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» LA Bibliophiles On Display from LA Brain Terrain
I really enjoyed Carol Mither's piece "When You're Buried in Books" in today's Los Angeles Times about how LA bibliophiles cope with fitting their collections in their homes. I can really relate to the problem of how to integrate thousands of books int... [Read More]
» LA Bibliophiles On Display from LA Brain Terrain
I really enjoyed Carol Mither's piece "When You're Buried in Books" in today's Los Angeles Times about how LA bibliophiles cope with fitting their collections in their homes. I can really relate to the problem of how to integrate thousands of books int... [Read More]
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In his recent TEV guest review of Home Land, Jim Ruland called Sam Lipsyte the "funniest writer of his generation," and we're quite inclined to agree. We tore through Home Land in two joyful sittings and can't remember the last time we've laughed so hard. Lipsyte's constellation of oddly sympathetic losers is rendered with a sparkling, inspired prose style that's sent us off in search of all his prior work. In Lewis Miner's (a.k.a Teabag) woeful epistolary dispatches to his high school alumni newsletter ("I did not pan out."), we find an anti-hero for the age. Highly, highly recommended.
To get the barrage kicked off, I am interested to note that you are a "books pushed back" fellow while I (and when I say "I" I mean, what my wife tells me to do) am a books pushed forward man. I know some people who are books stacked flat and a few who prescribe to the serial killer style of books scattered hither and tither without regard to proper alphabet order, and in my heart of hearts, I predicted you were somewhere in between, like how Pottery Barn always shows books in their cool casual shelves. Fascinating. How do you do your dishes?
Posted by: Tod Goldberg | February 16, 2005 at 11:58 AM
There's also the two-rows-per-shelf style, where the case will accommodate it -- useful when one is pressed for space, but hell on retrieval.
It looks great, Mark!
Posted by: Karen | February 16, 2005 at 12:36 PM
My main problem with Billy is that you do waste quite a bit of space - so I tend to stack books flat on top of the (pushed forward) books. Dammit, I need another two bookcases.
Posted by: Ms Bookish | February 16, 2005 at 12:53 PM
I'm far too anal do deal with the pushed forward look - one slightly askew title would keep me up all night until I wandered out (ruler in hand) to fix it.
Dishes: dishwasher.
Posted by: TEV | February 16, 2005 at 01:09 PM
God, I am so jealous of your awesomely neat shelves. They look great. I am with you on the books pushed back, but mainly because I have to double shelve most of the cases. I differ from your shelving methods in that I tend to shelve by height. I hate books of different heights all willy nilly. Dumb, but it's the way I work. Good luck with all the unpacking.
(And I like the LATBR review too!)
Posted by: bookdwarf | February 16, 2005 at 02:13 PM
You could probably hack the Atwood robot arm to maintain consistent book-pushed-forwardness. In fact, I would not be surprised if she has already programmed it to do so.
Posted by: Tito | February 16, 2005 at 02:27 PM
The space wasting part is what bothers me the most too.
Since the middle shelf is locked adding an extra shelf won't help. I guess removing it could do the trick, but I fear fatal instability will be the likely outcome.
Posted by: Stefan | February 16, 2005 at 02:27 PM
What does it mean that the most comment provoking blog entry is the bookshelves? What does it mean that I've never posted a comment before and now I am posting a comment regarding the fact that most comment provoking blog entry is the bookshelves. But what I really want to know is "What of this $79?" Was that a sale price, eh?
Posted by: Michelle | February 16, 2005 at 05:22 PM
Dude, I am so with you with the Billies. My house is stacked with them. But I also tend to buy a lot of garage/lawn sale shelving, oddly shaped units for those hard to fill spaces.
My problem with the Ikea stuff is that we live in an old house where quite often the floors are crooked and the walls lean one way or another... this means you have to bolt the shelves to the walls and the flimsy back board can come loose and be a pain in the ass.
One day I will save the life of a cabinet maker and he will become my woodworking Chewbacca. Or better yet, she will. Then I will have the shelves I've always dreamed of.
G
Posted by: George | February 16, 2005 at 06:54 PM
hey, i think i see "devil talk" on the far right shelf, second from bottom.
Posted by: daniel olivas | February 16, 2005 at 07:10 PM
That's funny, Daniel. I found myself squinting at the picture, trying to see if I could read any of the titles, or recognize the cover designs. Must be the writerly equivalent of peeking in medicine cabinets.
Posted by: Karen | February 16, 2005 at 08:14 PM
Be careful in an earthquake.
Posted by: janet | February 16, 2005 at 08:45 PM
Looking GOOD. I was working today with a librarian whose husband is a cabinet-maker - she has grand plans for the home they finally purchase. But I think the sheer volume of books makes the shelves special when all's said and done.
Posted by: genevieve | February 16, 2005 at 10:43 PM
Aha. So you're one of those guys who pushes the books all the way to the back of the shelf.
Posted by: smh | February 17, 2005 at 03:39 AM
I love it. And damn the IKEA--It's love hate for me. The whole building of the bookcases--2 of my 4 bookcases are Billy. You know it's a problem when you begin contemplating moving to a bigger home when there's no room left to put another bookcase! I also hate stacking books on top of the ones in the shelf when I run out of room. You know I too was squinting at the shelves and I think I recognized some GRANTA in there--4th Bookcase towards the bottom. No???
Damn the madness with the packing of books. They were almost the heaviest thing we moved last year. It's the one thing keeping me from looking at new places to move. 6 months from now, I guarantee we'll be needing more bookcase space. I think it's time for an actual house!
Posted by: Angela Stubbs | February 17, 2005 at 09:37 AM
This just in: Sam Lipsyte wants to fuck your bookshelves.
Posted by: Jimmy Beck | February 17, 2005 at 04:23 PM
I have just been looking at bookshelves for my home library, and in trying to get some info on the different Ikea ones I saw, I stumbled on this site. My big concern about the shelves is how well the individual shelves hold up. My old bookcases, which are made of pressed wood [as are Billy's], have bowed over the course of years. I am hoping to avoid that with new shelves [and finding that real wood is expensive]. Your shelves look quite straight. How long have you had those books on them?
Posted by: docjoe | October 23, 2005 at 03:59 PM