Show us you fantasy/ficiton-bookcollection!

[Lucien21]

Does a Virtual bookshelf count.

LibraryThing | Catalog your books online

[Kitera]

*Wipes tears of admiration from my eyes*

My bookshelf is tiny compared the the ones here!!!! And that whole collection of Terry Pratchett's books! I want those!

Lucien: You sure have a lot of books!

[Werthead]

The biggest such library I've seen belongs to William 'Stego' Lexner, who blogs and reviews books on the Internet at some length. Check his photo collection. Awe-inspiring stuff.

As for me:

[Werthead]

Gratuitous Terry Pratchett collection shot:

[Lenny]

It's like a shrine to an almighty god... me likey!

Here's a quick question - who illustrated the book covers before The Fifth Elephant? I've always thought it's just different... damn it, forgotten the word... different UM'S of the same book, but looking now you can see the obvious change in artist. Or is it all Kidby's work, but a sudden change in style?

[Werthead]

Josh Kirby did them all up to The Fifth Elephant, but he sadly passed away in 2001 and Paul Kidby as been doing them ever since.

EDIT: It should be pointed out that my Pratchett collection is not kept constantly like that (my shelf space is too precious!). I arranged it thus for the picture.

[Lenny]

Ah, OK.

Well I never... Kirby did the Life of Brian poster AND the Majipoor covers as well as Discworld.

---

You ought to keep the Pratchett books like that. They suit the shrine look.

[HappyHippo]

Werthead, can I come and be your acolyte?



.....





pretty please?

[Dr. Atomic]

Most of my books are boxed away and in storage at one parent or another's house. But in my apartment, I do have my current reading (or recently read) pile and shelves.

[Dr. Atomic]

And my vintage books... (many -- but not all -- of which I've read, depending on condition...)

[Kitera]

Werthead: I got a copy of the Confusion by Neal Stephenson and realised it was the 2nd book, mind you it was at a bargain. How many stars would you rate it out of 5? And is it worth me getting the other books to that series?

[Werthead]

The Confusion is the second volume of The Baroque Cycle. Quicksilver is the first book and The System of the World is the third book. Just to confuse things further, The Baroque Cycle taken as a whole is also a prequel to Stephenson's earlier novel, Cryptonomicon.

The Baroque Cycle is only arguably science fiction. Instead, it's basically Stephenson's argument that the modern age (the Information Age) was born at the end of the 17th Century with the development of the ideas of Sir Isaac Newton and his sometimes-forgotten rival, Gottfried Leibniz. The Trilogy also covers the political transformation in Britain that took place with the Glorious Revolution and the overthrow of King James II in favour of William of Orange and the economic development of European cities such as Paris and Amsterdam. There's also a highly exciting subplot about Barbary pirates. The trilogy is dense and challenging, sometimes dry (you'll learn more about the internal politics of the late 17th C., early 18th C. London Royal Society then you'll ever need to know, for example) but often wickedly funny. Stephenson has a jet-black sense of humour.

Because the trilogy is fairly demanding, I often recommend that people try Stephenson's Cryptonomicon first. This book, which is set in the modern day with extensive flashbacks set in WWII, is more approachable and easier to read with a more natural and rapidly-developing storyline. Once you get used to Stephenson's style, then you can tackle the more challenging trilogy. OTOH, if you find the Gormenghast Trilogy to be too YA for your taste and consider The Book of the New Sun light popcorn reading, you may be read to leap straight in with this

I'd give both Quicksilver and Cryptonomicon four stars. Difficult, but worth the challenge.

[HoopyFrood]

I have the biggest urge to come and break into your houses and tidy everyone's bookshelves! (although Dr Automic has got it right on his vintage collection ) Doesn't it annoy you when books are lying on their sides or are hanging over edges?! Or am I just being neurotic again?

[Lenny]

Only break in and tidy?!

Break in, find a comfy chair, and devour every single book in the collections, more like.

I think that if ever I get the money I'm going have to set aside the biggest room in the house esclusively as a library for SFF... it'll give any children something to read, at least.

[HoopyFrood]

I'm going to have some kind of library in my house, definitely. I've even started planning what it would look like

And yes, tidy. Untidy shelves make me angry!