Shelf Saturday Featuring Author Cody Young

We all love our books, and we want them to have the best shelves ever. Also, this is a new way to sort of show off your book collection, along with your funky shelves.

ARGH thought fitting himself in the bookshelf will help him sleep.

For this new edition of Shelf Saturday, let me feature the book case of romance books author, Cody Young who wrote American Smile and recently released Scandal at the Farmhouse.

I'm Cody Young and I love to read. I've always collected old books, and that seems appropriate now that I have started writing historical fiction - mainly romance - some Young Adult fiction. I was born in England, but I now live in New Zealand. We didn't bring that many books with us, but since we arrived we have collected thousands.

 

The thing I love most about my bookshelf is that it contains a whole collection of old friends. Wind in the Willows was a favorite when I was little, for example, then I read Noel Streatfield and Judy Blume and Barbara Willard, then Dickens and lots of classics, and then I started collecting really old books like Mrs Beeton's Guide to Household Management. 

  

More recently I've read a lot of chick lit and romantic fiction, including the Twilight Saga - which you will see right in the middle of my shelf, with Homer Simpson sitting beside it, looking bemused.

  

One unique feature of my shelf is that I keep a microscope on it - not sure why - it just lives there. I also have a ladder chair, which I love. It's a chair that folds back into a ladder, and I use it when I want to reach the books that live on top of my shelf - like my Ultimate Teddy Bear Book and my Atlas of the World. 

Your library just reminded me of my own dream library, Cody.  You've got stairs!  How cool is that?  And it's amazing that you were able to collect thousands of books.  I am in awe.

It's great how you describe books as old friends, I have always thought of my books as my friends too and sometimes there are just books on my shelf that whenever I'm in a bind, I would think to myself:  What would (insert character's name here) do?

That microscope is awesome!  I totally want one, if only for design purposes.  And yes, I do think Homer is looking a bit bemused, maybe a doughnut will help him cope.

Thank you so much for sharing your bookshelves with us, Cody!

-----

Think this is a great idea?  Want to have your shelves featured?  Then fill out this form and ARGH and I will email you for details on how to be a movie star - er, how to be featured on Shelf Saturday :D

Shelf Saturday Featuring Tessa @ From the Bookshelf of T.B.

We all love our books, and we want them to have the best shelves ever. Also, this is a new way to sort of show off your book collection, along with your funky shelves.

ARGH thought fitting himself in the bookshelf will help him sleep.

For this new edition of Shelf Saturday, let me feature the book case of this blogger friend of mine, Tessa @ From the Bookshelf of T.B.:

Hi everyone!  My name is Tessa.  I’m fourteen years old and an eighth grader in middle school.  I’ll be going into high school this coming fall.  I love to run and I’m in track and cross-country.  I’m more of a long-distance runner, with my main events being the 3000m race and the 1500m race, but I enjoy sprints as well. 

Some random facts about me:

         -I’m the youngest of three.

         -I love, love, love the color teal.

         -My grandpa was the one who got me to start a blog.  Intrigued? :)

         -I could eat cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

         -Italian food is my favorite, especially lasagna.  Did I mention I like food?

Now enough about me, let me tell you a bit about my shelves.  I actually got my shelves from a Borders store that was closing nearby me.  It was the last day they were open so there wasn’t too much left.  Luckily, I was able to buy four bookshelves from Borders for really cheap.  The funny thing is, when I got home only two would fit in my room.

The feature I love most about my bookshelves is that they’re pretty tall and they’re double-sided.  It’s cool, because it feels like I’m in a library or bookstore when I go between them.  And I get double the shelf space, which I could always use more of.

This is what the front of my main shelf looks like.  The top shelf holds my books that are in a series, and are a mix of paperback and hardcover.  For some reason I just don’t like having a series with both paperbacks and hard covers.  I’d rather have only one or the other.  Next, my second shelf consists of my hardcover books. Then, my third shelf has all of my paperbacks that are in a series.  Finally, my last shelf holds my paperbacks (some might also be in a series, but I just don’t own the rest yet).  Other than that, I tend to organize my books by the ones that jut out the most on the far-left, and the rest just by the jacket color in an order that pleases the eye.  I know, a bit complicated and quirky, but it works out great!

