Making your bookshelves talk...

15 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
15 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...
annpan
15 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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I unerstand this can't be done with Ikea type bookcases--but we have some unfinished furniture stores in this area where the product is locally made--not shipped from China and they might have product that could be adapted... since the track system would not be used that often--certainly not even once a month on avg probably--barn door track systems that you see in some newer construction/design would certainly be strong enough to hold something like that I would think (not the kind that sliding closet doors use) the bookcases would be more stationery than rolling...but I take your point about need for proper construction due to weight of books themselves if nothing else... the point is that I would not order something like this that costs 3K for a wall/bed system on-line when --even if you spend that much to have it built on-site-- you can get a true "custom" construction and better control over materials they build these by their standard dimensions--we can't really see how well constructed they are or the actual quality of the wood/materials used... I would not spend that kind of money to order something w/o seeing at least a sample of the work--and there are none of the companies I found last night that have any product showroom in our area--DFW-- we have friend who is builder and he has some awesome trim carpenters...they could probably build this for us if they had a good blueprint with materials--but their deal is anything unfamiliar gets the price increased just because it is new--not necessarily any more difficult--just different--have a set of plans and material list would make it that much easier to get rational price from them... we just saw it last night--have to measure wall it would go on and determine some factors like closet door swing and window on that wall to see if it could be done with balance... although the house it would go in has two other bedrooms beside this one available for guests (we are empty nesters) there are some people who would prefer to sleep downstairs--and it would just make that room more flexible for me to use as my study/computer room... the master in this house is smaller than I would have really liked (owners made other design choices to limit its size) but there are other factors that we like--just looking for way to maximize potential...
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Is1208, your picture of only a part of this room makes it look as if all your furniture is clustered toward the left wall, as if it was important to leave the right third empty for traffic to pass through, and perhaps also to keep a wide diagonal path clear from top right to bottom left too. That suggested appearance in your picture may not be the case, but is suggesting the problem with that wall--it's not just empty, it's located in in empty space. The room is out of balance, with the left 2/3 furnished for living, the right waiting for the passengers to disembark and head for their luggage. The group of pictures does a lot in its little way to throw some weight on the other side. But it just seems to me that more indication of actual living on the right would really benefit the feel of the whole room. It's not a small room, it shouldn't live small. Having people arc around furniture as they pass through a room is fine. Even nice, desirable. A chest would likely be, as suggested, something your family ended up using a lot. A settee maybe not so much, but it might be even more valuable in making your living room appear to live large--the same way a bench invitingly placed by a lawn but seldom sat on makes a lawn look so much more appealing than one without it. I'm also wondering if that is a front or back door and how it might be influencing the throwing of all living to the left? If a back door, could it exit from the living area instead of being walled off so resolutely? If it's the front "stranger" entry, it's more problematic, but still--do you have a lot of strangers entering that way? Enough to cause the seating group to huddle to the side and try to ignore it? Yes, I'm really suspecting the actual situation is probably entirely different. Maybe someone's nearsighted and it's really about the TV. :) But that is what it's looking like from my side of the screen.
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I'm sorry for the double post. It has taken me two days to successfully post my message and somehow it is now on here twice.
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for that matter, please share your favorite kitchen bookshelves?
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I had an area in the kitchen that had upper cabinets, but no lowers. It's about 16" deep, so too shallow for base cabinets. So here is what I came up with: This is made with two 34" high unfinished bookcases from The Woodland Mills, and a variety of other pieces of MDF and wood. The top is IKEA Numerar finished with Waterlox satin. The baskets are from The Basket Lady. (I designed the whole thing with those particular baskets in mind.) The wine rack is just a shelf with strips of 1/4" x 1/4" wood glued every 2" to keep the bottles in place. It sits on brackets and is not attached, so if at some point we decide that we'd rather have a flat shelf there, it can just be flipped over. Overall shot showing the relationship to the cabinets above: This whole assembly cost less than $500. I'm still figuring out what looks best where but this is solving lots of problems and adding storage that I really needed.
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annpan
15 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 :-(
Kath
15 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!
Chris_in_the_Valley
15 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
grelobe
15 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
vickitg
15 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

Making your bookshelves talk...

Comments (7)

ccrdmrbks

annpan

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