Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Someone Else's Bookshelves



This post by Nicholas Bate makes me long for a picture book showing people's bookshelves.

I'd like to see the shelves of Hemingway, Churchill, Thatcher, Moynihan, Kissinger, Nixon, King, Hitchens, Wolfe, and others. You can learn a great deal about people by perusing their bookshelves. I always check the titles in any photograph in which bookshelves are in the background and even - this is weird - check the titles of bookshelves in furniture stores where the books are present only to produce a certain effect.

Cynics will say, "Anyone can throw a bunch of books on shelves" but I'm still interested in their choices and whether any connection to a particular book can be seen in their conduct. 

3 comments:

MattR said...

I agree - would love to see the shelves of specific people - especially writers and free thinkers.

If you like the book pr0n - then this book is superb : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Libraries-Candida-Hofer/dp/0500543143/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1455717002&sr=8-3&keywords=libraries

Harvey Morrell said...

Hemingway's bookshelf in Cuba:
http://robaroundbooks.com/2013/11/bookshelf-of-the-week-finca-vigia-hemingways-cuban-home/

Michael Wade said...

Matt and Harvey,

Many thanks!

Michael