Virtual Shelf
Welcome to today’s episode of Virtual Shelf. Out of paranoia concerning fires, floods, ferrets, and other apartment-life risks, I have undertaken the sage advice to photograph my book collection, the better to replace it after the apocalypse.
But really. What else did you expect me to do with pictures of my books except to brag about them?
Here you see Fiction A-B. Notable authors on the top shelf include Sherman Alexie, who will be visiting my university in the fall, and Margaret Atwood, whose Year of the Flood, sequel to Oryx and Crake, I will be reading soon. There is also my Jane Austen collection, which features an Italian Pride and Prejudice by the sinister-sounding name of Orgoglio e pregiudizio, as well as my four finished Moleskines and leather travel journal.
The second shelf is dominated by Iain M. Banks, who appears to have a penchant for writing very long books. After a long debate, I shelved Baring-Gould’s biography of Sherlock Holmes with my fiction, because even I am not that crazy. Also admire Jorge Luis Borges staring out from the spine of his Collected Fictions, as well as Geraldine Brooks and Octavia E. Butler, notable for being one of the only African-American women science fiction authors. I liked Lilith’s Brood much better than Fledgling.
Tune in next time. More shelves still to come.
Mostly About Books 