The Bookshelves
October 4, 2009
It finally happened this week: all my books, about 1,500 of them, got off the floor of the home I moved into on May 1. That’s right. For the last five months, most of my collection has been in piles and boxes in various corners of the den and living room. An alarming number of dust bunnies collected around them, and the cat toys, mostly balls, often ended among the stacks. The most annoying part, however, was that the several times I wanted to find a particular book I could not.
But having books in piles was more than an inconvenience. I don’t like unintentional piles. I am not used to living with clutter. They distract and confuse me, and I find it distressing to have things including books not in specific locations. My jumbled piles even reached a point where I thought about tossing some of the books just so I wouldn’t have to look at them any more.
In the last couple of weeks, two things changed. A friend built a custom bookcase, really just plain pieces of wood put together, eight feet long by seven feet high. At my request, it’s only ten inches in depth with shelves that are mostly 10 1/2 inches high. The measurements means that it will only hold standard hardcovers and trade paperbacks. But I like that even though it means my oversized and landscape format volumes cannot go there. The advantage is that while there is wiggle room for removing and replacing books, there is little wasted space.
Because I want to paint them the same color as the walls—and haven’t yet bought the paint or brushes—they went unused for more than a week while the books I had begun to sort into categories on the living room floor were beginning to gather their own dust bunnies.
Then I found four white laminate bookcases on CraigsList. These are the inexpensive ones with pegs that allow you to make the shelves as tall or short as desired. They were delivered three days later. As soon as the seller left I began to—there is no other word for what I did—sling books onto them so desperate was I to get them off the floor. I ignored the sorted ones. The only separation I performed was strictly by size.
As a result, the shelves are a nearly complete mishmash of authors, categories, subjects, and colors. I’m not sure if I enjoy the sense of adventure that having no idea where any particular book is located more than my preference for category order. I have long dreamed of having sufficient bookshelf space to organize my books by category. I would love seeing all my astronomy books lined up in one neat row going across a wall, charting my interest in space from childhood to present day. All my books about books would have their own bookcase if they could. And I would adore seeing my extensive collection of books on American history and culture in one corner of the living room because I have always enjoyed the odd compositions that my books, which range from serious social studies to pop culture, use to explain American culture. Somehow I think Alexis de Tocqueville, himself represented, would appreciate it too.
My inner librarian also favors the category method. Since she hasn’t really had the space to sort books by subject matter or in the case of fiction alphabetically by author, she has instead resorted to sorting them in an Excel database. There’s a strong sense of satisfaction in categorizing this way because the number of columns and data can be nearly unlimited, and if I let her run wild I would likely find her tracking things like “Penultimate Sentence” just because she could.
When I began slinging the books onto the shelves in handfuls, not even looking to see if only one volume of two might be there, I could feel her wincing. The voice that was ringing in my ears was hers: Wouldn’t all the biographies and memoirs look great together? And how about those adventure books? You could have a “misery” shelf and even separate it by hot and cold! Oh, and books about books. You love those. John Dunning could warily repose next to Anne Fadiman and her collection of dog-eared and even mutilated books!
So I can confidentially state that she is not particularly happy with this “sling” method of shelving books. On the other hand, my inner artist is very satisfied. The current arrangement has produced a lively composition of spine designs, typefaces, colors, widths, heights, materials, and uneven shelving as some books, with more depth than height, sit at the front of the shelves while others are ensconced nearer to the rear of the shelves. From where I sit as I type this, I can see the black cover and tan-colored formal font of The White Nile next to a plastic-encased, spineless copy of Chekov’s Short Stories. Beyond that is the thriller Chernobyl Murders, whose colors of golden brown and dried blood highlight a cracked, distorted typeface. Fanny Hill, by contrast, though its orange paperback cover does not clash with Chernobyl Murders nevertheless appears almost innocuous with its solid, quiet typeface alone adorning the spine. Anyone unfamiliar with the book might easily overlook it next to its gaudier neighbor. Anyone except my inner librarian that is.
