Making your bookshelves talk...

14 years ago

This meme has been going around the booky blogs that I read regularly, and I thought it might be fun for us to do as well.

How it works: Just copy and paste the questions and then, going through your own bookshelves, pick titles that fit the statement:

* Describe yourself: A Woman of a Certain Age - Nina Bawden

* How do you feel?: Stately as a Galleon - Joyce Grenfell

* Describe where you currently live: Greenery Street - Denis McKail

* If you could go anywhere, where would you go?: Into the Beautiful North - Luis Alberto Urea

* Your favorite form of transportation: The Last Unicorn - Peter Beagle

* Your best friend is: The Man in the Wooden Hat - Jane Gardam

* You and your friends are: The Group - Mary McCarthy

* What's the weather like?: One Fine Day - David Nicholls

* Favorite time of day?: The Great Silence - Juliet Nicholson

* If your life is/was: Neither Here nor There - Bill Bryson

* What is life for you?: Wouldn't have Missed it for the World - Stuart Antrobus

* Your fear: Spook - Mary Roach

* What is the best advice you have to give?: Ladies First - Lynn Santa Lucia

* Thought for the Day: London Belongs to Me - Norman Collins

* How I would like to die: In the Stacks - Michael Cart

* My soul's present condition: Abundance - Sera Jeter Naslund

Your turn if you'd like...

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Comments (7)

ccrdmrbks
14 years ago
* Describe yourself: The Grand Sophy Georgette Heyer
* How do you feel?: Clubbed to Death Ruth Dudley Edwards
* Describe where you currently live: The Hippopotamus Pool Elizabeth Peters
* If you could go anywhere, where would you go?: In this House of Brede Rumer Godden
* Your favorite form of transportation: The Horse You Came in On Martha Grimes
* Your best friend is: Jeeves in the Morning PG Wodehouse
* You and your friends are: Hons and Rebels Nancy Mitford
* What's the weather like?: The Winds of Change Martha Grimes
* Favorite time of day?: The Rising of the Moon Gladys Mitchell
* If your life is/was: A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole
* What is life for you?: Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen
* Your fear: Among the Mad Jacqueline Winspear
* What is the best advice you have to give?: Help the Poor Struggler Martha Grimes
* Thought for the Day:Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves PG Wodehouse
* How I would like to die: Dewey Decimated Charles Goodrum
* My soul's present condition: Nemesis Agatha Christie

Your turn if you'd like...
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annpan
14 years ago
What fun! I did not think I could manage all the questions with my small personal library. Can't do the cut and paste but here goes:

Describe yourself: Foolish Gentlewoman-Margery Sharp
How do you feel?:Faking it-Jennifer Crusie
Current abode:Four gardens-Margery Sharp
If you could go anywhere...:London-Eyewitness Travel Guide
Favourite form of transport:Lilac Bus-Maeve Binchy
Best friend:Gentleman of Leisure-P.G. Wodehouse
You and your friends are:Strange Bedfellows-Jennifer Crusie
What's the weather like?:Full Moon-P.G.Wodehouse
Favourite time of day:Good in Bed-Jennifer Weiner
If your life is/was:The Return Journey-Maeve Binchy
What is life for you?:A Woman's Eye-Ed. Sara Paretsky
Your fear:Don't Look Down-Jennifer Crusie
What is the best advice you have to give?:Live a Longer Life-Sophie Scott
Thought for the day:Cover her Face-P.D.James (We have too much sun at present!)
How I would like to die:Parting Breath-Catherine Aird
My souls's present condition:Staying Alive-Donna Aston

