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Sense of Shelf.

It's Nice That's weekly series "Bookshelf" - in which artists, writers, designers, and creative thinkers list their five favorite books "in the whole ruddy world" - is an addicting and fascinating read. I was just talking with a friend the other day about how revealing bookshelves can be. My own is admittedly sparse (I've been doing most of my reading on a Kindle lately, and I don't even own a real shelf), but I consider the two tall stacks that I do have an ever-expanding work-in-progress.


Thoughts on a personal top five: Just Kids, The God of Small Things, possibly Jesus's Son by Denis Johnson, and something by T.C. Boyle and Geoff Dyer. You?

Photos, from top to bottom: set designer Anna Lomax; Antiques Roadshow's Marc Allum; Anna Lomax's Chapelle du Rosaire; Why Cats Paint, owned by Dazed and Confused editor Tim Noakes; Hilary Greenbaum of The New York Times Magazine; photographer Will Sanders.

12 comments:

  1. So fun bumping into you and Max. :) Dash is possibly the cutest baby I've ever seen in my life. xo.

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  2. Oooh I love bookshelves. I just want to run my hands all over the book spines.

    I LOVE the name Dash! I meant to say that on your post a few days ago. It's so badass and unique!

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  3. I loved Just Kids, and Grace Coddington's new autobiography.

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  4. Bookshelves really are revealing! Right now mine is covered mostly with books my mother reads and sends on to me.

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  5. This is so great! I am always curious as to what books people have, and I am always a little worried when I go into homes where there are no books, or when I meet people who say they don't enjoy reading. I don't have a bookshelf, but I do have very deep window sills, and that's where all my non-school books hang out.

    It's so hard to choose only five books, but Just Kids is definitely up there (I don't know if you feel the same way, but I think that book changed my life), as are The Giving Tree, Time's Arrow, And the Band Played On, and The History of Love.

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  6. a houses's best accessory is often its bookshelf.
    xx
    http://petalandplume.blogspot.ca

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  7. Kimia, it was so lovely to meet you! Will email you this week - we need to have a proper hang-out!

    Tara, I love it, too! I'll be sure to pass along your compliment :)

    Angela, I've been meaning to pick up Grace - I've only heard amazing things.

    Kathy, it definitely changed my life - I love it so much. And "The History of Love" is a great one - the last line of that book has always stuck with me.

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  8. "Why Cats Paint" - what an awesome choice.

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  9. i love seeing other people's book shelves, it really is revealing, you're right. thanks for sharing!

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  10. Bookshelves are my favorite. Truth: I will sometimes just sit on my futon and stare at my bookcase and note the way the books are leaning and how it changes day to day as I remove/add books. There's something comforting about a full, slightly messy bookshelf, especially if it includes some knick knacks.

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  11. Awesome. I am a sucker for books - I think they say so much about the person living in that space. Sometimes I sit back and think about what my bookshelves say about me. There are many missing. We have more bookshelves, though, and they are rapidly filling. How to pick five? I adored Just Kids too. Off the top of my head, I think of... Poisonwood Bible, Leaves of Grass, The Celebrant, Contact, East of Eden...and can I throw a Harry Potter in there just for fun? ;-)

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