Another shot of my bookshelf.

This is what the front side of my other shelf looks like.  On the left side of the top shelf are books that I’ve borrowed from my family or friends that I still need to read.  On the right side of the top shelf are books that I have read but still need to write reviews for.  I always tend to fall behind :p  My second shelf holds all of my books that I have bought and still need to read.  I really need to start reading all of these!  All of my ARC’s and books sent to me by publishers are on the third shelf.  Plus my painted ceramics and little chotchkies are on this shelf as well.

My mom made this for me, and it fits perfectly on the top of my shelf.  The letters spell the name of my blog, From The Bookshelf of T.B.  It was extremely thoughtful and sweet of her to make it for me.  I love seeing it everyday as a reminder on top of my bookshelves.

So that basically sums up what my shelves are all about!  Thank you so much Nina (and ARGH!) for this wonderful opportunity!  It was a lot of fun, and I hope you all enjoyed seeing my shelves.  I hope to have even more books filling them soon!

    

Eating ice cream the whole day!  I would love to try that some time!

Those are very nice book shelves you have there, Tessa!  They give this library feel which I'm sure most book lovers are crazy about!  Lucky you to be able to snag these shelves from Borders.  I'm sure a lot of the readers out there are now planning to scour their area for book stores about to close to get a couple of shelves (on one hand, I hate it when book stores close shop, but I love it when they sell their store equipment, especially the shelves and tables!).

And that name thing is awesome, your mother is very creative!  Same goes for those bookends. Your having a grandpa who would tell you to go make a blog about your books is amazing, I wish all grandparents are like that.  You have a really cool family, I can tell! :D

Thank you so much for sharing your bookshelves with us, Tessa!

-----

Think this is a great idea?  Want to have your shelves featured?  Then fill out this form and ARGH and I will email you for details on how to be a movie star - er, how to be featured on Shelf Saturday :D

Quiz: Do You Know the Authors of These Books?

You love reading books so much you even 'stalk' your favorite books' authors.  After all, these awesome books won't even be available if their authors did not decide to write them.  So as a tribute to these outstanding writers, let's do this quiz from ProProfs.com by sharonrasco.  

For the fields below, just enter your desired name and any letter combination on the ID field.

Unfortunately, I only got three seven (I rechecked, I did not cheat, I swear!) correct!  I totally have to widen the range of books I am reading.

Tell me what you got on the comment section below!

Shelf Saturday Featuring Playing.Librarian

We all love our books, and we want them to have the best shelves ever. Also, this is a new way to sort of show off your book collection, along with your funky shelves.

ARGH thought fitting himself in the bookshelf will help him sleep.

For this new edition of Shelf Saturday, let me feature the book case of this blogger friend of mine, Playing.Librarian:

I was about seven years old when I first fell in love with books. It was the day I received my first school library card and was eager to use it. Lots of books, I thought. In the end I chose an Enid Blyton book, probably attracted to it because of its nice hard cover—something about a rabbit if I remember correctly. And though the book was a little too advanced for me at that time—I had just started learning English—I just loved the touch and feel of it.

When I got older I discovered that my school library had a complete collection of The Sweet Valley Twins series. I was hooked, coming back every few days or so returning and checking out more books until I read them all. And since then, I can always be seen burrowing over a book and my life has never been the same since.

But, enough of the sentimental (I tend to overly romanticize things, don’t I?)

I didn’t have a huge collection of books while growing up. Not until I earned my own money did I become a book collector—a book hoarder, if you will—and it has become an obsession, a dangerous threat to my bank account! 

Here’s my bookshelf and my collection over the years. I bought it  [my shelf] from IKEA and it's dark brown wood. Yeah, I’m old school like that. Looks like I’m going to run out of space soon, don’t you think?

