what do your bookshelves look like?

Just discovered something creepy: try dropping one of the clearer higher-res photos from this thread into https://cloud.google.com/vision/ and it does a not-bad job of pulling the book titles out.

https://image.ibb.co/b6Mo1L/Untitled.png
https://image.ibb.co/fA7jaf/Untitled2.png

one section (some of these are my wife's):

https://i.imgur.com/YJpQzJe.jpg

My nonfiction. On the left side mostly history, on the right side film books, some theology and other stuff.
On the wall to the left is Saint Jerome, always looking over my shoulder to make me start reading a book instead of wasting my time on ILX:

https://i.imgur.com/ENKrLj6.jpg

A better view of my buddy J:

http://www.artcyclopedia.org/art/vincenzo-di-catena-jerome.jpg

I've always viewed my books/bookshelves as more of a living thing - a reflection of where my head is at and what my interests are pointing at. I used to have about three times as many but I've given books away, sold and traded stuff off. I'm also a heavy e-reader now - for me it's the words that matter, not the form of the ritual.

http://www.quartzcity.net/ilx/et_bookshelf-1.jpg

http://www.quartzcity.net/ilx/et_bookshelf-2.jpg

http://www.quartzcity.net/ilx/et_bookshelf-3.jpg

(not pictured: the 33 1/3 books - they're with the records)

Nice! What's that blue John Cale book in the 1st photo?

good shit ET

idk know how to post pictures from my phone to ilx so heres a tweet that has my bookshelves:

gradients are back pic.twitter.com/HzXlVSytpP

— Crayson, inventor of Snullcore (@wutsreal) August 22, 2018

Nice! What's that blue John Cale book in the 1st photo?

It's the special edition of Cale's What's Welsh For Zen autobio that's illustrated by Dave McKean

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41C9QVZ5HKL._SX335_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

should have moved the lamp (same John Cale volume peaking from behind couch, lower left)

https://i.imgur.com/wh7fcoE.jpg

beginning to sag

https://i.imgur.com/8yUBc1S.jpg

wife is concerned about the floors giving in our little bungalow. have a friend who had her floor reinforced for her record collection.

should have moved the lamp (same John Cale volume peaking from behind couch, lower left)

I see the Bomp! book peeking out a couple books away. Super pleased to have a tiny part in the making of that.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/books/celebrity-bookshelves-tv-coronavirus.html

Scott says: hey you guys feel free to bump an old what does your bookshelf look like thread. i love that kinda hot action.

So ... I moved flats and got some bookshelves built and some from IKEA

https://i.imgur.com/bUO2RXc.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/HHKQOVB.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/EyfOVkn.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/46FjBl0.jpg

awesome stacks

oh baby hubba hubba!

i want to see what james m's death trap looks like in 2023 too!

Moved office into my daughter's old room a couple of years ago, made a proper man-cave of it with home theater and (suboptimal) recliner.

https://i.imgur.com/FeaTslh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/PLKIZZV.jpg
Severely culled my CDs since my 2018 pics upthread. All Criterions on the left shelves, plus I have my booze research library now.

Not pictured behind my desk, a small but steadily growing library about spirits.

ugh, sorry for not downsizing the pics before hosting them

btw the oatmeal containers are for a model of a column still I'm planning on assembling

"So ... I moved flats and got some bookshelves built and some from IKEA"

😍😍😍

The amaro library gave me a faint.

haha, i love the booze cave, WmC! that's awesome.

Scott, this is now slightly out of date, but:
https://vimeo.com/591893523

Some of the books (we've downsized our collection):

https://i.imgur.com/P5kpqY0.jpg

Most of the booze:

https://i.imgur.com/gF52chF.jpg

Oh, James! James! James! James! You need an exit strategy.

haha, he could always open a store like i did! i don't even want to know what would have happened if i hadn't. that includes my first store in the 90s. i sold hundreds of my own books back then. i don't sell OR buy as many any more. just don't look in our attic at home. i SWEAR there are no books up there!

those rooms look great, josh, love that wall o' shelf.

