A Trip to Nanaimo, BC March 21, 2017 and other stuff

Yesterday, the missus and I dropped the dogs off at doggie day care and headed down island to Nanaimo. We've been finalising some of the work we've been up to in the house and thought it might be worthwhile checking out a couple of stores we like down there (they just aren't available here). It was a drizzly day so we knew the puppies would be mighty dirty when we picked them up on our way back home. (We were right)

As well as Home Sense and Urban Barn, Jo had found an article on a new antique / collectibles store that had opened in Nanaimo, that being Romantic Ruins (see the link for some photos and other info on the store), so she thought it might be interesting to check it out as well.

So off we headed, enjoying the opportunity to get away for the day and take a break on the work we'd been doing in the house. (more on that later). We hit Home Sense about 11 a.m. and had a nice morning wandering about. It is one of Jo's favourites, and, as usual, Jo found a few items and also a possible night stand for the extra bedroom. I wandered over to Pet Smart and a new leash for Clyde (one to try and keep him from barking at other dogs and people when we out for walks. About time probably... lol). I also got a sonic egg. It's supposed to distract dogs when they start barking. We'll see.

After Home Sense, we also tried Home Outfitters, which is right beside Home Sense in Nanaimo. Very disappointing. They don't seem to know what they want to do with the store anymore. We spent only a few minutes there. I guess if we wanted sheets or towels we might have been more interested. Mind you, they also sell those in Home Sense, just as good and probably cheaper.

We tried a new place for lunch. I guess any place would actually have been new as we don't often have a meal on our visits. Normally we would stop at Cuckoos in Combs on our way back home. Anyway, we saw a place called Cactus Club Café and gave it a try. It was very good, nice, friendly staff, clean and open, and excellent burgers. What more could you ask for?

After lunch, we headed downtown to Romantic Ruins. What a great place! You can see some photos of the layout of the store at the link in the 2nd paragraph above. We could have spent a long time there.. well, we did, in fact. Jo found another possible little table for the extra bedroom. She'll decide today which we'll go with. Both were very nice and will fill the spot perfectly. There were so many other neat things, including the book above, which was published in 1885 by Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan publishers, F.B. Dickerson and Co. More on that next. Needless to say, I had to have it. I told Jo she could put it in her new office that she's creating if she wants.

We finished off the day with a quick trip to Urban Barn, didn't really see anything there that we needed. So off we went, heading back up island to pick up the tired, dirty puppies and then head home. All in all, a lovely day, even with the rainy weather. The pups had baths when we got home, a good dinner and then we all relaxed for the rest of the night. Today, just for info, we're waiting for Aaron to arrive and do some tree trimming for us. Hope it doesn't rain too much for him to work.

Treasures of Use and Beauty

OK, now on to a couple of other things. Firstly, the book I found. It's called Treasures of Use and Beauty, an Epitome of the Choicest Gems of Wisdom, History, Reference and Recreation. It's so well preserved and taken care of for a book published in 1885. If I can read the inscription correctly, it belonged to Mrs. Alice Havill of Paris Ontario at one time. It's one of those odd combinations. Part 1 contains sections dealing with Making the Home Attractive, Home Decoration in Natural Flowers, Preparing Leaves and Flowers, China Painting, Bronze Work, etc. Part 2 contains a Pictorial History of Canada, Historical Discoveries, an Encyclopedia of Great Events, Science of Letter Writing, Letters of Affection by Eminent Persons, etc. I glanced through it and thought it was fascinating. I think over the next while, I'll try to highlight some of the sections of the book, especially the Great Events and the Letters from Eminent Persons. Here are a couple of the first to tweak your interest. (These are direct quotes from this book, copyright F.B. Dickerson, 1883)

The first items in the Great Historical Events -
"458. Chinese tradition alleges the discovery of Mexico
861. Iceland discovered by the Normans
889. Greenland discovered by the Normans
985. The Danes peopled Greenland under Eric Raud"

(Next segment starts at 1002. Exciting, eh?)

Letters of Affection (This from Napoleon Bonaparte to Josephine. They were married in March 9th, 1796. Their marriage was dissolved Dec 15th, 1809. Bonaparte was taken prisoner to St Helena Aug 11th, 1815 - died May 5th, 1821 at St. Helena. The letter below was written from Bonaparte to Josephine Jul 17th, 1796.

