Lookshelves

An Australian Proust Geek's Lookshelf

2012-03-01T14:55:59Z

1) Who are you and where are you?

My name is James D, I am 24, and I live in Perth, Western Australia.

2) What do you do for work?

While I'm not currently employed, I am studying Psychology full-time.

3) What do you do for fun?

Read (duh!), spend time with my girlfriend, write, study (Yes, I find it to be fun!), and jog.

4) Tell me something about your bookshelves.

I have several bookcases from IKEA that have been attached to one another - it's almost like a Frankenstein's monster of bookcases. My photo only shows a small part of my whole bookshelf - I could have sent a photo of the entire thing, but it would have made it difficult/impossible to read the spines of the books. I don't sort my shelves, really - I just throw/squeeze the books into where ever they happen to fit.

5) Tell me something about ONE of the books on your shelf.

I have an English first edition of Marcel Proust's Jean Santeuil. Jean Santeuil is the book that Proust wrote (and never really completed) before he wrote his better known work, In Search of Lost Time.
I stumbled across the first edition from Shakespeare and Co in Paris. I couldn't believe my luck!

An Ivy-Denying Lookshelf

2012-03-01T00:04:36Z

1) Who are you and where are you?

I'm an undergraduate student at Princeton University, NJ. When people ask me where I go to school, my standard response is "Uh, in New Jersey."

2) What do you do for work?

Besides school, I work at my university's LGBT Center and write as a freelance journalist for hyper-local publications. Also I blog. (But who doesn't nowadays?)

3) What do you do for fun?

When I have time for fun, I gather up my guy friends and we watch BBC Sherlock. Then we proceed to make snarky comments at each other as if we were Sherlock Holmes and the world was Watson/everyone else.

4) Tell me something about your bookshelves.

Surprisingly, only three of these books have been "assigned reading" from a class. As an English major, most of my books for school are piled on my desk, which is a photo for another blog. The rest of these books represent a pretty darn good cross-section of my pleasure reading interests: Sex/sexual minorities, Southeast Asia, dystopias, and satirical humor. Also, under my digital camera is a pocket US Constitution.

5) Tell me something about ONE of the books on your shelf.

The most embarrassing thing is that the two bad vampire romance novels, Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series aka the books that inspired True Blood, were given to me by a friend. I read the first page of Dead Until Dark, and nearly puked at the narrator's self description. I have left them there, wondering if I ever want to try again.

A Dating Coach's Lookshelf

2011-08-01T00:55:51Z

1) Who are you and where are you?

I'm Adam LoDolce and I'm an inspirational dating speaker and a dating coach based out of Boston.

2) What do you do for work?

I help people improve themselves for the dating world. I focus on building men and women's self-esteem, confidence and something known as their social freedom: the ability to be outgoing and socially comfortable.

3) What do you do for fun?

Love to ride my motorcycle and play guitar.

4) Tell me something about your bookshelves.

I love self help books and books on dating.

5) Tell me something about ONE of the books on your shelf.

Being Alone Sucks is a book I wrote and, yes it's showcased on my shelf. It tells my own story and helps people with their dating lives.

A Kingsley Amis Lookshelf

2011-03-03T05:32:36Z

1) Who are you and where are you?

I'm Tim and I live in Oakland, California.

2) What do you do for work?

I'm a writer.

3) What do you do for fun?

Enjoy the California coast, read, eat out.

4) Tell me something about your bookshelves.

These three shelves are devoted to a collection of novels and other writings (journalism, ephemera, criticism, etc.) by and about Kingsley Amis, one of the great figures of post-war British literature. All of the books shown here but one are British first editions, many of them signed by the author.

5) Tell me something about ONE of the books on your shelf.

"Colonel Sun" (2nd shelf, 2nd book from left) was the first authorized James Bond pastiche; it appeared in 1968 under the pseudonym "Robert Markham," though Amis's authorship was well publicized. Amis wrote two other books about the James Bond "canon."

A "One Man's Trash..." Lookshelf

2011-01-02T18:42:49Z

1) Who are you and where are you?

Madeline Stewart, 24 year old Australian in Brisbane.

2) What do you do for work?

I am a flight attendant, my face muscles constantly hurt from fake smiling at obnoxious, vile business folk. I am also a health promotion student working diligently toward a career where hopefully all smiles will be genuine.

3) What do you do for fun?

The usual, music festivals, house parties, road trips, painting, growing strawberries...

4) Tell me something about your bookshelves.

The bookshelf is organised in no particular order however as I'm short I put the ones I don't like (like my boyfriend's fish encyclopaedias) much further up the top. Those shelves didn't make the photo.

5) Tell me something about ONE of the books on your shelf.

The red book in the bottom left I plucked from a suburban garbage pile in Greenwich Village. I was on foot and treated it much like a flower picked passing by. As fate would have it, it was an art students watercolour journal from the 90's. It's full of amazing, provocative entries. I googled the owner and they're now the director of a rather famous art museum in New York.

A Transformers & Exes Lookshelf

2010-11-16T15:35:13Z

1) Who are you and where are you?

I'm Lincoln living in Staten Island.

2) What do you do for work?

My 9 - 5 job has me stuck in an office doing accounting for a mid-sized Manhattan construction firm. After that, I work as a free lance bar & liquor reviewer.

3) What do you do for fun?

Write, walk around Manhattan and discover new spirits.

4) Tell me something about your bookshelves.

The actual bookcase is from my ex. It's one of the thing I got when we split. The books are mostly from my childhood in the Bronx. The shot glass is from my girlfriend in Canada.

