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For as long as I can remember, I have cared about my bookshelves. From a two-by-two minicase for my chapter books all the way up to the total-wall situation I have going on now. And for all that time, it has felt like it mattered. That what was there (and how it was arranged) not just said something about me to the world, but it also said something about me to myself. What have I read and kept? What isn’t there? What stays in the room with me and my family as we go through are days and lives? This all has some import, right? There are studies that show that kids do better blah blah blah with X number of books in their homes, and while I selfishly hope that’s true, that isn’t what I am hoping for. What I am hoping for is for these books (skillfully and tastefully chosen by someone who clearly knows what the hell they are doing) to provide ballast. Or maybe not ballast, but protection. Or wait, it’s not really protection, but more of an imbuing-even-the-quotidian-moments-with-grace-and-beauty quality. What is the word for that?
Because they are proof, or at least evidence, of a mind and soul at work. Or at least a mind and soul performing being at work. Much like a college bull-session about how there is no truly altruistic action because the ego is always lingering, the display of books is both for me and everyone that comes, or every could come, and be in a position to see them. I really don’t want to be the person who wants to show off what books they ostensibly have either read, want to read, or can’t bear to get rid of for some reason, and yet I am afraid that I am, and always have been.
Maybe I am not the college kid anymore that was so eager to be known as smart and well-read that I hoped people would ask about something on my shelf (yes I have read them all, and no I couldn’t possibly pick a favorite, how bourgeoisie of you to ask), but some remnant of that 19-year old is still there, both proud and petrified, to bare his literary and spiritual soul. For that’s what it has ultimately meant for me, this secular devotion to a gargantuan, conflicted, flawed idea of literature and ideas. My bookshelf no longer serves the purpose of performing, but of reminding—-a built-in mini-monument that is both rosary and catechism, which I hope will inspire me, my family, and yes anyone who might wander in and glance at them, to breathe a quiet amen.
Here’s what we’ve been up to on the Book Riot Podcast:
Notes from a Trip to New York, Recent Reading, and Amanda Litman from RUN FOR SOMETHING
Is It Good?: INTERMEZZO by Sally Rooney
Half-Baked Ideas, 2024 Edition (For Patreon members)
Booker Prize Shortlist, a new WUTHERING HEIGHTS Adaptation, and More Book News of the Week
And the last thing for now, an update from Sophia about how recent It Books candidate are faring out the in the cruel world of publishing. Thanks Sophia!
Okay, now for the It Book Update...
The God of the Woods continues to be a huge hit, no surprise. It's over 100k ratings now, showing stronger growth than pretty much any other July title
The All Fours momentum continues, too. 38% growth. This Strange Eventful History is still also showing strong growth, but its momentum has slowed a lot from last month.
The Paris Novel grows 20%; James grows 23%. Both of those are much higher growth rates than other titles released around the same time.
Hidden This Month (less than 30k ratings and less than 10% growth):
Anita de Monte Laughs Last (March 2024) - 27,011 ratings, 8% growth. Shocked this one's already off the list -- barely missed my 30k threshold.
The Morningside (March 2024) - 3,321 ratings, 8% growth.
Parasol Against the Axe (March 2024) - 811 ratings, 7% growth.
Splinters (February 2024) - 3,769 ratings, 8% growth.
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde (February 2024) - 24,407 ratings, 9% growth.
Greta & Valdin (February 2024) - 12,074 ratings, 9% growth.
The Book of Love (February 2024) - 5,202 ratings, 9% growth.
The Great Wave (February 2024) - 163 ratings, 7% growth.
Come and Get It (January 2024) - 29,765 ratings, 7% growth. Another one I'm shocked to be taking off the list. It's SO CLOSE to my 30k threshold, but I'm not making an exception!
The Showman (January 2024) - 1,261 ratings, 8% growth.
Big Fiction (2023 Year in Review) - 150 ratings, 7% growth.
Doppelganger (September 2023) - 18,590 ratings, 7% growth.
How to Say Babylon (September 2023) - 18,582 ratings, 7% growth.
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I love this reflection on your ever-evolving bookshelves - not only the physical design (I can't help but think of the wobbly-stacked, heavily-sagging crates from my college days) but also how they speak to/about you as a reader. I am often amazed how even a quick glance at a particular book on my shelf can take me right back to where I was, and what my life was like, at the time of reading it! Thanks for sharing!
I don't understand what it means to say a book is "hidden." Hidden how? And from whom?