Marmirolo, Jul 17th, 1796

"I have received your letter, my adorable friend. It has filled my heart with joy. ** Ah! I entreat you to permit me to see some of your faults. Be less beautiful, less gracious, less affectionate, less good. Especially be not over-anxious, and never weep. Your tears rob me of reason, and inflame my blood. Believe me it is not in my power to have a single thought which is not of thee, or a wish which I could not reveal to thee.

A thousand kisses
Bonaparte."

Interesting stuff. "

Josephine's marriage dissolved Dec 15, 1809. The beautiful palace at Malmaison was assigned for her residence. She retained the title of Empress and received an income of $600,000 a year."

Home Reno Update

CD shelf and my Cadfael books

So where are we now you ask? The study is now about 95% complete. We've got the wall units stacked again, have put up the floating shelves that contain our Cd's and my Cadfael books.

My 'I Love Me' wall is sorted. I went through all the various plaques and certificates that I've received over the course of my career and Jo put them up. The new wall lamp (right side of the photo above) is perfect and much nicer and more substantial than the one we used to have there. We still have a few things to do. Jo says she'll probably move most of her decorating books and magazines up to her new office upstairs when she's finished setting it up. We still have a couple of things to do; get a new end table maybe beside the orange chair and also clean out the closet and put up some proper shelves in there.

The front hall - picture by Spinning Compass

We're so very pleased with the work that the Spinning Compass kids did in the front hallway. It looks fantastic. It's not quite finished. New carpet down the stairs still to come in the next couple of weeks. Although it doesn't look like if from the photo, we still need to paint the walls; just sorting out what colour we want it (white, anyone?). And then there will be new floors in the hallway, the lounge and into the dining room. Looking at May sometime for that. But, I'm sure you'll agree that it looks beautiful at the moment.

Starting to put books and other things in the shelves now

The extra bedroom is pretty well done. Jo is working on the boxes you see bottom centre that Jay, from Spinning Compass, made for us. She's painting them and they'll sit in those little cubbies. We still need a small table for the other end of the room. And then basically just organise the shelves, make sure the bed is ready and the room will be done. It really has been transformed. Jo also repainted our old dress and put new knobs on it to refresh it perfectly.

My Conan books and some others

Since this is first and foremost a book Blog, I thought I'd highlight what I've put in the shelves so far. Jo will reorganise as she sees fit and also add some of her fine touches as the finishes them off. This little stand is located at the top of the room in one of the cubby holes there. Jo repainted them and gave them a new lease on life. In this one, I've got my Robert E. Howard Conan series, which I've had for many, many years. Also a couple of older books, one from my childhood, the Rupert annual, which unfortunately has seen better days. The ice bucket, drink mixer, Jo and I got at an antique fair down in Qualicum Beach a few years back.

The other shelf still needs a bit of fleshing out. I could add more books.. :).. but I'll let Jo fill in the top shelf. The bottom shelf includes some of my hard cover mysteries and some history/ biography books. Lying down are some of my favourite graphic novels. I have too many stored in boxes that I will eventually have to deal with.

The rest of the books in the room are stored in the built-ins. I am almost ashamed to say it but I'd hazard a guess that I haven't read about 90% or so. They are books I'm looking forward to reading. The shelves above are bottom left and are mostly mysteries. Some of my series that I'm working on; Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series set in Norway, Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen mystery series set in Italy, Stanley Evan's Silas Seaweed series set in Victoria, etc.

On the bottom right are most of the Science fiction, fantasy and horror series I'm reading, including Iain Banks' Culture series, Joe Haldeman's Forever War, Hugh Howey's Dust series, etc. 2nd from the bottom is more of a variety of books, fiction, biography, etc. The shelf above, on the left side contains my Inspector Brunetti series by Donna Leon and on the right side of the shelf is another variety, some mysteries, etc.

Top middle over the window holds most of my Penguin books, a very wide variety from A - Z, left to right. You've got my Graham Greene books and authors like Nevil Shute, Somerset Maugham, John Wyndham, etc. I love Penguins, especially the traditional orange covers.

