Friday, March 8, 2013

She Reads

It is no secret that I have a lot of books.  Like 6 bookshelves worth!  I think you can learn a lot about a person by perusing their bookshelves.  I was reminded of this when Jeanie did a post last month where she shared some of the books on her shelves!

If you came over to my condo and perused my shelves, here a few things you'd learn about me!

First off, it should come as no surprise that I have a decent collection of books set in France!  Some of my favorites are The Sweet Life in Paris, Lunch in Paris, and A Year in the Merde!


You'd also notice that I have a faith selection that includes books by C.S. Lewis and other books written by Catholics or about the Catholic faith, as well as some prayer books that my mom sent to me when I was going through a difficult time.



You'd see that my Penguin Classics collection is slowly growing!  Oh how I heart these cloth-bound books!


And you might notice that I have all of the Harry Potter books - which is a series that I never thought I'd read.  If you asked me why I've read them, I'd tell you that I ran out of reading material during a trip to Europe in 2005, and the only book in English at the train station that I hadn't read was Harry Potter, so I bought it out of desperation... and then fell head-over-heels in love with the story and bought the next book at the next train station.

Lastly, I'd show you the books that I picked out from my grandma's bookshelves before her move.  She was looking to downsize, so I picked out books that my grandfather had read, 2 of which he received from me.


And then I would open up the books and show you how he wrote a note with his reflections and the date he read each book.  How cool is that?  It is wonderful to see his handwriting and read his thoughts on the book.

 

You'd see that and a whole lot more if you came and perused my shelves!

What would I learn about you by perusing your book shelves?

16 comments:

Kelly (She Wears a Red Sox Cap) said...

I love that you have your grandfathers notes in a couple of books, so awesome! That Harry Potter story is great too- I also resisted reading them and when I was in Australia in 2004 I decided to pick one up and I was glued to it. I ended up reading 1-3 in like a week, but then I started reading 4 when I was home and had mono and I couldn't get through it. I should probably try it again now that I am not in dying pain haha.

My bookshelf actually wouldn't tell a ton about me since I am pretty cheap and don't buy most of the books I read haha. Most of my bookshelf right now is teaching books that I bought in my first few years teaching or in my masters program. I also have some travel books and a few books I read a long time ago, mostly stuff I couldn't stand now haha.

Becky said...

Oh C.S. Lewis is incredible!

If you perused my bookshelves you would find everything alphabetized but after that you might wonder what kind of eclectic mix you walked into! You would see romance novels next to biographies, Harry Potter next to a book about Catholic Questions, and Shakespeare next to Dr. Seuss. I have a lot of diversity on my shelves!

J said...

that is such a good idea to write in the books when you read them! I thought about doing that especially with the books I read on vacations because usually those are the only books I buy.

Nilsa @ SoMi Speaks said...

Oh how true it is - that we learn about each other through books. Let's see, well, first thing you'd notice is we don't have many adult books - many of them have been boxed and put away in favor of shelving space for toys. After that, you'd probably think we're crazy, because our books really aren't in any particular order (which includes books we've read and books we'd like to read - they're all shelved together without rhyme or reason). And then you'd notice that most of our bookshelves have children's books on them ... the ones in the living room, Gavin can pull down on his own and read when he wants. The ones in his bedroom are higher up and we pick one together for bedtime reading. So, as you can tell, our reading nook (or lack thereof) is pretty much like our life right now - a bit chaotic!

Unknown said...

This was fun! You'd see an entire bookcase of cookbooks if you came to our house. Also you'd see a large selection of children's books and nature identification guides.

Stephany said...

Oh, goodness, if you were to peruse my bookshelf? Well, you wouldn't think I was a reader at all! I don't have a bookshelf and gave away all my books over the summer because they really just take up space and I don't tend to be big on rereading. Plus, I read 95% of my books on my Kindle now. Travesty! Ha.

