love this shelf, Joe Hill! i’m always hoping someone will choose The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, both because I love the book and because I’d get to paint that spine….
–jane
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I have a thing for book porn - yeah, I’m one of those sick bastards who likes to read books about reading books - and the best of the season is My Ideal Bookshelf by Jane Mount and Thessaly La Forge. The book is full of brief interviews with writers, musicians, cooks, architects, and various other creatives about what reading has meant to them; each interview is accompanied by one of Ms. Mount’s absurdly appealing and simple paintings, depicting what would be on each person’s perfect bookshelf.
I couldn’t help myself. Here’s mine. From left to right: The Riverside Shakespeare, The Dead Zone, The Fixer, The Complete Stories (Bernard Malamud), The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, True Grit, The House With A Clock In Its Walls, Lonesome Dove, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, vol. 1, and Batman: Year One. Also shown is Moby Dick, which I haven’t read yet, but will start on the first of next year… because I think any ideal shelf would have to include at least one book I haven’t read, but which I’m really looking forward to.
Not pictured: a notebook, a pen, a mug, and some Weeping Angel tea from @52teas. Because these things go with my perfect bookshelf.
All this is by way of saying that I think My Ideal Bookshelf is a great little read, and The Ideal Christmas present for the bookworm in your life.