The top shelves on the left side are a bit better organised as Jo has added a few things. Just to the bottom left you've got my Oliver Potsch Hangman's Daughter historical mystery series and also my James Runcie Sidney Chambers mystery books. Middle of the photo is a newly published series of Jane Austen novels that I got Jo for Xmas this past year. And the top shelf has my Charlaine Harris books; Sookie Stackhouse, Harper Connelly and Lily Bard books.

Finally, on the right side, top shelves, you've got the following. I already mentioned the bottom shelf. Above that are a number of Jo's design books, many that I got her for the Xmas's we've spent together. Far right beside the 'J' are my Alan Furst, Night Soldiers series, various spy stories set during WWII. The top shelf is another varied set of books, some history and biography and my Barbara Cleverly Joe Sandilands mystery series set during the Raj in India.

So there you have it, a bit of an update on what's been going on in our happy lives. The work we've had done so far has brightened up and updated the rooms we've finished. The ceiling in the study makes the room look totally different and is one Jo's favourite things. The front hall is welcoming and rich and the extra bedroom is now cosy and comfortable; probably my favourite so far.

Enough for now. Have a wonderful day!

Bookshelves (My TBR Shelves)..... oh, and puppies.. :)

Well, here it is, New Year's Eve 2014. Jo has been getting posts on her Facebook page from friends as far away as Australia with photos of their various fireworks. One of the things the Internet is good for is that instant contact from distant realms. So neat! We plan a quiet evening ourselves, chatting with friends online, reading, maybe watching some of the New Year's Specials on TV. Every year, the CBC (that being Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) has their New Year's Eve comedy specials; the Royal Canadian Air Farce, This Hour has 22 Minutes and a special show from the Montreal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival. We may watch some of that, although we do need to catch up with Major Crimes.

Lucky me, I got my last Christmas prezzies from Jo today. She had ordered me some books but they didn't arrive on time. Who cares! Not me. I love books, as you well know. I got two of the Shetland series by Ann Cleeves; Red Bones and White Nights. I will be starting that series in 2015, at the very least. She also got me the second and third books in The Hunger Games series. I do hope to read them all this upcoming year. As well, I got a couple of new wallets. Mine has definitely seen better days.

I decided to take some pictures of the bookshelves where I keep the majority of my 'to be read' books, aka my TBR shelves. For the past couple of years or longer, I've kept them all in the den, stacked on a couple of shelves, with the overflow on the floor in front. Jo suggested that maybe I could move them off the floor and offered a shelf in the Lounge. I also thought maybe I could pull my Reading Group challenge books and some of my Individual challenge books and locate them in my bedside table, well, after I removed 3 or 4 years of envelopes and bags that I hid there. I used to wrap Jo's prezzies up there and all the bags and envelopes were hid in those drawers. Silly, huh? Well, anyway, that's what I did and lo and behold there are no books sitting on the floor in the den. I've taken a few photos to show you.

But, first, while I was taking pictures of the shelves, the dogs were outside, so I took a couple of pictures them as well. They had their winter haircuts just before Xmas and they both look adorable. Too bad they don't act that way.. just kidding...

Bonnie making sure no birds invade her yard

Clyde thinking of pouncing on Bonnie

And so it begins!! woof!!

By the way, that picture was taken 31 December 2014. Yup, no snow.. and I don't want any!!

So now, onto bookshelves and TBR books. According to Goodreads, one of the places I track my lists, I have 591 books that I need to read. Adding in the 4 new ones, well, that means 595. So at about 100 a year, I've got a good 6 years worth of books. The list might not be totally accurate, as I do vet periodically and while I remove from my spreadsheet list (yes, I love to make lists), I don't necessarily do so with my Goodreads list.. Speaking of lists, Jo bought me a replacement Books I've Read book for Xmas this year. I'm still figuring out how I want to lay it out, but I'm so happy... One of the best prezzies she ever bought me, one I take book shopping and it was getting kind of full in some of the letters.

Anyway, got sidetracked there a bit. Just because I have that many TBR books, I probably won't stop buying, but I will try and behave a bit better this year. I do feel a responsibility to help our local bookstores mind you and I will be finally retiring in Nov 2015, so I do need to have a good stock to read. Don't you think?