The middle shelf at the far right is where I put my stationery and stuff I use for wrapping books and the one at the bottom with the door is where I dump every other thing in :P

I don’t really have a specific rule as far as arranging books is concerned but as much as possible I like to keep books by the same author together: I have Agatha Christie the most (12), Paul Auster (7), Jeffrey Archer (6), Kate Morton (3), Gabriel Garcia Marquez (3), Irene Nemirovsky (3), Stieg Larsson (3), Haruki Murakami (3), Carlos Ruiz Zafon and multiple in two's like Elizabeth Kostova, Jonathan Safran Foer, Wally Lamb, Jonathan Franzen, Maggie O'Farrell, Nicole Kraus, Khaled Hosseini, Jed Rubenfeld, Audrey Niffenegger…

I share this bookshelf with my hubby. While I collect books, he collects DVDs. He reads all those geeky stuffs like science, National Geographic and gadget magazines but he wouldn't tolerate any fiction at all (much to my futile coaxing)! Oh well, you know what they say, opposites attract :)

Until we could afford a bigger home with wall to wall floor-to-ceiling shelves, I guess we just have to be satisfied with this one. But a girl can dream, can’t she? And oh, I've always wanted to become a librarian (can't you tell)?

Playing.Librarian.  It's so very easy to tell from your blog name itself that you would love to become a librarian.  So go ahead and follow your dreams!  As the cliche would say. 

I am positively drooling at all the books on that shelf!  After reading this post by Playing.Librarian, I went and rearranged by book shelf again.  Hers look so organized and looks like everything is in the right place.

Thanks to the Sweet Valley series, a lot of readers were born.  I know this book was something I also borrowed from the library and these books were the ones I practiced to read fast with.

And how many readers would agree that books pose a serious threats to our bank accounts?  Because I do!

Thank you so much, Playing.Librarian for sharing your book shelf with us!

-----

Think this is a great idea?  Want to have your shelves featured?  Then fill out this form and ARGH and I will email you for details on how to be a movie star - er, how to be featured on Shelf Saturday :D

Nina vs. ARGH: I Am Number Four Book vs. Film Version

Have you read the book, I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore?  Have you watched the film adaptation too?  Which did you like best?  ARGH and I had trouble agreeing with this one, and so we ask you, fellow bloggers/readers/authors/AWESOME PEOPLE:  Which version did you enjoy more, I Am Number Four the book, or I Am Number Four the movie?

I liked the MOVIE version better because:

1. Since I Am Number Four is an action-packed story, this translated well into film since we will be able to visualize every move, every moment, every nuance within the story, and the special effects will help us understand more than if we are just reading about it and letting our brain do the imagining which is sometimes just not enough.
2. I was not very confident about the premise of this story and paying for a movie ticket costs less than paying for the book itself that I might end up not enjoying.
3. I do not like reading series books because if it had a cliffhanger ending, it might drive me crazy; whereas in films, the ending is almost always clearer even if the movie has a sequel coming up, or is part of a series.
4. Alex Pettyfer.

On the other hand, ARGH likes the book version because:

1. "The film version's action scenes mostly transpired in the dark and I do not have very good night vision."
2. "The book is way better because I can just go open it and read it whenever I feel like it."
3. "I do not need a big screen to dictate to me what I should imagine when I am reading about the action scenes in this story.  I have my very vivid imagination for that, thank you very much."
4. "We all know that movie adaptations always differ from the real version, so at least the book is a perfectly reliable source."
5. "I think Alex Pettyfer's all-too-chiseled facial features are scary.  He looks more like a sculpture than a real person."

ARGH's views typed verbatim, hence the quotation marks.

So with whom do you agree more?  

10 Good Things on a Monday: Ten Fantastic Book Covers

10 Good Things on a Monday is a weekly feature  I am doing dedicated to every person's compulsive list-writing.  Every Monday we are going to make a list of 10 things that will cheer us up and help tide us over the whole week.

<a href="http://buoyreading.blogspot.com/search/label/good%20things" target="_top"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ZLJhw831LIwGjiA8RrpkyCa2Kw0vJ-MCDZ92vwi4is-CRlAzDfrov1rTTH16ntcfHxERkDFchxdM-bLazZ6g9M8tSP4JfsgI1z6BjiHzILQVknmvbcSdG9PpCXAdG9SZ1LU5PvsKPpM/s1600/10.JPG" border="0" /></a>

Here's how it works:

1. Think of a particular group of good things you want to make a list on, does not necessarily have to be about books, e.g. your current book wish list, or your favorite book foods (you know, foods you love to eat while reading, if you're like me), or your favorite girly names, whatever you can think of, as long as it makes you feel good.
2. If you have no ideas for a list, you can always visit my blog post to check out my theme for that week and you can take a cue from my list.
3. Post your list on your blog, grab that cute ARGH button above and put it on your post too, so we'd know you're doing this meme.
4. Leave the link for your post on my own 10 Good Things post for the week, if you see others doing it, comment too and let's share our good things with everybody.
5. Everybody goes through the whole week happy!

