what's your bag?

[verbminx]

this is what is on my little bookshelf (the one that is more properly a cd holder) right now. probably most representative of books acquired in the last year than anything else. most have been at least partially read.

Aubrey - Brief Lives (Penguin ed)
anthology - Monkey Brain Sushi (Kodansha)
anthology - The Mother of Dreams (Kodansha)
Saikaku - Five Women Who Loved Love
Yoko Ono - Grapefruit
A Look Into Japan
Kingston - Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui
Winterson - The PowerBook
Wooldridge - poemcrazy
Murakami - A Wild Sheep Chase
Murakami - Dance Dance Dance
Murasaki - Tale of Genji (Seidensticker trans; abridged)
Diary of Lady Murasaki (Penguin)
Maisel - The Creativity Book
Avant Guide to NYC
Alternative Medicine Guide to Chronic Fatigue & Fibromyalgia
Clugston-Major - Blue Monday: The Kids Are Alright
Foreman - Georgiana
Ducornet - The Jade Cabinet
Borges - Collected Fictions (Penguin)
Connell - Deus lo Volt!
Shlain - The Alphabet vs The Goddess
Greene - The Elegant Universe
Christopher - A Trip to the Stars
Wurtzel - Radical Sanity
Johnson - Three Black Skirts
Complete Book of Tarot Spreads
hooks - feminist theory
hooks - where we stand
Kobliner - Get A Financial Life
Cox & Evatt - 30 Days to a Simpler Life
a couple of organizational books too dull to list
Postmodernism For Beginners
Get A Grip on Philosophy
Takahashi - two Maison Ikkoku manga volumes

and piling up beside the bed, there are some of the books I've acquired in the last week or so (Becoming A Graphic Designer, Ha Jin, Michael Chabon, etc).

Comments

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

Just from where I'm sitting at my computer, I can see the following books:

Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone (UK edition)
Harry Potter & the Sorceror's Stone (US edition)
Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets (UK)
Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets (US)
Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban (UK)
Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban (US)
Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire (US)
Quidditch Through the Ages - Kennilworthy Whisp
Fantastic Beasts & Where to find them - Newt Scamander
Silverheart - Michael Moorcock & Storm Constantine
The Dream Thief's Daughter - Michael Moorcock
Elizabeth - David Starkey
The White Raven - Diana Paxson
Several books by Edward Marson (too tired to read titles)
Merrick - Anne Rice
Armando - Anne Rice
Pandora - Anne Rice
Take it Like a Man - Boy George
Girlfriend 44 - Mike Barrowcliffe
Smoke & Mirrors - Neil Gaiman
Duran Duran - Neil Gaiman
Lost in the Woods - Julian Palacios
Queen of Darkness - Anne Bishop
Weaveworld - Clive Barker
Imajica - Clive Barker
Somewhere to be flying - Charles de Lint
Trader - Charles de Lint
Moonlight & Vines - Charles de Lint
Storm of Swords - George R. R. Martin
King Kelson's Bride - Katherine Kurtz
I am Jackie Chan - Jackie Chan
The Road to Mars - Eric Idle
Punk Diary - George Gimarc
Post Punk Diary - George Gimarc
Hindu Goddesses (can't read the author from here)
Alias David Bowie - Peter & Leni Gillman
Faithfull - Marianne Faithfull
Stone Alone - Bill Wyman
Up & Down with the Rolling Stones - Tony Sanchez
It's only Rock n Roll - James Karnbach
Otherland: Sea of Shining Silver - Tad Williams

[acedia.livejournal.com]

Man. I always considered myself a fairly well-read sport, but I've never cracked a single title on that list. Are your tastes esoteric, or am I just completely behind it?

As for your question, I buy crappy old books by the box and happen to be in the room where I shove them all. Unpacked piles usually indicate which I've read though, so I'll grab one:

Thompson, Jim. Kill Off, The Nothing Man, & Bad Boy - 3 Novels, 1986 reprint
Hale, Constance. Sin And Syntax, 1999
Campbell, Joseph. Hero With A Thousand Faces, 1968
Burroughs, William S. Last Words of Dutch Schultz, 1969
Phillips, Julia. You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again, 1991 (embarrassing)
Roethke, Theodore. Collected Poems, 1961
Thody, Philip. Albert Camus, a Study of His Work, 1957
Kundera, Milan. Laughable Loves, 1974
May, Cliff. Western Ranch Houses, 1958 (clip art)
Huxley, Aldous. Devils of Loudon, 1952
Kazantzakis, Nikos. the Odyssey: a Modern Sequel, 1958 (haven't read it)
Cowley, Malcolm. Exile's Return, 1961
Hesse, Herman. Stories of Five Decades, 1972
Scharff, Robert. Wood Refinishing, 1956 (?)
and a cheap, incomplete set of Poe from the '30s.

Currently I'm reading the Hunting of the President, by Joe Conason & Gene Lyons, feeling nicely defiant and self-righteous.

[verbminx.livejournal.com]

i almost bought Sin and Syntax a week ago. I don't think my tastes are unusually esoteric, just a mix of semi-highbrow (Connell, Borges, Ducornet, etc) and, well, comics and tarot stuff and organizational-self-help books. this is just recent stuff... that's why it's in the little thingy by my bed. i have a roomful of books on the other side of the house, anything from Wuthering Heights to Cryptonomicon! :)

[zami.livejournal.com]

Wurtzel as in Elizabeth Wurtzel? The one who wrote Prozac Nation and Bitch? If she has a new book out, i'll flip. Well, first i'll be really depressed that I don't keep up with books anymore. Then I'll flip.

yes, that one

[verbminx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Radical Sanity is by Elizabeth "Prozac Nation" Wurtzel... but I don't know if you should flip just yet! It's a thin little paperback, maybe 75pp or so, that costs $15. It was originally an e-book. I don't know whether or not Random House still offers it as one (I think it was Random House, anyway...) - might check online.

it's a nice little book but cost at least twice as much as it should have.