TBR shelf Number 1 - H's to Z plus extra oversize books

So the first shelf. Right in front of it is our computer desk and when I had all of my over-size books laid out in front of it, two deep, it made it difficult to get a book if it was on the bottom row, behind the front row. So now that those books have been moved, there is a bit more room there. What you see is basically the letter H authors - bottom shelf in behind front row, working up to the top outside row, the end of the alphabet. Also there are a few of the oversize books that didn't get moved to the lounge. So basically they are stacked three high and two deep.

Just to the right of the first photo, what's behind the doors?

A - H books

What I used to keep in here at one time were all my oversize books, lying down and squeezed in. But last year in one of my re-orgs, I thought I'd move the oversize to the floor and start in here with my letter A authors and just work up to the top, then carry over to the shelves to the left. Once again, you've got them two deep and each shelf organised alphabetically. So where did my oversize books go you ask? Next picture. We move to the Lounge and the built-ins. (Check out the link to the left for my original post on my book storage.

The bottom left shelf (next photo a bit bigger)

The oversize books

What used to be on this shelf was a small book stand containing 10 or 12 books, including the Moomin books that I'd purchased for Jo a couple of Xmas' ago. She was of the opinion, a darn good one too, that that stand could be moved upstairs to the extra bedroom and this shelf could more efficiently store my oversize books. So there you go, they do look better there than on the floor, eh? No finally, I went through my TBR shelf a couple of days ago and pulled out the 12 + 4 challenge and another 20 or so that I hope to read in 2015 and moved to my night stand. See below for photo.

My bedside table

Jo and I saw this table at the Dogwood Antique festival in Chemainus BC 10 years ago or so and thought it would make a nice addition to the house. I haven't used it very efficiently, as I mentioned, using the two bottom spaces for bags, receipts and envelopes and sundry other items. Check it out now.

Some 2015 planned reads

On the right side, as you're looking at it are the 16 books I chose for my 12 + 4 challenge, the first books in 16 series that I haven't had a chance to start yet. On the left are two rows of books, a mixture, for my Individual challenges; classics, SciFi, standalone mysteries, fiction, non-fiction, etc. I'll move others into that space as 2015 progresses.

So there you have it, my TBR bookshelves and my last post of 2014. I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everybody a Happy New Year and the very best in 2015. And keep on reading!

Book Shelves - The Lounge



The built-ins in the lounge

 Last Blog I was showing off the smaller book shelves we use for storing / displaying our books. I talked about the family room and the book shelf on the half landing. I mentioned the built-ins that we had constructed for us as well. Above is the full view of them. I have mentioned them previously in a much earlier Blog when I was just starting to post here. Today, though, I'm focusing on the smaller more intimate book shelves where we store our books.

Off to the right of the built-ins, tucked into a corner by one of our comfy chairs is one of those cases. It's a cozy, sunny corner and it contains a mix of books, some I've read and some I haven't. Some of my favourite series are there.

As an aside, the painting you see above the bookcase is by a Victoria painter, Alesha Davies Fowlie. We saw it at a local art festival and fell in love with it.

On the top of the bookcase are a mix of books, from fiction through history to biography -
Howard Engel - The Ransom Game (A Benny Cooperman mystery)
Hakan Nesser - The Return
Terry Jones - The Barbarians
A.C. Baantjer - DeKok and the Death of a Clown
General Rick Hillier - A Soldier First
Val McDermid - A Darker Domain

The bookcase is a very simple one; we either bought it at a yard sale or at auction.It's very simple, doesn't even have a back. But the missus gave it new life with a fresh coat of paint and it tucks perfectly into that corner.
On the bottom shelf, at the far end you can see one of Jo's memories of home in the UK; it's a carrying case with her father's jumper cables in them, kind of a neat item.
As to books, one of my high school favourite series is displayed in the middle; Edgar Rice Burrough's John Carter of Mars series. I had to replace most of the original books over time as they got quite worn with all the travelling I did as a youngster. My Blog on the series was viewed quite heavily when the movie came out this year. Other authors displayed on this shelf include James Patterson - 4th of July and The 5th Horseman, Max Brooks - The Zombie Survival Guide, Simon Winchester - Outposts, Martin Cruz Smith - Stalin's Ghost, Georges Simenon - The Blue Room, Karen Irving - Pluto Rising and two Jeffrey Deaver's - The Cold Moon and The Bodies Left Behind.