All those life style books I have accumulated, I must read them one day! Too busy living at the moment!!
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That column about stacking bookcases can't be downloaded until you register, which I haven't done yet, but I like what the writer says in the synopsis: "We make them that way because that's the way we've always made them." What's important for furniture users and buyers (and DIYers) to realize is that the way things are "always done" has often evolved for the convenience of woodworkers or to reflect the tools and materials they most often have, for mass production, or for other reasons that sometimes don't matter for a one-off idiosyncratic project like this one, or for the non-woodworking builder who has fewer tools but more flexibility in other directions. In those cases, DIYers are sometimes on their own in terms of design because we have to think outside the box. Below is a link, for example, to a project my husband and I did recently, where our constraints and wishes kind of precluded doing things the way they are "always done" and we had to figure out a whole different way to build drawers. I'm still not totally clear on some of your project details, for example why you wouldn't be attaching at both ends of the row, whether you can screw into the floor, whether budget is an issue, and what the overall intent of the project is in terms of appearance and function, but there are a couple of alternate ways of thinking about this project. For example, you could look at it more as a wall-framing exercise than as a set of four bookshelves, and take your construction clues from how a wall would be constructed and installed. The stacking boxes that are apparently the idea in the Popular Woodworking articles may also be a good approach. You can construct the stationary and mobile sections differently, and also, your two stationary sets together could be constructed as one unit. But there is another option if you want to stay with free-standing bookcases that you install and connect. This evolves from the recognition that the back is much more effective if it is inset. Go ahead and use 3/4" plywood, but cut it to fit entirely within the case of your shelves. Lay it on the floor, and then assemble your case around it. Screw the case sides to the top and bottom, as you intend, but then also drill and screw them into the sides of the 3/4 ply all the way around. Now you have a pretty solid box that will not rack, and in which the backing plywood also helps keep the vertical elements in line. An advantage to this is that your plywood edge will not show and in fact, if you use finish-grade plywood, the backs of your shelves will actually look darn good. Now you can attach your shelves. One of the tricks I use is to shop the moulding section quite carefully (actually I scour a specialty moulding store). Whatever the moulding pieces are designed for, they can be used for other things, for example, keeping corners square or supporting shelves. The discussion about your lumber selection question also leads me to suggest that you expand your search beyond your big box stores. I shop for the best lumber I can find and often have to go to specialty stores to get it, and I usually pay a premium for it - but since I'm not paying for labour, the total cost of the project still often ends up being very reasonable. Besides getting lumber that is dried in keeping with the sort of work you want to do, you also get a better selection. And I will say that in the square-cut-and-screw method of attachment, a hardwood like maple is going to give you a way better result than a softwood where the fibres on the corners are apt to crush easily when the unit is stressed, resulting in wobbly joints. You may also find that the aesthetic appeal of using really nice lumber is such that you will be happier with better thinner boards than with lesser quality thick boards. Plus, thinner boards give you more room on your shelves. KarinL Here is a link that might be useful: home-made drawers
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Oh, I enjoyed this thread! I have to add that the only room without books & bookcases is my bathroom & that's because it's too humid! The dining room I'd love to turn into a "library" but haven't managed to yet. Mine are sort of organized by topics within a bookcases. The two in the dining room hold all the field guides for birds, butterflies, wildflowers etc. Then there are two in the living room with (mostly) gardening. My bedroom has a row of shelves built specifically to hold paperbacks(double stacked)These are mostly beloved books that are read again and again. The breakfast room (who thought of a room just to eat breakfast in?) has two small shelves of series (mysteries)Oh and another shelf of cookbooks! The back bedroom holds all of my late mothers books-complete Agatha Christie & several other mystery series that I read occasionally. Then there are several miscellaneous (sp?) bookshelves scatteried where ever there is room-one of those tacky metal ones from college is in the hallway below where I hang my coats! Oh the livingroom has another one for dictionaries & other reference books. And after my mother passed away in 2005 I started a library at the facility where I work with mentally challenged adults-so I could clear space on the bookshelves (and I had a bad case of insomnia)Like most posters I can lay my hands on a book fairly quickly-of course some of them have been in the same place for 50 years so... Hope this is not too much information! I got a real laugh out of this as not all my close friends are readers & don't understand why I need all these books! Susan
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annpan
14 years ago
Too late but I have noticed another answer for the "How do you feel" question!
The Twelve Deaths of Christmas-Marion Babson would describe me at present (Sunburned, sore eyes, lethargic etc. etc. and so forth :-(
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Kath
14 years ago
* Describe yourself: Either - Katherine by Anya Seton or The Know-It-All by A J Jacobs
* How do you feel?: Lost In A Good Book - Jasper Fforde
* Describe where you currently live: Too Many Men - Lily Brett
* If you could go anywhere, where would you go?: London - Edward Rutherfurd
* Your favorite form of transportation: The Pale Horse - Agatha Christie
* Your best friend is: The Loved One - Evelyn Waugh
* You and your friends are: Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chevalier
* What's the weather like?: Remember June - Damien Leith
* Favorite time of day?: Dying Light - Stuart Macbride
* If your life is/was: A Private Performance - Helen Halstead
* What is life for you?: A Suitable Vengeance - Elizabeth George
* Your fear: Hunger - Knut Hamsun
* What is the best advice you have to give?: The Meaning of Everything - Simon Winchester
* Thought for the Day: Sparks Fly Upward - Diana Norman
* How I would like to die: Orchestrated Death - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
* My soul's present condition: Enduring Love - Ian McEwen