5) Tell me something about ONE of the books on your shelf.

The set of books next to the Transformer are filled with quotes from friends, family, Television shows & movies from 1990 - 2005.

A Grouped-By-Author Lookshelf

2010-07-10T19:16:40Z

1) Who are you and where are you?
My name is Jessica and I'm a Women's Studies major at Brooklyn College. I live in Brooklyn, NY.

2) What do you do for work?
I intern part-time for a non-profit organization, Alternatives to Marriage.

3) What do you do for fun?
I read a lot. I usually read at least three books at a time. I also enjoy cooking, watching movies/TV, walking, play records, brewing and drinking tea and spending time with my best friend's cat.

4) Tell me something about your bookshelves.
I have two bookshelves. One is big with four shelves. The photo features a portion of only two of them. My other bookshelf contains twenty or so books I've already read and love. I also have a milk crate below the big bookshelf that stores the rest of the books I've already read. I don't organize by topic, genre or color. I do group the same author's books together though.

5) Tell me something about ONE of the books on your shelf.
It's not in the photo I sent but I'm proud to say I have a 1937 copy of Thoreau's "Walden." It's in great condition. It's a small, orange, hardcover book and I never intend to give it away.

A Third-String Quarterback's Lookshelf

2010-06-10T02:28:32Z

1) Who are you and where are you?

I'm Bill and I live in down Detroit. No, it's not scary -- you just have to keep your head about you. I'm a native Clevelander and remain monogamous in my devotion to that city's sports teams, but Detroit is epically cool. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Oh, and John King used books -- which have nearly 1 million books -- is just down the street.

2) What do you do for work?

I'm a reporter, writer and blogger for a popular weekly business newspaper in Detroit. I also freelance for a magazine and Web site devoted to the Cleveland Browns. Woof. I was the third-string quarterback of an arena football team a couple years ago, and I'm writing a book about it called "Last String." I hope that shows up on your shelves one day.

3) What do you do for fun?

Read. Obviously.

4) Tell me something about your bookshelves.

This is maybe 15% of the entire shelf, which actually is an entertainment center I bought in 1996. Since I graduated to a large flatscreen TV, the entertainment center is now purely a bookshelf. The top shelf, part of which is shown here, is all military. Other shelves are devoted to the Beats, Hunter S. Thompson, Charles Bukowski, George Orwell, classic literature and just random books. This is one of five bookshelves in the house.

5) Tell me something about ONE of the books on your shelf.

The thin blue book you probably can't make the title out ... that's the Maneuver Warfare Handbook by William S. Lind. Hard to find. I enjoy reading about how modern combat is conducted, the X's and O's of moving men and stuff on a battlefield. It's quite complex and fascinating. Oh, and the bobblehead if Charles Bukowski, a 35th birthday gift from my beloved girlfriend.

A Book-A-Week Lookshelf

2010-06-10T02:15:49Z

1) Who are you and where are you?

My name is Will Randolph and I am in the middle of moving across country and I had to stop at my parents place to drop off a lot of stuff (these books included.)

2) What do you do for work?

In general, I work with kids. I just spent a year working with at-risk youth, I'm headed to work with special needs kids this summer and then normal kids this winter.

3) What do you do for fun?

I love to be outdoors. I ride my bikes, run, swim, play pickup frisbee and soccer and do just about anything that keeps me outside. Additionally, I always have three or four books that I've started that I need to finish.

4) Tell me something about your bookshelves.

At my last job, I ended up accumulating almost all of these books. Every week, I'd buy books for the kids, then i'd buy a book for myself. It makes for a fun mix of books. When I got where I am now to drop them off, I had to buy a whole new bookshelf, because the ones I already had were just too full.

5) Tell me something about ONE of the books on your shelf.

The Long Walk is an amazing book about a polish cavalry officer that is captured by Russia in ww2 and escapes Siberia by walking to India... I can't think of a more amazing story. It's been one of my favorite books since early high school.

A "Bukowski Made Me a Criminal" Lookshelf

2010-05-08T19:52:50Z

1) Who are you and where are you?
I’m Jan-A, I live in Seoul, Korea

2) What do you do for work?
17 years ago, I became a student.
8 years ago, I was a student.
6 years ago, I was a student.
blah blah blah..
last year, I was a student. and now I'm a student.

I'm kind of fed up with being a student. Seriously I want something else but being a student.

3) What do you do for fun?
For fun? …. Hmmmmmmm….
I dance! I mean I dance in the room listening to MP3.
I read books, watch movie and dramas (like True blood, the big bang theory..etc) ,listen to music, take photograph, and swim.

4) Tell me something about your bookshelves.
I have two houses (Actually both of them are not mine, let’s say I live in two houses.) One of them is my parent’s, and the other is my friend’s. This bookshelf used to be full of my friend’s book. One day, I fought with him for this space and it was very terrible. Anyway, now the lower part of the bookshelf is mine! ;)

5) Tell me something about ONE of the books on your shelf.
Honestly, I stole a Bukowski’s poem from the college library. 7 days before on my graduation day, one of my friends who worked as a school librarian told me how easy it is to steal books from the library. So I decided to steal one, just one. I thought the college that my parents poured so much money in didn’t do anything for me. It just ate up all that money. (kind of my justification). And It basically didn’t give me anything.

So I just took one book thinking the book was the first, last gift that the college gives to me.

But more than all, I would say love for Bukowski made me be a criminal!

Love Chinaski