isn't it?
From Russia with love
| 
You don't own these books yet? What's wrong with you?
|
If I am forced to single out some of my books and say why seeing them makes me happy, I will give just a couple of examples, and please don't think that these are my favorite favorites, choosing those is simply impossible.
The books above to the left, with the font and alphabet you probably don't recognize are basically my first adult fantasies that I truly loved. Both Валькирия (Valkyrie) and Волкодав (Wolfhound) are stories based on Russian folklore and history. First one is about a woman warrior who is in search of a sense of belonging and love. She is stronger than most men (some magic involved), and that puts her in a very precarious position in a patriarchal society of pre-Christian Russia. It is very romantic (she gets the biggest badass BTW - the emotionally scarred widower and the army leader).
Волкодав is a Conan the Barbarian-like fantasy, with the main character who is on a quest to avenge the killing of his family. Less romantic, but not less interesting and absorbing than Валькирия. I love these books, because they remind me of my roots and take me into a time and place in history that I find very compelling.
And, of course, my Laini Taylor books. Laini is such a master storyteller and a master wordsmith and an artist. Even touching her books gives me a sense of magic, wonder and delight. I know that the moment I open her book, I will smile and get shivery from just experiencing her language and her imagination.
There are SO many books I own that give me all sorts of pleasures! Honestly, how do non-readers live without such experiences? My life would have been so empty and boring without books...
_______________________________________________________________________________
The books above to the left, with the font and alphabet you probably don't recognize are basically my first adult fantasies that I truly loved. Both Валькирия (Valkyrie) and Волкодав (Wolfhound) are stories based on Russian folklore and history. First one is about a woman warrior who is in search of a sense of belonging and love. She is stronger than most men (some magic involved), and that puts her in a very precarious position in a patriarchal society of pre-Christian Russia. It is very romantic (she gets the biggest badass BTW - the emotionally scarred widower and the army leader).
Волкодав is a Conan the Barbarian-like fantasy, with the main character who is on a quest to avenge the killing of his family. Less romantic, but not less interesting and absorbing than Валькирия. I love these books, because they remind me of my roots and take me into a time and place in history that I find very compelling.
And, of course, my Laini Taylor books. Laini is such a master storyteller and a master wordsmith and an artist. Even touching her books gives me a sense of magic, wonder and delight. I know that the moment I open her book, I will smile and get shivery from just experiencing her language and her imagination.
There are SO many books I own that give me all sorts of pleasures! Honestly, how do non-readers live without such experiences? My life would have been so empty and boring without books...
_______________________________________________________________________________
What are your favorite books to see on your shelves? Why do you love them so much?
