I first learned about “shelfies” (i.e., photographs of your bookshelves) from a column that Houston Chronicle book editor Maggie Galehouse wrote on Aug. 24, 2014 called “Selfies show the body. ‘Shelfies’ show the soul.” (That column is behind the Houston Chronicle paywall unfortunately. Maggie has also since been promoted to a higher position at the Houston Chronicle—good for her!)
In that column she talked about learning about “shelfies” from a poet friend of hers and her friend’s Facebook group and Maggie included shelfies of her own bookshelf and those of other writers at the Chronicle. She also asked readers to send in their own shelfies to her, some of which she published in a follow-up column on Sept. 8, 2014.
In her column she mentioned some thoughts about books and bookshelves from J. Frank Dobie, the Texas writer, folklorist and newspaperman:
For me, no mere design in paint is as beautiful as a wall of books, some old, some new, some with paper jackets still on, some without jackets. The colors in a whole wall of books are multitudinous: the arrangements, infinite. A house without books is as undecorated as a Hollywood decorator could make it. ...
It doesn't matter to me that I can't read all the books. I can only read an infinitely small fraction of them: indeed, only a small fraction of them do I want to read. But it is wonderful to have hosts of good books around, and it's wonderful to look at walls solid with shelves of books, books, books.
J. Frank Dobie, from a column in the Houston Post, Sunday, Nov. 1, 1959
So the above photo is a shelfie of the bookcase in my living room. Besides the books on the shelves (including some of my favorites like Hiassen, Homer, Kinky, Walters, Rankin, DeLillo, Borges, and García Márquez along with other authors and genres) you can see various nautical items like the little ships in the bottles (I am a US Navy veteran), and a few science toys and a lot of interesting rocks we’ve picked up on various trips around the country (that’s the scientist side of me). Also obvious to anyone who lives in California (or now Oklahoma), i.e., earthquake country, this top-heavy bookcase (though secured to the wall) would not pass muster in California—but thankfully Houston, Texas is not in earthquake country.
Now from her column here is the shelfie of Maggie Galehouse’s drama shelf at the Houston Chronicle that started off this whole shelfie kick for me:
In Maggie’s followup column there is this shelfie from reader Scott Wise of his really interesting bookshelf that I am seriously lusting after, but alas, don’t know where I’d put it since our walls are already filled with photos, art and bookcases. Maybe someday:
So in the vein of the diary’s title I’ll show you two more of my bookshelves. The first is a small bookcase where I keep a number of my oversized books:
And lastly to show that not all my books are so neatly situated, here’s the “bookcase” in my upstairs office/guest bedroom:
Yes this bookcase would also not pass California earthquake standards either. Like many people here I have more books than I know where to put them. Now if you look closely you might guess that I’m a Dashiell Hammett and Noir fan, and you’d guess right. Plus if you ask “Star Trek" or "Star Wars", I'd have to answer "Dr. Who" (note I have a small shelf-Dalek who patrols and protects my books and screeches “Exterminate! Exterminate!” at any potential book thief). And of course being a physicist an Uncle Albert bobble-head who always seems to agree with me.
Now that I've shown you a few of my shelfies, won’t some of you get into the act, find your cameras and show us all some of your shelfies. I promise it won't hurt a bit (plus you’ll learn, if you don’t know already, how easy it is to add photos in DK5).
And to get this started here is cfk's very own well-known shelfie (posted with her permission). What I love about this shelfie besides all the wonderful books is that if you peek closely around the right-hand side you can just see a darling photo on a table in the next room of her two adopted grandchildren (when they were younger):
Thanks y’all. We’ll be looking forward to seeing various shelfies from the readers and book lovers here at DKos. So have some fun and let us have a glimpse into your soul just as you’ve had a glimpse into mine.