The middle shelf features two of my favourite series, one old, one new.. About, it must be five Christmases ago now, Jo got me the Ian Rankin, Rebus series. It involved ordering some on line, searching through bookstores in Victoria, especially one of our favourites, Chronicles of Crime, located on Fort Street. It was such a nice surprise. I've been working my way through the series and enjoying every moment of it. You can see where I am at the moment, The Hanging Garden turned back to front. Jo and I have also over time enjoyed both TV versions of Rebus, although, personally I think Ken Stott makes a better Rebus. To the right of the Rankin books is another James Patterson, Cross and two wartime, erotic books, George Revelli's Commander Amanda Nightingale and Amanda's Castle.To the right of them are my other series. I had read most of Ian Fleming's James Bond books back in junior high school; they were quite exciting for my adolescent mind. I've been slowly collecting them again; have read three or four so far. They're nice to pick up and relive; excellent spy novels. So far I've found Goldfinger, From Russia with Love, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Thunderball, Live and Let Die, Dr No, Octopussy/ The Living Daylights, Casino Royale and The Spy Who Loved Me. Great stories, all written between the mid-50'sto mid-60's. Real classics.

Finally we move to the top shelf, a true mish-mash. They are a mix of hard covers/ paperbacks, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, history, a really nice mix of favourites. Let's see what you can find there -
Tom Robb Smith - Child 44
David Rotenberg (a great mystery series set in China) - The Golden Mountain Murders, The Lake Ching Murders and The Hamlet Murders
William Gibson - Spook Country
Stephen Donaldson - The Man Rides Through and The Mirror of her Dreams
James Patterson - Four Blind Mice
Jeffrey Deaver - The Sleeping Doll
David Benioff - City of Thieves
Cormac McCarthy - The Road
Jim Butcher - Grave Peril and Small Favor, David Brin - Heart of the Comet, Max Boot - War Made New, Simon Winchester - Krakatoa, Jo Nesbo - The Redbreast, Zoe Heller - Notes on a Scandal, Michael Connelly - City of Bones, Robertson Davies - What's Bred in the Bone and Christopher Golden - The Gatekeeper Trilogy.

Anyway, there you have it, another nice little bookcase, packed with joy. I'll leave this Blog with a piece of art, this is the painting by Alesha Davies Fowlie that sits above this peaceful corner.

Keep on reading and supporting your local book stores.

Book Shelves - Miscellaneous

Lounge - Built-ins

I did a Blog back in March about the book shelves in our den, trying to express my enjoyment of having books in the house, both to enjoy reading and to enjoy collecting. I thought I would continue this theme today and highlight some of the smaller book shelves in the house and how the missus and I have organised them. The den houses some of our bigger book shelves and, in the lounge, we've got a set of built-ins that we had a local carpenter install for us; and a great job he did too. You can see part of them in the photo on the right. I'll try to discuss them in a future Blog and highlight them in more detail.

But today, I'm going to highlight the smaller books shelves in the Family Room and on the upstairs landing. (Next time I'll feature the lounge) Take a deep breath. ;0)

The Family Room

Family Room

We don't have much room for books in the Family room, of course, it's taken up with the TV and such, but to the right of the fire place you can see a couple of rows in the unit that are dedicated to books. (There are close-ups.. )










Enid Blyton

 The top row of books are mainly those belonging to my wife, Jo. When she came over from England, she brought some of her own personal favourites, including Enid Blyton's Malory Towers series. She didn't have the complete series, but over time, I've managed to fill in the gaps for her so she has the complete collection. I have also found 4 books in the St Clare's series. They make a very nice addition to our collections. Rounding out the top shelf six small design books, highlighting different rooms in the house.




Some favourites

 The next row features some of my favourite books, not of any particular genre. The missus suggested the method of display and I've got to admit it's kind of cool; a nice mix of books, colours. Some of my favourite authors are featured. From the far right, you've got Minette Walters, two by Fred Hoyle, Karin Alvtegen, Nevil Shute's On the Beach, John Wyndham, Phylis Gottlieb, Lionel Davidson and HG Wells. From top to bottom, are books by HG Wells, Georges Simenon, Ngaio Marsh, Ray Bradbury, Nevil Shute, Kingsley Amis, John Wyndham, Karin Slaughter, David Rotenberg, Lynn Hightower and Nicholas Blake.



