Other peoples book shelves.

[Dales]

Whenever I visit a new acquaintance for the first or second time I always find my self taking furtive glances at their bookshelf .

 

If I see that they are stacked with classic Penguins for instance I immediately feel at home , to see D.H.Lawrence standing beside George Orwell or John Steinbeck in traditional orange cover leaf makes me relaxed and ready for great conversation .

 

Some times I notice that some folk display (usually in a Ikea self assembly mock pine cabinet with glass doors) books with titles such as Thirty Shades of Grey or Sex in the City , these are usually dog eared having been passed around the relatives or read in the toilet .

 

I know as soon as I spy these titillating fairy stories not to except a cup of Earl Grey or glass of Aldi plonk as you can bet Nuffields millions that the receptacle has not had a proper wash with Fairy liquid but will have just been left in a plastic sink bowl and rinsed under the cold tap .

 

When watching T.V. my eyes are always diverted to the book shelves behind who ever is being interviewed in their own home and I switch over straight away if I see big volumes and titles by Richard Attenborough or Shakespeare as I know instantly that they are there for show and have never even been opened.

 

Any one who has the Karma Sutra or Arthur Upfield on their book shelf always arises a special interest.

 

I love reading, and I always think it's great that other people take time to read. One of my favourites is Macbeth, on the other hand I read Milly Johnson books, she is a local fictional writer. If you enjoy reading, you enjoy reading.

[Bob Arctor]

I love reading, and I always think it's great that other people take time to read. One of my favourites is Macbeth, on the other hand I read Milly Johnson books, she is a local fictional writer. If you enjoy reading, you enjoy reading.

 

My two nippers, both under 10, absolutely love reading and it makes me very happy. Sometimes I feel like shouting ironically "Oi you two, put those books down! These video games won't play themselves you know!"

[Dales]

My two nippers, both under 10, absolutely love reading and it makes me very happy. Sometimes I feel like shouting ironically "Oi you two, put those books down! These video games won't play themselves you know!"

 

I have very fond memories of being under 10 and reading Enid Blyton Famous Five books. I still have them actually and might read one tonight! I don't have children, but if I did I would also be very happy to see them reading.

[crookedspire]

"Gays & Guns"? "The Bareback Redneck"?

 

I know it makes the mind boggle

[Supertramp]

Mine got the finer points of art ( naked men and all that) and gun ownership on my bookshelf.

 

You don't got grammar like you got books man.

[L00b]

My two nippers, both under 10, absolutely love reading and it makes me very happy. Sometimes I feel like shouting ironically "Oi you two, put those books down! These video games won't play themselves you know!"

I despair at the disdain which mine (13, truly a voracious reader, currently engrossed in Ernest Cline's Ready Player One and Danielle Paige's Dorothy Must Die) shows to my own bookshelves.

 

With art books (mostly, but not only, videogame/retro), full series of franco-belgian comics (XIII, Largo Winch, classics such as Tintin, Astérix, Léonard, Gaston Lagaffe, 421 and more obscures unknown over here, and including Katsuhiro Otomo's entire Akira set, translated and colourised in hard back), technothrillers (Clancy, Harry, <...>), sci-fi series & anthologies, French and British classics, autobiographies and historicals (e.g. Beevor's Berlin & Stalingrad, Weir's Henry VIII, <...>) there's bound to be something of interest to a teenager

 

But no, she prefers filling her own bookshelves, and her kindle.

 

And topically with your post, Bob, I can't remember the last time she showed any interest in the arcade cabs beside the bookshelves, either!

Edited June 27, 2017 by L00b

[alchresearch]

Pffft books!

 

[TimmyR]

My bookshelves are at the library or at other people's houses. I don't really feel the need to put books on display once I've read them and certainly won't read them again which leaves more space for accumulating junk instead.

[Mister M]

"Gays & Guns"? "The Bareback Redneck"?

 

Ooh er! I'd like to meet him!