Friday, August 15, 2008

Book Shelf V: The Epic Conclusion **UPDATE**

I've got a bumper posting of books for you today to round off my first attempt at a theme week.

From the living room we move upstairs to the shelves where I keep my favourite books. So steady yourselves people, because in the words of The Joker - here … we … go:

So here's my shelf full of Love and Rockets books. I've posted it up before, but I think it's grown a bit since then - maybe a couple more books, and certainly a few more comic books. Oh, and there's a small canvas of Spock that Big Bro got me for Christmas. I really need to put my pictures up. I've been living here almost three years, and I still have pictures leaning up against the walls. How lazy is that?  

Right, so here we have my collection of Mark Poirier books (I highly recommend both Goats and Modern Ranch Living), as well as John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces and The Neon Bible (both of which I really should reread), and Chip Kidd's two novels (which are excellent). There's some other stuff, as you can see, but I'd really like to point out the hardback prose novel It's Superman! which is a fantastic retelling of Superman's origins set in the 30s and 40s (and at the time of writing Amazon are saying they only have one left in stock, so you'll have to fight amongst yourselves for it). Moving down to the next shelf you can see my collection of Chuck Palaniuk books, which quite frankly are going to get relagated to a downstairs shelf because his recent output sucks massively is a tad disappointing, Charles Burns' wonderful Black Hole (Amazon stock check: five - plenty for everyone), my leather-bound collector's edition of Bone (look - still in the plastic shrink-wrap!), and my collection of The Complete Peanuts which just looks better and better on the shelf as more volumes are added. Oh, and on the very right are my Garfield TV special books; I am not afraid to say that I like Garfield. 

Moving further down my IKEA Billy bookcase we find my DC Absolute Editions (Absolute New Frontier? Awesome), and a smattering of other graphic novels including Michel Rabagliati's brilliant series of 'Paul' books. To the right of the picture you'll also see Rant, Chuck Palaniuk's 2007 novel (which I refuse to provide a link to); it was this book that completely destroyed my faith in his storytelling, and it's sat there since I finished reading it in disgust last summer. I'm unsure whether I should allow it onto a book shelf or just fling it out the window.

Last but by no means least, we come to the stack of books awaiting the attention of my eyes and brain. Since taking this picture I've actually finished reading William Shatner's Up Till Now (look at the picture on the spine - campest Shatty EVAH), and the next book down, Invasion of the Mind Sappers by Carol Swain. Beneath those you'll see (in descending order) Jaime Hernandez's latest book, The Education of Hopey Glass, The Shadow of the Sun (a freebie from barista dude in Starbucks after it was given away in The Times and I was too cheap to buy it), Freakonomics (which I actually bought The Times at the considerable expense of 70p to get my mits on), Steinbeck's East of Eden, The latest collection of Love and Rockets stories, Amor Y Cohetes, and the latest edition of The Complete Peanuts.

*Phew*

I'm reading Freakonomics at the moment: it's ace.

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**UPDATE**

At IDV's request, I'm adding a picture of my Calvin and Hobbes books because I initially forget about those. These are so big that they have to stand on the floor next to my bookshelf. And they are so heavy that when I read them I could only do so for 20 minutes at a time because they cut off the circulation to my legs. I do love 'em though.


21 comments:

CyberPete said...

that sure is a lot of books

Lovely!

Tara said...

Not sure if I've asked you this before, but do you get the "Priceline.com" commercials with Shatner in it? He's the Priceline Negotiator. I love those commercials.

Anyway, I enjoyed your "Tim's Library" blog series! It's interesting to see what's on different bookshelves.

Tim said...

Cyberpete - It is, isn't it?

Tara - No, we don't get those ads over here… thank god for Youtube, though! They are brilliant - he talks about them a lot in his autobiography.

Miss Smuggersham said...

I think I want to raid your bookshelves.

I actually read A Confederacy of Dunces last year. It made me repulsed, sick, sad and delighted. In that order. That fat bastard does nothing to redeem him, does he?

O, Fortuna!

Dinah said...

You Brits are so cultured, with those red and blue (and other) books. When I first came across it, I had no idea what Nick Hornby is talking about. The copy of Freakonomics that I read had an apple/orange on the front. It was the outside of an apple with the inside of an orange. I'm sure it had some significance that I've since forgotten.

This has been a great series! The shelves are great, and I feel like I've been peering into your life (more so than usual).

CyberPete said...

It is ;)

Tim said...

T-Bird - It's good innit? I desperately need to reread it.

Dinah - Yeah, there's a whole system to those Penguin books: orange and white for general fiction, green and white for crime fiction, red and white for travel and adventure, blue and white for biographies, purple and white for essays, and grey and white for world affairs.

The original version of Freakonomics that came out over here had loads of different people on what looked like a tropical beach. I think.

Glad you enjoyed this - we'll be doing my sock drawer next!

Cyberpete - Are you being cheeky again?

Inexplicable DeVice said...

I'm curious: Where do you keep your Calvin & Hobbes collection?

Inexplicable DeVice said...

Eeek! STC proximity alert!

Tim said...

Inexplicable Device - That's a very good point, and I actually realised I'd not shown them after I'd published the last post. They're off to the left of the DC Absolute Editions, standing on the floor.

Should I do an **UPDATE**?!

Inexplicable DeVice said...

Yes, I believe you should. I'm Calvin & Hobbes wouldn't want to be left out.

Inexplicable DeVice said...

There's supposed to a a 'sure' between 'I'm' and 'Calvin'...

Tim said...

That sentence doesn't even make sense, but I think I get the gist.

Inexplicable DeVice said...

I'm not really Calvin.

Tim said...

Really? You surprise me… What are your feelings on Suzie Derkins?

Inexplicable DeVice said...

Suzie Derkins is A Slimy Girl who should be Got Rid Of!

Inexplicable DeVice said...

Oh, I buggered that up. It was Annoying Girl's fault - She distracted me with her Annoying Beam so I screwed up the G.R.O.S.S. response.

CyberPete said...

Well, you never know. No one does.

LOVE your Calvin & Hobbes books. They look fabulous - and huge!

Tara said...

Oo, I'm jealous! I had some of the Calvin and Hobbes books, but not in a set like that! Very cool.

Tim said...

Inexplicable Device - *tut!* idiot!

Cyberpete - They are huge - each book is about 30cm square!

Tara - It's a cool set, isn't it? I got it for my birthday a few years ago!

CyberPete said...

They look like those libraries have. You know, the kind they don't lend to anyone but keep so as to document them in face nobody believes there ever was Calvin & Hobbes.