More favourites

 Working your way from the that last group, are Stieg Larsson, Tanya Huff, Robert Heinlein, William Gibson, Elizabeth Ferrars, John Dunning, Jeffrey Deaver, Carson McCullers, John Twelve Hawks, William Goldman and John Le Carré. The horizontal books feature again, Le Carré and Karin Altvegen as well as two Margaret Atwoods, Jane Austen, 2 Edmond Hamilton and John Brunner. Rounding off the shelf two small books on British birds I found in an antique store and another of my wife's favourite author, Jane Austen..



The Landing


Half landing

On the half landing, which you access from the front hallway and which obviously gives you access to the upstairs is a bookcase we picked up at one of our local auctions. It was actually a dark brown, but the wife gave it new life and freshened it up with a new coat of paint. The top two shelves are actually from a wall-mounted bookcase but it fits on top perfectly and gives a bit more substance to the landing. The bottom three rows include design magazines that Jo brought over from England and has collected since she came into my life. :0) The books for the main part were also bought at auction, boxes of books that we got for $20 or so. There are some nice atlases as well as encyclopedias and some classics, such as Moby Dick, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a James Herriot, etc.

The top two shelves include a variety of books, some series and a mix of mine and Jo's. Starting at the top left shelf, you'll find The Borribles series by Michael de Larrebeiti, which I bought during my university years. The bottom book is one of the missus' My Dear Mister Churchill. Rounding out the selections are a nice mix; an early GK Chesterton mystery, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, PG Wodehouse and The Inimitable Jeeves, Daphne du Maurier's The House on the Strand, Margaret Millar's Ask Me for Tomorrow and William Lederer's The Ugly American.

Moving over to the right, you find one of my favourite mystery series, Donna Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti series, set in Venice. I've Blogged about this series previously. I started reading them when I first moved to Vancouver Island, having been intrigued first by the cover, then the write up of the first book I purchased. I haven't necessarily read them in any particular order and you probably don't have to. But if you would like an excellent series to read, one that gives you the feel of both the characters and the locale, this is a must. It features great stories, great characters and yummy sounding food. Look it up.

Anyway, back to the shelves.. I can see now that strangely enough, the left side shelves are showing on the right side of the Blog.. lol.. Ah well. Anyway, this next section features both mine and Jo's books. From the BBC Radio series,  I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue is the Mornington Crescent books. As well, Jo's Victorian selections are featured; Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, Wuthering Heights and The Professor. Some of my Charlaine Harris books are also there, two from the Sookie Stackhouse True Blood series and three of the Lily Bard Shakespeare's mysteries. Both are excellent series. Rounding out the shelf are The Hound of the Baskervilles and A Miracle on 34th Street. I think Jo liked the splash of colour the books made..

The final section is set aside for our Penguin Books. There is something wonderful about the very simplicity of the Penguin cover. You can look at a book shelf and easily identify which books are Penguins. And even worn a bit, they still look great. So there you have them, some of my Penguins. They are book-ended by two of my very favourite books, written by Rohinton Mistry; A Fine Balance and Such a Long Journey. A Canadian writer, he writes with eloquence and sympathy, with stories set in India. Tragic stories in many ways, but still, stories that draw you in. You should check them out.

The Penguin books are a mix of favourites and classics -

Frederic Hoyle - Fifth Planet
Kingsley Amis - The Riverside Villa Murder
John Wyndham (one of my all-time favourite authors) - The Chrysalids, The Seeds of Time, The Midwich Cuckoos, The Kraken Wakes
HG Wells - The War of the Worlds
Graham Greene - The Honorary Consul and Brighton Rock
HE Bates - The Purple Plain, Dulcima and The Scarlet Sword
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
DH Lawrence - The Virgin and Gypsy
George Orwell - Burmese Days, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four (an all-time Top Ten favourite)
William Golding - Lord of the Flies
John Mortimer - Rumpole of the Bailey and Rumpole and the Age of Miracles.