----------

My 10 Good Things for this week:  Ten Fantastic Book Covers
 

I know, I know, I have done this so many times now, but I just can't get enough of awesome cover art!  So for the nth time, a list of awesome book covers:

1.  Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon.  I really do not understand what I like about this cover, but I do.  I love the overall concept.  That's all I can say.

2.  The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood.  I mostly see the other cover where the woman wears black, but this looks way, way better.  The color and the design are more minimalist and it's really pleasing to the eye.

3.  Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss.  I love drawings, and I love bright colors, and this is totally eye-catching for me.  I could stare at this for hours!

4.  Entwined by Heather Dixon.  This retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses does not only promise a beautiful story, but also boasts a beautiful cover.  I love the gown!

5.  Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde.  This is by far the best cover for this book, in my opinion.  I like how the colors were reduced to a minimum, and the picture really reflects the story.

6.  Forgotten by Cat Patrick.  Exquisite!

7.  Epileptic by David B.  I haven't heard of this book before, but if I were to just judge according to its cover, this is probably a bestseller!

8.  Eeeee Eee Eeee by Tao Lin.  The title itself is interesting, what more the cover?

9.  That Salty Air by Tim Sievert.  A very beautiful illustration.  Apart from being as stunning book cover, this could also be a really beautiful mural.

10.  Monoculture:  How One Story is Changing Everything by F.S. Michaels.  Bright and colorful.  ARGH would approve.

Don't you just agree with me that these look fabulous?  I can look at them for hours!

So tell me, what are your Good Things?

Shelf Saturday Featuring Thinking Cat @ Cat's Thoughts

We all love our books, and we want them to have the best shelves ever. Also, this is a new way to sort of show off your book collection, along with your funky shelves.

ARGH thought fitting himself in the bookshelf will help him sleep.

For this new edition of Shelf Saturday, let me feature the book case of this blogger friend of mine, Thinking Cat @Cat's Thoughts:

I have been a reader all my life - my mother swears that she read to me before I was even born, and honestly, I believe it.  I have boxes and boxes of books that I've just never been able to let go of, and sadly I don't have infinite display space in my house to have them all out, so my shelves only hold my recent/grown up books.

When my husband and I first started living together, it was in a really small one bedroom apartment, and there was no space for bookshelves - we had a lot of stuff between the two of us!  When we moved into our house, I'm not kidding, the only furniture we needed to buy was bookshelves!

My favorite thing about my shelves is that they can be customized however I want them!  They're from IKEA and the style has been around forever, and they have a ton of fun add-ons so you can do whatever you want! 

On the shelf in the middle, I have a door for example, which is an awesome place to hide my clutter. 

Oh, and as you can see, there's a very complicated organization system (ie - chaotic) in place - but that pile on the floor in the front is my "read soonest" pile - either because they're borrowed from the library or friends, or they're recent purchases that I don't want to get lost in the shuffle until I finish reading them.  

All in all, my shelves are my little corner of organized chaos - I can find anything I want within seconds, but most people look at it and just go "HUH???"

Thanks for including me!

I totally get what you're talking about when you said that your shelves are your little corner of organized chaos, Cat!  It's that way with mine too - and it's a small shelf at that, other people would get confused in finding a particular book, but I can get it even with my eyes closed.  

Again, my jaw dropped when I saw the number of books in your collection, I can see some very familiar titles, and can also spot some that I have been coveting since day one.  Oh drool, drool!

And I wonder what magic - or mayhem lie behind that mysterious shelf door.  I thought of hundreds of possible stories for that door of yours, it's total writing gold!

Thank you so much for sharing your shelves, Cat!

-----

Think this is a great idea?  Want to have your shelves featured?  Then fill out this form and ARGH and I will email you for details on how to be a movie star - er, how to be featured on Shelf Saturday :D