At this point I am too happy just to have my floor back to bother placating her. Sorting the books into categories for re-shelving, even if done one category at a time, is just a job I am not prepared to undertake at the moment. I don’t want to lose my floor. I don’t want piles that hide books from me. The truth is I am not sure that m inner librarian should win because bookshelves are not by their nature static. Books come in, they go out. I will continue to get new ones. I may even end up giving some away. And searching out my next book to read has become just a bit more adventurous. I don’t yet know where any particular book is, hence each search is an excursion akin to those I enjoyed in used bookstores before the Internet became ubiquitous and all dealers knew what prices were being asked for every book, and when books could be mis-categorized and sometimes if you were lucky you occasionally trumped the bookseller.
Upcoming Book Festivals:
Book festivals are bursting out all over this next week and weekend so you may well be within reach of one. Be sure to check. They all sound great!
From October 7-11, the Wisconsin Book Festival will be happening in Madison. And they have a very busy schedule including book sales, speakers on society & politics, fiction, art, memoir & biography, poetry, Wisconsin ties, writing & publishing, history, food, LGBTQ, international, youth & kids, science and more. There are so many events it is impossible to list them all so if you plan to go check out their schedule.
Wordstock, the premier northwest book festival that takes place in Portland, Oregon between October 8 and October 11, is one of the most spectacular festivals in the nation. More than 150 authors; three special workshops (Wordstock for Writers, Wordstock for Readers, and Community Writing Workshops); special food-writing authors, photographers, stylists, bakers, chefs, and two Community Cookbook Creation events; eight stages with continuous readings from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm on both Saturday and Sunday; and special events including the Wordstock Book Fair, XY&Z, the Think & Drink, 2nd Story, the Text Ball, and more.
From October 9 through October 11, Nashville, Tennessee will host the Southern Festival of Books. Numerous sessions covering all aspects of books, subjects and authors will take place running from noon until 5:30 on Friday, from 9:00 am to 5:30 on Saturday, and from noon to 5:00 pm on Sunday. The range and number of these sessions is simply breathtaking. In addition, they also have two stages where entertainment will be presented most of the time. Nearly forty exhibitors and 250 authors will be present, and for children and young adults, there is also a lot of activities geared specially to them.
Litquake is a unique book festival that takes place in San Francisco, California. Its uniqueness stems from the fact that it spreads itself over the course of a week—this year from October 9-17—and features a number of big-name authors who show up to participate in “cutting-edge” panels, cross-media events, and hundreds of readings. As a complement to the city’s music, film, and cultural festivals, Litquake begins with both a reading and the Black, White, & Read (Book Ball) on opening night. From there, it makes daily progress into the fields of music, science fiction, lesbian & gay literature, the literary life, local and regional writing, global literature, cooking, erotica, noir and mystery, short stories, and zines. It also offers a Literary North Beach Walking Tour, documentary and film screenings, writers workshops, poetry, readings of short plays, one-on-one conversations, the annual Barbary Coast Award, the Literary Death Match, Teen Takeover Night, Mouthy Dames!, and the Annual Lit Crawl. This one is not to be missed if you live or will be near the Bay area.
The Big Read is scheduled for Saturday, October 10 in St. Louis, Missouri, on the campus of Clayton High School. Author readings, panel discussions, book signings, workshops, storytelling, hands-on activities, costume characters, and even a spelling bee highlight a day packed with excitement for both adults and children, and for readers as well as writers.
On Saturday, October 10, from 10:00 a, to 5:00 pm, Minneapolis will play host to the Twin Cities Book Festival. This all-day exhibit and book fair features more than sixty-five exhibitors, thirty-eight authors, a special Morning Mixer, author readings and presentations, a children’s storytelling circle, a used book sale and literary magazine fair, and in conjunction with the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, an opportunity to create a customized button.
Charleston, West Virginia will be the site of the West Virginia Book Festival on October 10-11 at the Civic Center. Among their activities are a Festival Marketplace where you can shop for books and related merchandise, meet more than forty regional publishers, authors, and booksellers, and have your books signed. There is also a book sale by the Kanawha Public Library with thousands of books price between fifty cents and three dollars (though they also have some rare and collectible books individually priced).