I've never been one to have a big book collection myself, because I always borrow from the library. Rarely did I go to bookstores!

Craziness. ;)

Marlys said...

I love this post, Lisa! I loved that your Grandpa wrote in each book and signed it - I wish I had done that! I have bought used books that have all kinds of notes in the margins which I have found interesting! I look forward to going over our books and getting them organized when we make the final move to our lake home. I, like my sister, have lots of cookbooks and also many faith based books.

Jeanie said...

I'm so glad you took the leap to share your shelves! The notes in the book are just wonderful. I'm sure he had no idea when he wrote them how meaningful they would be.

Your Paris collection includes some of mine, some I'd like to read.

And I'm really impressed yours are pretty well organized. I try. (Most of France/Europe IS together) but some just get on the pile!

Thanks for the tour -- I loved it!

The Many Thoughts of a Reader said...

That I have no organization and it's very random hahaha. I have 1 bookcase in the living room (built in) 2 book shelves in our office, and a book shelf in the basement. Books are stacked/crowded in. The ones in the living room are a mix of have already read / need to reads, one of the bookcases in the office is all from youth/college. Another is mostly college textbooks/teaching books oh and I have a tote overflowing of children's books. Oh crap, and we didn't even mention Isla's book shelf. Downstairs is full of thebooks I need to read. Yikes. Just dont come look at my shelves they may give you anxiety. hahahah

Abby said...

Unfortunately it takes me about 4 months to finish a book (I know, embarrassing). And most books I get from the library so my collection is lame. But if you looked at our collection on the bookshelf you'd find......

Cookbooks, Catholic books, nursing reference texts, engineering reference texts, military history books, and many books on economics and investment (I bet you can't guess who's who ) ;)

Shoshanah said...

When I was little and went over to friends houses I used to always wonder wear all their books were. I couldn't believe some people didn't have an entire bookshelf full at their house.

Definitely want to do a similar post to this soon! Although may have to tidy up our library a bit first. Although one thing you won't find are the Penguin Classics, but I would love a few. Instead though, I did give each of my bridesmaids one as a wedding gift.

Kyria @ Travel Spot said...

You know I love this post! In fact, I DID peruse your books when I was there! You left out running books, although you didn't have a ton, but you had one signed by Hal, which I think is pretty darn cool!

If you went through my bookshelf you would find out a few things about me. Firstly, they are usually ordered by type and then height. Second, I mainly have -- travel books, cook books, a lot of my old college books (so I guess "reference books"). Next there are a lot of everything else, classics, mystery, fiction, non-fiction, children's books etc! I have a random assortment because I buy a lot of books from thrift stores so they are whatever is cheap and easy!

Lisa-Marie said...

I LOVE this. I love books with notes.

If you looked through my bookshelves you'd see that I have a fairly large collection of cheesy chick-lit - fortunately my collection of classics is twice the size, so my brain is ok!. That I collect similarly cheesy Christmas themed books. That I collect the same Penguin classics you do, and that my book collection is large and varied.

Anonymous said...

I love looking at people's bookshelves. It's so interesting to see what they've picked out to read and wondering why they chose those particular books. I think you have a great selection. :) You'd see a lot of fiction on my bookshelves, but I've collected quite a few nonfiction books over the years, as well as classic novels, and a few books on the art of writing and the artistic process. I have a few books of poetry, but not many, and keep all of my hardbacks on the top shelf. I also keep a stack of old journals on top of my bookshelf from when I was in college.

Amber said...

I love that you have your books categorized on your bookshelves! My bookshelf is a random mish mash of books - sooo many I still need to read too! I'm not sure if you would learn anything in particular about me looking at my book shelves as they're so random. haha

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

You'd learn that I am obsessed with food and nutrition (if you didn't already know that) ;-) I've also read all of C.S. Lewis' books, so you'd learn that he is one of my favourite authors. You'd also learn that I mostly read non-fiction.