No, I don't mean websites or blogs here (no matter how well they're put together (like mine)), I mean books. Those things with white pages in them. You may have seen them in a library, or even own on or two. That's what I'm on about today.
What made me think about this and want to write about it on a blog about photography? Well, I actually stumbled across something whilst looking at some of the awesome art that modern photographers are pumping out nowadays in film and polaroid. I happened upon a photographers confession (for lack of a better word) about how they actively look for the bookshelves of their models, and that it's a window into their world, into who they are. The photographer even went on to say that if they don't have any books to leave the house and never go back again. Perhaps non-book readers don't have a soul. Who knows?
For some reason this struck a chord with me. I don't know why, but I started to think about the books I have in my personal collection, and what they say about me as a person. I'm not one to make up my own opinions on the matter, but I am more than happy to give you the bare bones of my collection and then let you decide who I am from what I read. Ok - here it goes:
Rough number of books in my bookshelf/shelves:
Over 100
5 Authors whose works I enjoy reading:
Wilbur Smith
Matthew Reilly
Sara Douglass
John Wyndham
Randy Lee Eickhart
5 Authors (and the book/s) that have made an impact on my views:
Alexander Solzhenitsyn (A day in the life of Ivan Denisovich; Cancer Ward)
Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse 5)
George Orwell (1984)
Aldous Huxley (Brave New World)
Truman Capote (In Cold Blood; A Christmas Tale)
Book(s) I am currently reading:
Wilbur Smith (Sunbird)
Vladimir Nabokov (Collected Stories)
Last book I finished reading:
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
Fantasy or Science Fiction?
Science fiction all the way!
Art books in your shelves:
Two on the work of Imogen Cunningham, one each on Willy Ronis, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Zoltan Glass. A book on the body in photography, and another showing all the images printed in Steiglitz's Camera Work. Anyone would think that I want to take photos of people (which I do).
I reckon this shows who I am to a large degree. Of course if you were to actually go through my bookshelves you would find other interesting facets (like the fact that I've collected and read a lot of Penguin Classics novels) and realise that there are lots of older, pre used books in my collection (the earliest is a French novella published in 1897).
And there it is - a snapshot of the author of this blog through the books sitting on my shelves. I dare you to take a look at your bookshelf and see how much it reflects who you are.
An interesting read. There's definitely a few on here I need to read.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I've had interesting discussions with a few high-school English teachers now who hadn't read nor heard of many classic authors at all. I even got to the point with one where I said 'Do you actually read anything?' The response wasn't all that nice, strangely enough.
ReplyDeleteI'd also add Breakfast at Tiffany's to the books you should read as well. It's really good.