Friday, May 20, 2011

Bookcase Showcase, continued

I hope you all have seen (and commented?) on my guest post for my friend and fellow book blogger, Kirsty of The Overflowing Library, with my Bookcase Showcase? If you'd seen it, you will remember me mentioning that the books that I've read and are keeping forever, or the books I've read and don't know what to do with are stored in my loft. At the time of writing my post for Kirsty's site, the shelves in my loft were too messy for anyone to see. I cringed to look at them. Since though, I have tidied them up a little bit and they can now be seen.

In fact, here they are.




Here is the topmost shelf. My loft is only half-boarded. There are shelves only in one tiny nook and my books take up the least amount of space. This shelf, the smallest and the most flimsy, hold my treasured books from my childhood. You can probably tell just how battered and well-read and loved these books are. The covers are nearly falling apart, the spines are heavily creased. I absolutely adore all of these books.

There's the Anne of Green Gables series there, The Babysitter's Club. The Boxcar children series. The Ramona Quimby books, Little House on the Prairie series. And one or two other single books (The Outsiders, Charlotte's Web).




This second shelf holds the bulk of my read YA books. There are so many of them that I have to double-stack. I don't normally keep the overflow in piles like that, but I thought you might be interested in seeing the titles behind it, which is why I've put them into small piles. You can't see them from this picture (and do excuse the poor quality!) but on either side of these shelves, as bookends, are towering piles of more books. On the left is my collection of Meg Cabot books. On the right, are a huge pile of hardback or large-format YA books.

Seen in the photo are YA books, in roughly alphabetical order. It's a mix of some of my permanent collection and books I'm not sure what to do with. I have quite a few signed books amongst these books - the Cat Clarke book, Della Says, the two Sarra Mannings you can see. My signed books collection is small at the moment, but growing steadily!





And finally, here is the third and final shelf. It's the largest, with more depth than the other two shelves by far, which is why it holds the majority of my hardback books. For the most part though, these aren't YA books but are adult fiction or non-fiction that I have read that have been collected or gifted to me over the years. The piles on either side of the shelf are piles of books that I don't have space for. In the middle, the books aren't in any type of order, but the books by the same author I've at least attempted to keep together - the Charlaine Harris books, the Trudi Canavans.

In the middle there, are some of my favourite adult fiction books in paperback. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, which my dad passed down to me. Bookending these books are my Anne Frank books on one side and on the other, my small collection of graphic novels.

I'd love to say that this is my entire collection of books in the loft, but it isn't! I also have a huge box (that was originally the box that our lawn mower came in, which should give you an indication of its size!) full of adult fiction paperbacks that I will probably not read again and have no idea what to do with.

But after that, that's really it. Again, see my post at Kirsty's blog to see the bulk of my books. If you'd like to take part in Kirsty's feature, Bookcase Showcase, (and you really should!) please do contact Kirsty.

10 comments:

  1. Great shelves!

    I never thought about keeping books in the loft.

    Jules

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  2. Will they not get damp in the loft? I tend to get a lot of condensation in ours,especially in the winter.

    Lovely collection though.

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  3. Hi Jules :) Thanks for the follow! I didn't want to put my books up there, but there's so little space otherwise!

    Vivienne - Surprisingly, no. I have a very dry loft. I was loathe to put books up there for that very reason, but have never had a problem.

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  4. Between your garage and your loft I'm in awe of your book house!

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  5. I only have one tiny little overflowing bookcase for all my books.. Your collection puts mine to shame! Of course I only buy a book if I plan to collect the whole series.. Most my reads come from the library.. I would love to add more books to my collection though!

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  6. I have one bookcase, which deffo isn't big enough! Great post, I really love seeing peoples bookshelves! (Oh no, that makes me sound like a stalker, doesn't it?)

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  7. I have one bookcase, which deffo isn't big enough! Great post, I really love seeing peoples bookshelves! (Oh no, that makes me sound like a stalker, doesn't it?)

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  8. You've got a fantastic and very impressive bookshelf. Although I have a long way to go in getting to where you are, I still flinch when I see my bookshelf. I've been building quite a collection and I just don't know what to do with the books that I don't have any space for. I think It's time I went shopping for a new shelf.

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  9. Jenni - The funny thing is, I really had no intention of creating such a library! I just accumulate books and have no idea what to do with them afterwards.

    Becca - I think libraries are wonderful things, it's awesome that you get most of your books there. I used to do that too.

    Cliona - It doesn't make you sound like a stalker AT ALL. I love seeing everyone's bookshelves over at Kirsty's blog too - you should check those posts out, every Saturday!

    Tammy - Oh new shelves. I'd love new shelves, but I just don't have the space anywhere for them. In fact, if I managed to shift some of these books somewhere else (new homes!), I wouldn't need that but I just don't know what to do with most of them.

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