For Janice - Books Part 17

It's a beautiful, sunny, brisk day today. Just lovely. Not sure what Jo and I will be doing today, maybe some grocery shopping. She'd normally be at work but the mall is doing roof repairs which means the store will have to be closed for the day.

Den right side of shelves

While I wait to see what we're going to do and when, let's continue with my look at our book shelves and books. Continuing with the Den, the last room, I'll look at the right side of the book shelves today, starting at the top.

1. Right side, Top left corner. A mixture of genres here. Starting from the left you've got Alphabet House, a Department Q mystery set in Copenhagen by Jussi Adler-Olsen. Then there are two books Jo bought me for Xmas many moons ago. Both are non-fiction by Simon Winchester and deal with the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, one was turned into a movie, The Professor and the Madman. Fascinating books. Then a collection of mysteries; an Inspector Maigret, then two by Charlotte Carter, set in New York. Vera Caspary might be best known for her noir mystery, Laura, which was turned into a movie as well, both excellent. I've got Bedelia now awaiting my attention. Next is The Toff, a thriller from John Creasey; this being the intro to the character. Finally, there is another book from Evelyn Piper, who also wrote Bunny Lake is Missing (great book and tense movie) and a police procedural by Dell Shannon, I enjoyed the first book I read by him. I do like me a well-written cop story.

2. Right side, Top right corner. Mostly mysteries / thrillers with a couple of exceptions. Walter Miller is a Sci Fi author. I read his A Canticle for Liebowitz a couple of times so thought it might be a good time to try something else by him. The Lodger was written in 1912 by Marie Belloc Lowndes and was turned into a movie I believe. I'm looking forward to finally reading it. Cara Black writes a detective thriller series featuring Aimee Leduc, set in Paris. I've read the first couple so far. Back in high school, I read a couple of books by Leo Rosten about a night school teacher trying to teach English as a 2nd Language. His most troublesome student was his most enthusiastic, one Hyman Kaplan. I found a copy of the first book a few years back. So funny. John Dickson Carr is a new author for me, although I did read his first Dr. Gideon Fell mystery. James Herbert is an excellent horror author. The Rats is the first book in his 'rats' trilogy. I have them all, just waiting to finish the final book. Erle Stanley Gardner wrote the Perry Mason books but also a series featuring The DA. The DA holds a Candle is one of that collection. Finally a couple of classic mystery writers, Arthur Conan Doyle and, once again, Georges Simenon.

3. Right side, 2nd from top. A fair bit of non-fiction on this shelf; Winston Churchill's The Gathering Storm, a book about the Yangtze river by Simon Winchester, 2 by Bill Bryson and at the far end, one about Elizabeth 1st & a book about spending money (I think it was picked up in one of our auction lots at the Cumberland auction. So what else? Oh, Glinda of Oz from my collection of L. Frank Baum books (lots still to read), an Anthony Berkeley mystery, Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie and Lost Horizon by James Hilton.

4. Right side, 3rd from top, left side. Mostly collectibles here, some from A Gentler Time. Just out of sight on the left is an England / Wales 'Never Get Lost' NGL road guide from 1927. After that, a 1957 edition of Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott, a great edition of The Pickwick Papers by Dickens (I remember reading in high school). Then a book I bought for Jo one Christmas, a 1925 book, The Ross Guide of Home Furnishing and Decoration. Finally  you've got early editions of Dombey and Sons (Dickens) and Vanity Fair (Thackeray).

5. Right side, 3rd from top, far right. Between these two collections of books are more of Jo's perfume bottles. They really are quite lovely. The first book is one I found... I'm not sure where, maybe Russell Books in Victoria. It's by A. Conan Doyle when he worked as a reporter covering the Boer War. It was published in 1901 and was a fascinating story, filled with fantastic maps. The next four are my mother's high school English books, plays by Shakespeare and Kim by Rudyard Kipling. Then there is a leather bound copy of Nicholas Nickleby by Dickens (another book I've enjoyed) and finally The Life of Alfred the Great. Indications are it was published circa 1850, so it's a mite old.

6. Right side, radio shelf. On this shelf, if you check the first picture, there is an old tube radio that Jo and I bought... I just asked her and we're not sure where, but I think it might have been at a now-closed antique store in Courtney called Second Wind. It still works, at least the last time I turned it on. It could pick up some talk radio stations in Vancouver. Anyway, the books beside it were selected by Jo because they all had red spines. It's an odd collection. You've got my daughter, Jennifer's published Master's thesis, some books on furnishings and movie stars and movies, an old Pears Encyclopedia, my Canadian Cub book from 1963 and finally a zipped bridge set. So as I say, some odd books. I'm sure Jennifer might take exception to calling her thesis an odd book, but it's all meant as a term of affection, 😀👌

7. Bottom shelf. I don't know why I didn't take a photo of the shelf 2nd from the bottom. It contains a variety of books and magazines for the most part dealing with one of Jo's favorite past times, house design. She needs to go through it and maybe vet a bit. The bottom shelf contains some favorites. I vet periodically. It contains a mix of mysteries, Sci Fi and even some horror. Authors like Poul Anderson (Sci Fi), Isaac Asimov (his Casebook of the Black Widowers series, mysteries), Leigh Brackett (who writes both mystery and Sci Fi), Mike Carey (his Felix Castor horror / fantasy series; in the same vein as the Dresden files), DJ Cherryh (Sci Fi, I'm a late comer to her writing.), John Creasey (as prolific as they come; this is his Baron series), Liz Evans (British mystery writer, a la Sue Grafton), Jonathan Gash (he wrote the Lovejoy books. Have you ever seen the series?), Michael Gilbert (excellent mysteries), O Master Caliban by Phyllis Gotlieb (a Canadian writer of excellent Sci Fi), Edward Grierson (mysteries), James Herbert's The Fog and The Lair (great gruesome horror), China Mieville (Sci Fi, a new discovery and a great writer), Peter Temple who writes the Australian Jack Irish books (great TV series and I'm enjoying the books so far), Hilary Waugh (American mystery writer, in a similar vein to one of my favorites Margaret Millar) and finally, John Wyndham's The Chrysalids (one of my first and favorite Sci Fi authors).

So that's the right side of the shelves done for your entertainment. I'll finish off with the bottom shelves in the next couple of posts, lots of hidden enjoyment. Have a great week!.