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!

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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!

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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 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!

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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 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!

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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 Laura Lond, Author of My Sparkling Misfortune

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 tried fitting himself in a bookshelf but had a hard time doing it.  Big guy learned his lesson :D

Last week there was no Shelf Saturday, so to make up for that, I'm going to show you something different, this time we're featuring a 'Kindle shelf' and my newest favorite author, Laura Lond, was very happy to share the books on her Kindle for us to check out and drool over :D

Remember Laura Lond?  She's the awesome author of the book, My Sparkling Misfortune, whose main character, the villanous villain, Lord Arkus of Blackriver Castle will be interviewed by none other than ARGH.  Watch out for that here!


Laura also wrote another set of books, The Adventures of Jecosan Tarres trilogy.

What are your most favorite books among those on your Kindle?
 

The Riyria Revelations fantasy series by Michael J. Sullivan and the Elfhunter trilogy by C.S. Marks. I was very fortunate to have come across these books, they are exactly the type of fantasy I enjoy.

 

The Riyria Revelations series

Elfhunter trilogy

How many books are in your collection?
 

Over forty right now. I’ve only had my Kindle since Christmas. My collection is growing fast though.

 

What is one unique feature of a Kindle that you are most proud of?
 

I love how the book is instantly there when I purchase it from Amazon. No shipping, no waiting - just one click, and I can open my Kindle and start reading.

 

Do you have a reason why you prefer reading on an e-reader than traditional print books?

 

I actually thought I wouldn’t like an e-reader, I loved paper books so much. But when I tried it, I was sold. It is convenient, easy to use, and I can have hundreds of books in it without cluttering the house. Ebooks are also cheaper, too.

 

Even though I am more of a print-books person, I agree that nothing beats the convenience that e-books give us.  And yes, it lessens the clutter.

Thank you so much for sharing your Kindle shelf with us, Laura!

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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 Becky's Book @Becky's Barmy Book Blog

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 tried fitting himself in a bookshelf but had a hard time doing it.  Big guy learned his lesson :D

For this second edition of Shelf Saturday, let me feature the book case of this blogger friend of mine, Becky @ Becky's Barmy Book Blog:

My name is Becky, I am 22 and work in a public Library as a Library Assistant. I believe I have the best job in the world. I always have a book with me and can read on average a book every two days. I am hyper, sporty, crazy and love to have fun, but when I have a book in my hand I am in another world.

If you want to talk to me you have to make yourself known, because I won't hear you, I'll be away in my book, it's one of the things my parents hate, they can start having whole conversations that I just won't hear.  LOL

I love my shelves because they are easy to navigate and fit nicely in my room. My room is actually tiny and every free bit of space is filled with books. I only got my main book shelves a few months ago and I love them so much. Makes it so much easier to grab the book I want.

My shelves also host other things. My medals and trophies from my sports (trampolining and diving), Snow globes, Troll toys that I've had since I was really little (they are good luck mascots) and anything else that I need to find in a hurry.

These were the shelves that I had put up when I first moved into my house 10 years ago, originally they were for my 'favourite' books, but now I have so many I love, it hosts the big series' and any others I can fit on really, although a lot would still count as my favourites.  As you can see I have 'Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy on the top shelf along with my Garth Nix collection, my Narnia book and Malorie Blackman Set above the Lemony Snickets, then of course Harry Potter on the bottom shelf with Philip Pullman and Cornelia Funke.  All these books stand as firm favourites.

And yes my walls in my bedroom really are bright yellow - I'm a sunny person!

I have some shelves that are really tall, almost reach my ceiling so I had to take the picture in two halves. These shelves are actually two thin units side by side and then a wider one coming away from the wall making a little corner. It was the only way I could get them all in my room.  As you can see it's very cluttered and stuffed full.

 

You can see what the books are as I have cleared off the clutter. These book are my absolute current favourites - The Hunger Games, House of Night, Morganville Vampires, Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver and Aprilynne Pike.

These are continuation of my favourites, shorter series and just as many books as I can fit on really. As I say I have so many favourites that although I try to get them all near the top, they can't all be up there so some are nearer the bottom, but that doesn't mean they get any less love.

Not much else I can really say. I have another little cubby hole of books under my bed but it's too cramped and dark to get a good picture. There is also a pile of books on my floor! My ultimate dream is to have my own little library room, but for now I'm happy with what I have in the space I've got. I will never have enough space for all my books but they all have there own little places.

I hope you like my jumble of shelves!

That's an awesome lot of books!  My jaw literally dropped when I saw these pictures, Becky you have made me positively jealous of your books!  And the trolls and snow globes are awesome.

 And it's really cool that your walls are painted yellow, it really lets the sunshine and lots of light to get in - very conducive to reading!

And should I need to speak to you, I will make sure to bring a megaphone with me :D

Thank you so much for sharing your shelves Becky!

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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