This was fun!
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Chris_in_the_Valley
14 years ago
Great meme! And because how I feel is slightly perverse. That, and all my other boxes of books are in storage:

* Describe yourself: A Key to Many Doors - Emilie Loring
* How do you feel?: A Certain Crossroad - Emilie Loring
* Describe where you currently live: Where Beauty Dwells - Emilie Loring
* If you could go anywhere, where would you go?: Uncharted Seas - Emilie Loring
* Your favorite form of transportation: Swift Water - Emilie Loring
* Your best friend is: Across the Years - Emilie Loring
* You and your friends are: Keepers of the Faith - Emilie Loring
* What's the weather like?: Here Comes the Sun - Emilie Loring
* Favorite time of day?: Rainbow at Dusk - Emilie Loring
* If your life is/was: Beckoning Trails - Emilie Loring
* What is life for you?: I Hear Adventure Calling - Emilie Loring
* Your fear: No Time for Love - Emilie Loring
* What is the best advice you have to give?: Follow Your Heart
* Thought for the Day: It's a Great World! - Emilie Loring
* How I would like to die: High of Heart - Emilie Loring
* My soul's present condition: Look to the Stars - Emilie Loring
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grelobe
14 years ago
*Describe your self: The Kid - Kevin Lewis

*How do you feel?: A Life Like Other People's- Alan Bennet

*Describe where you currently live:Treasure Island - Robert Luis Stevenson

*If you could go anywhere,where would you go? Nowhere In Africa: An Autobiographical Novel-Stefanie Zweigg

*Your favorite form of transportation: Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal's Journey from Down Under to All Over-Geraldine Brooks

*Your best friend is:Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat - Oliver Sack

*You and your friends are: The Nonexistent Knight and The Cloven Viscount-Italo Calvino

*What's the weather like?: Snow Falling on Cedars-David Guterson

*Favorite time of day?: The Island of the Day Before-Umberto Eco

*If your life is/was: A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies: Stories- John Murray

*What is life for you?: Myth and Meaning- Claude Levi-Strauss

*Your fear: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies- Jared Diamond

*What is the best advice you have to give: Pleading Guilty-Scott Turow

*Thought for the Day:The Monkey in the Mirror: Essays on the Science of What Makes Us Human-Ian Tattersall

*How Iwould like to die: Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven-Mark Twain

*My soul's present condition:Evolution Man or : How I Ate my Father- Roy Lewis
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vickitg
14 years ago
Well, you work with what you've got, right?

Describe yourself: Sarah, Plain and Tall - Patricia MacLachlan
How do you feel: Happiness Is an Inside Job - Sylvia Boorstein
Ã¢ÂÂ¨Describe where you currently live: East of Eden- Steinbeck
Ã¢ÂÂ¨If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Ã¢ÂÂ¨Big Island of Hawaii - Robert Nilsen
Your favorite form of transportation: A Swiftly Tilting Planet- L'Engle
Ã¢ÂÂ¨Your best friend is: The Energetic Manager- Fred Pryor
Ã¢ÂÂ¨You and your friends are: And Ladies of the Club- Helen Hooven Santmyer
What's the weather like?: Tears of the Giraffe- Alexander McCall Smith
Favorite time of day: Ã¢ÂÂ¨Night of Many Dreams- Gail Tsukiyama
If your life is/was: Fluke- Christopher Moore
Ã¢ÂÂ¨What is life for you: So Many Books, So Little Time - Sara Nelson
Ã¢ÂÂ¨Your fear: The Forest Prime Evil Alan Russell
What is the best advice you have to give: Ã¢ÂÂ¨Safeguard Your Identity -Mari H, Frank, Esq.
Thought for the Day: Simplify Your Life - Elaine St. James
How I would like to die: Creating True Peace - Thich Nhat Hanh
My soul's present condition: The Joy of Living- Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
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Making your bookshelves talk...

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