There you have it. I've rambled on about book shelves and lists of books/ authors. I could do it forever. It's all part of the enjoyment of reading a good book and admiring it when it's out on display. Have a great one!

Book shelves - The Den

The Den/ Computer Room

I have previously done a Blog on how I organise or, at the very least, try to organise my books. I'm going to feature the shelves in our den today. Normally when I come home from work, if I find the missus in the den on the computer, I'll sit in the easy chair behind her and read for half an hour or so until Jeopardy is on. The other day, as I sat there, I looked around the room, enjoying how comfortable it is and just checking out the books on the shelves.

I've got to say, I love books, everything about them. I love reading, I love wandering through book stores and just looking at them and smelling them. As I sat there in the orange chair you see, it felt good. Over the years I've bought and read many, many books and it's so nice, now that I'm basically retired, to be able to enjoy them in my own home. Anyway, that's why I decided to do today's blog, to focus a bit more on how the shelves are organised. I give most of the credit to the missus; she has such a lovely way of displaying the books and our other items to make it so homey looking. And it is...


TBR shelf (To Be Read)


At the bottom left, you find my TBR books (at least about 75% of them). I try to organise them alphabetically and then chronologically by author, but you can see some stacked on top. The books are two deep and on the bottom, stacked two high as well. So as you can guess, when I new ones, it would mean trying to squeeze them in somewhere behind and/ or below other rows. So I only re-organise every two or three months now, when I get a fit of energy. It means pulling them all out and starting from scratch. Not that I don't like doing that, as it does remind me of books I'd forgotten as they are hidden in back rows. Off to the far left are the Buffy magazines I used to collect back when the TV show was still on.

Behind the Secret Door

Another group of TBR books, those that are too big or are the lower end of the alphabet are behind the doors, just to the right of the TBR shelves. Also in that location are some of my SciFi/ Fantasy paperbacks that have never made it out on display but that I don't really want to trade in.

It's difficult to differentiate from a photo, but I've read the first four or five on the left, the remainder on the top shelf and all on the bottom are part of my TBR section. (The remaining 10% or so of my TBR's are scattered throughout the house. But I know where they are, thanks to a suggestion from the missus.. To finish off this photo, on the top shelf, behind the books shown are the remainder of the SciFi/ Fantasy books I mentioned earlier.


Secret Door Number 2


While I've got the doors open, behind the second set of doors you find my overflow mystery/ adventure/ spy type novels. I've read all of them, but there really isn't room to display them on the other book shelves. You can see on the top shelf the Sue Grafton Kinsey Milhone series; I've read up to P is for Peril so far but the others are upstairs in the master bedroom, awaiting my perusal. :0) I enjoy that series, Kinsey is a great character and her mysteries are always interesting. The remainder are a mixture; you can see Tanya Huff and Martin Cruz Smith on the middle shelf. That is another excellent series, if you like mysteries. Smith wrote the Arcady Renko series; a Russian police officer, dealing with the politics of modern Russia. The first in the series is Gorky Park. All of them are excellent.



Hidden behind the orange chair

 Staying on the bottom of the book case shelves are those books found on the far right, somewhat hidden behind the chair. The top row features many of Jo's design books. She brought quite a few over from England with her when she moved here to be with me. :0) I've purchased her a few over the years as well; some may be there, but they are also scattered throughout the house. They are nice books, well-presented, lovely photographs.

The bottom row contains more mysteries, authors such as Giles Blunt, Nevada Barr, Edmund Crispin and an assortment of many others. If I enjoy the author and his style, I do like to keep them and I will find a place to put them. The bottom shelf is stacked two deep as well. I vetted recently so will be visiting one of my used book stores with offerings one of these days. I don't like giving up books, but if they are going to be hidden away and never read again, at least, this way someone else can enjoy them.


Reference Books



Just above the TBR shelves are two shelves mostly containing various reference books. there are other books as well; you can see in the middle my Harry Potter books.

There are a mixture of reference books. On the lower right, a book I found at one of our local antique shops; a King's English Dictionary, from the early 1900's, a Family Atlas of the World on the far left. On the top shelf are two or three of our most used reference books; The Virgin Film Guide and two books containing UK Hit singles. Both Jo and I are pop culture fanatics and we often search through them when are watching movies, picking music.