On October 10-11, the state of Washington will host the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. Saturday’s hours are from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, and Sunday’s from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. Fairgoers will find rare books, prints, maps, photographs and ephemera for sale from more than eighty vendors. In addition to the two fair days there is an opening night dinner with special guest speaker Derek Hayes on “Interesting Historical Maps of the American West.” Tickets are $55 and include a reception and dinner.
The Latino Book & Family Festival is a major organization that puts on three to four festivals every year in various Latino markets across the nation. This year, from October 10-11, it will appear in Los Angeles at the Greenlee Plaza at the California State University Los Angeles. In addition to an astounding line-up of authors, they will also feature seminars and panel discussions (Contemporary Latina Authors, Editors’ Panel, Tribute to the Boy Scouts 100th Anniversary, The Positive Effects of Mariachi on the Education of Hispanic Youth). Their full schedule is not posted as of today, but they expect it to be up soon.
The Pub House:
The Feminist Press is in the midst of creating a new website, but they still offer their current and backlist catalogs as well an announcement about their 39th Anniversary Gala Reception in New York City on October 22.
I encourage all of BiblioBuffet’s readers to check this out because my sense is that the men are more likely to take off and miss some incredible reading. Stay tuned, guys. I think you might enjoy Dreaming of Baghdad, translated from the original Arabic, a memoir set in 1970s Iraq when activists were captured and imprisoned in Abu Ghraib. Haifa Zangana was one of them, and later in exile she wrote about that time and her experiences of it. Departing at Dawn is a novel situated at the beginning of Argentina’s revolutionary war in 1976. A woman who has seen her lover thrown to his death for his union activities and is herself marked for “disappearance” by the military dictatorship flees the city to live with relatives in the countryside. From there, she describes the tumultuous period of history from an intimate point of view and the resultant traumas that continue to haunt the country to this day. And for those who enjoy classic pulp fiction, the FP brings back in print a selection of these page-turners ranging from hardboiled noir to lesbian melodrama, complete with classic titillating cover art.
Of Interest:
Anyone who uses a part of Starry Night for her logo is someone who gets my attention. But So Many Books: the agony and ecstasy of a reading life is a blog that is intriguing reading on its own. Stefanie’s posts range from reviews (and she is a credible, interesting reviewer) to comments on her life. And they are never dull. She has the knack of writing posts that are, as Goldilocks would have phrased it, “just right.” Her reviews cover both classic books and new ones. And when she talks about her education (she is in library school), she makes even non-librarians interested in what she is learning. What’s particularly noteworthy is that she does not depend on links for her posts. Sure, there are some but they tend to be quiet side trips, taken only if interested, rather than because they speak for her. They do not. This is one blogger who understands the art of fine writing in the blog atmosphere.
This Week . . .
The University of California Press is having a fabulous sale on many of their books, some of the absolutely exquisite. From now until October 31, you can get between ten and ninety percent off. And this isn’t one of those sales where maybe one or two items are seriously discounted. Nor are they “damaged” books. It’s worth noting, however, that some hardcovers are usually without dust jackets since that is how the press issues them. But not all. If the page does not say “this book may not have a dust jacket,” then you can expect a dust jacket on the hardcover edition.
Four thousand plus new books are on sale, most of those priced at 50% off or more. Over half are less than $9.95. Make your selections, then when you check and out use the code “10M7172” the discount will kick in.
What do they have? Everything! Their extensive categories include Art & Architecture, Autobiographies & Biographies, California & the West, Cinema & Performing Arts, Classical Studies, Contemporary Social Issues, Cultural and Ethnic Studies, Food & Wine, Health & Medicine, History, Literary Studies, Music, Philosophy, Poetry, Reference, Religion, Science, and Social Sciences. Buy for yourself, buy holiday and other gifts, buy for no reason at all except that this annual sale is a good excuse to add some more books to your shelves.
Until next week, read well, read often and read on!
Lauren
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