A Tour of the Stacks
Currently reading:
Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson, for a book club
Eleutheria by Allegra Hyde, for a different book club
A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle, for a different-different book club*
*The meeting of which I missed at the end of March. Yes, I’m still trying to finish the book. I’m a completist.
I don’t have an exact count on the number of books I own (maybe that’s something to come later?), but what I do have are plenty of pictures of my assorted shelves to share. I do have random books sort of stacked everywhere, so it took a few tries to capture most of the books currently in my apartment.
Full disclosure, this isn’t a full accounting of the library. I did, um, acquire a few more books between taking these pictures and drafting this post, but you’ll obviously see those titles at some point—once I read them.
When I moved into my apartment, I knew I basically just wanted books everywhere. My dream is to have a library—a real library—or at least an office with floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall shelves, preferably full of books I’ve edited, read, and written. But until then, I will continue to routinely buy new shelves and other furniture upon which to display my collection.
Let’s start in the living room:
Fun fact: this golden frog was purchased at a Pier 1 Imports specifically for my freshmen dorm room. There isn’t really a rhyme or reason behind the stack of books he protects, but I do really like Gone Girl.
Just below Mr. Meditation J. Frog are some fancy-looking editions of books (which, full disclosure, I may not read——they’re mostly for display). Also some reference books and a few lit mags from college!
I have a minor in photography. Can you tell?
Across the way is the side table by the couch. I don’t think I’ll be reading the James Bond art book, either. I mostly included this picture to show off my collection of Playbills; the ones in the smaller blue binder are signed.
I bought this cube shelf at the very start of 2021, after being struck by inspiration while at my parents’ for the holidays. The top left cube is more knitting and crocheting stuff; right cube is full of toys and treats for my cat, Miss Moneypenny. Peep the extra books on top of the record player.
And why, yes, that is a signed photograph of Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter hanging above the shelves. I met her. I was very chill and normal about it.
Detail shot of the side table you can sort of see in the previous photo! Let’s Go Europe holds such a special place in my heart——my mom got me that before I studied abroad in college and I brought it with me on work trips back in 2018 and 2019, despite the information being wildly out of date.
I adore ND Stevenson and Tillie Walden and highly recommend you check out their work if you haven’t!
I bought this shelf on Amazon (...sorry) and it’s honestly one of my favorite pieces of furniture that I own. I also like that now it’s just covered in whatever I didn’t have room for in other places. I’ve read a good number of the trades on the bottom shelf, but might explore some again! A lot of paperbacks elsewhere that need my attention.
Moving into what I guess I’ll call . . . the foyer?
My shelves don’t have very much organization, mostly because I know it would fall apart immediately if I tried to keep things alphabetized or arranged in some other way. I have a friend who told me how she used to arrange her books according to the Dewey Decimal System, which I respect but absolutely cannot do. But I do sometimes arrange my books into loose categories, if I realize I have quite a few books on the same topic.
This shelf is a great illustration of my style: the top shelf is partly pop culture-related titles; the bottom is complete nonsense.
This is my pride and joy: the reading nook.
Previously, this corner was dominated by a tall black bookcase that I bought for my college apartment and which was absolutely going to tip over and kill me and/or my cat one day soon. On the day I built the damn thing back in 2012, I mistook the back panel for just another piece of cardboard packaging and proceeded to snap it in half while breaking down the delivery box. The shelves were literally never stable. I also needed more shelf space, anyway, and also wanted more wall space for posters. Thanks to IKEA (who I hope will consider sponsoring the blog), I found these beauties.
That yellow chair was one of my first purchases in this apartment. It’s also from IKEA, and its story actually also starts back when I was in college. I saw it on one of the furniture store excursions my friends/future roommates and I took to decide how to furnish our new home in Allston, Massachusetts. It was love at first sight. But she was too expensive and felt too extravagant, too unnecessary, for the apartment we were planning. So I promised to come back for her. And I did.
I realize I forgot to point out on the picture itself my collection of PD James and Ian Fleming books on the top left shelf. I’ve read quite a few of James’ Dalgliesh novels but just started reading them in order from the beginning (Cover Her Face is excellent). I read a few Bond books a few years ago (and wrote up reviews on an old blog) and hope to get back to them during this project!
Now, into my bedroom:
As you can see, I love reading and I enjoy collecting random artifacts and displaying them on bookshelves like my life is worthy of being preserved in a museum. I also like lipstick. I do not like cleaning.
Please don’t call me out.
I’m a big Mantel fan; I even took myself to see Wolf Hall——parts 1 AND 2——on Broadway. I reread Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies way back in 2020, in the early days of the pandemic, in preparation for reading The Mirror and the Light. Have I finished it? Of course not. I haven’t finished any of these books (except the one on the tissue box, which is Booth by Karen Joy Fowler.)
What I read of that Anne Boleyn bio was terrible. Maybe I’ll just donate it. I will finish Rebecca though, I promise; I was enjoying it.
More books, featuring some nerdy stuff and also two old journals of mine on the top shelf.
And the final stop on the tour is the shelf that stands proudly behind me in every Zoom call! Fifteen-ish months into working from home, I finally caved and bought myself a real desk, plus this shelf, to hold my ballooning collection of books and plants. Yes, that is another animal meditating. Yes, I think they’re from Pier 1, too.
I added the wallpaper to the back panel of the bookcase, to brighten the shelves a bit, and I’m quite proud of my handiwork. More comics here, too. And Captain Carter, of course.