Stephen King and Others

 Moving up another two shelves and the focus is on Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror. My hard cover Laurell K. Hamilton books, the Anita Blake vampire hunter series are on the far left. The paperbacks in the series are in the lounge. I also have a mix of Stephen King novels on the far right; The Stand, It and Pet Cemetery (some of my favourites). representing SciFi are JG Ballard, Iain Banks, David Brin and John Wyndham. To flesh it out, a few other horror and fantasy novels; PN Elrod's vampire detective books, The Strain, by Guillermo del Toros and The Time Thief by Linda Buckley-Archer. I've enjoyed them all. Excellent reading.



Narnia


Front and centre are my Narnia books by C.S. Lewis. I've had them since university, back in the mid-1970's. It was a great series. The other books are a mix; I think Jo liked how the colours played off. Free Reign is the first in a mystery series set in Toronto by Rene Aubert. It features a fallen judge, issues with drink and other matters, who finds himself investigating mysteries. It's a well-crafted story, quite enjoyable. Off to the left of the shelf, you can see how Jo has mixed and matched on each shelf. I collect books, she collects perfume bottles. They do look lovely on display. :0)




Some favourites here

 The shelf above is definitely a mix and match, but all favourite books of mine. You find from left to right; Audrey Niffnegger's Her Fearful Symmetry, Rohinton Mistry's Tales from Ferosha Baag and Family Matters, Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog at Midnight, Niffnegger's first The Time Traveller's Wife, Nevil Shute's An Old Captivity, VS Naipaul A House for Mister Biswas, Iain Banks The State of the Art and holding them all up, Richard Bachman (AKA Stephen King) The Regulators. An excellent mix of stories. Rohinton Mistry's stories are standouts for me and The Time Traveller's Wife is fantastic.


Collectibles


In the middle right, you find some of our collectibles. Some were my mothers, which she gave to me. On the top right, you see our old family bible, weather worn, but still lovely.  Below it is her Lutheran Evangelical Hymn book. At the very bottom is a German bible that her parents brought with them when they emigrated to Canada in the early 1900's. The dark black book above is a collection of the poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (the book has an inscription from 1899 inside the cover) that I bought for the missus one Christmas. That book, plus the three you see together on the left; a series of the works of George Elliot, were purchased at one of our favourite antique / collectible stores in Courtenay. Unfortunately the owner passed away a couple of years ago and the store was closed. It was a lovely place with many lovely items within. You can see more of the missus' perfume bottles placed between the books. She has such a nice collection.



Biographies

 Above that shelf are mostly autobiographies, with a few other books thrown into the mix. You can see autobiographies of Dawn French, Simon Cowell and Martha Stewart. Also is a book on Leading Men of Hollywood. Barely visible on the left is a book that Jo got me for Christmas one year, The Professor and the Madman, by Simon Winchester. It's basically about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, but featuring two of the main characters involved. Dry, you might think, but in actuality, a fascinating history that I could hardly put down. Of the remaining books on this shelf (there is a white and black colour theme as you may have noticed. :0)) are Stephen King's Desperation, Gregory Maguire's Wicked and one of Jo's design books, White Hot.



A nice mixture

 On the top right, just to the right of the ivy, you find some favourite paperbacks; a mix of mystery and fantasy. On the top right is World War Z, by Max Brooks, a history of the Zombie wars. Close together are four Georges Simenon Inspector Maigret mysteries, a special Harcourt publication. Some of my Scandinavian mysteries are featured, books by AC Baantjer and Haaken Nesser, as well as a variety of British mysteries. On the shelf below, besides the edition of Lord of the Rings that I bought in high school (1973/74) are some histories; The Family of Spies, The Gathering Storm by Winston Churchill and Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain (excellent book). It's a nice mix of favourites.



The radio

 The final shelf mainly features the antique radio that Jo bought me five years ago or so. It's lovely and in fact still works. I do have a thing for old radios not that I have a big collection, but they look so very nice. The books are a mixture; an old Pears encyclopedia, my daughter Jennifer's Master's dissertation, 501 Must See movies and some design books. The fit in nicely beside the radio. :0)

Anyway, there you go, a trek through our den bookshelves. I hope you enjoyed.