Lots of different bookshelves around the house: films, music, politics, etc. These are baseball books, with, yes, a shelf devoted to James.

https://i.postimg.cc/bJkckbrf/shelf-1.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/y8dMn2xP/shelf-2.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/Wz8yw7PC/james.jpg

Scott, this is now slightly out of date, but:
https://vimeo.com/591893523

― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison)

holy shit!

AMAZING!!! so jealous of his lair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6cIujCC3Do

you gotta see his books.

I posted this is another thread but it fits here too, heartbreaking amount of stuff probably went to the dumpster because even collector friends couldn't save the whole collection between them.

https://www.blackgate.com/2023/05/21/in-memory-of-a-legendary-collector-denny-lien-september-26-1945-april-15-2023/

I frequently wonder what I'm going to get rid of but I hear people saying "wish I hadn't got rid of that" all the time, and there are a few things I got rid of and bought again, so I need to become far more sane before I get rid of much more.

I would like to be less sane about books but there’s nowhere to put new bookcases in this place and I rent so new books sort of get wedged in places as it is. If I ever live someplace with builtins it’s gonna get interesting

Or if I inherit my dad’s stuff god help me

I hear people saying "wish I hadn't got rid of that" all the time

the possibility of later regret is always present when you get rid of a book. I've learned that such regrets are mostly grounded in a kind of nostalgic sentimentality rather than because you NEED the book for some purpose. it's almost always about the pleasant feelings you associate with it. One simply likes to know it is there on your shelf. In that case, it's like keeping your favorite stuffed animals and toys from childhood. Most of the value is in the memories and feelings, for which the object is a trigger. Once I understood this it became easier to dispense with the object and just revisit the memory, which takes less storage space.

My trouble is if I get rid of the object I am liable to lose track of the memory forever

I only have one bookshelf but it’s a doozy. Will post later

I'm not very sentimental about these things, the things I regretted getting rid of and bought again were really good books that I gave away in excessive enthusiasm for reducing my collection. But I think it was good to know that I can regret things like that and I'm a bit more careful now.

https://i.imgur.com/4H7RZg6.jpg

I was fascinated with the way those Vintage Contemporaries books looked when I was a kid.

Wish I still had that copy of A Fan’s Notes.

Lorraine Louie was the best

https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-artist-whose-book-covers-distilled-the-nineteen-eighties

Never knew all that, thanks.

did this for books and records. it's not all the books, there are other shelves in the library not pictured.

https://i.imgur.com/Ry5ZrEp.png

I think James' video is an adequate answer to 'how many books is too many books?' because at the very least, if I lived to a 100 I'd still not make it through a collection like that. Still envious, though.

Here are mine (shot with my shitty, misted phone camera).

Lounge (these are double stacked, fwiw)
https://i.imgur.com/g4rTfPL.jpg

Hallway
https://i.imgur.com/OnIzjkt.jpg

Landing (cases do not include more boxes
https://i.imgur.com/LyOBfZF.jpg

Spare room (these were recently added when the to-read pile became dangerous, predatory)
https://i.imgur.com/EABFoHO.jpg

Pile by the bed
https://i.imgur.com/N1uXxER.jpg

There's another substantial shelf at the end of the bed but I can't get a decent photo of it. Probably about another 100 books on there.

Hallway caption should read 'cases do not include more books'.

I love Omar's metal shelving. Everything in one place(ish) is the dream.

I am unpacking my library. Yes, I am -- and just reached a box labeled eagles / rockism (ftr "eagles" there less don henley, more dan dare)

interim photo below of shelves my friend luisa has designed and is building for me:
https://i.imgur.com/aTOpcja.jpg

will post more when they have books on them

it might not be good to place books right above that storage heater, perhaps make that a trinket zone!

delighted to see you’ve got the space your books deserve. it’ll be a handsome wall when you’re done. inclined to agree with calz on the heater. as well as curled and desiccated pages, any dust will be delightfully lifted and convected (i suppose that should be conveyed) around your domicile.

my solution tbh is just not to turn that heater on -- it's the library-corridor, you can wear a duffelcoat and mittens ffs

tfw you get them out of difft boxes in quick succession and realise that spike milligan and gary indiana *do* belong thematically next to one another on the shelves