So lately (oh, who am I kidding? Since I started blogging) I’ve been the worst about not doing tags. I LOVE being tagged and am always so thrilled and honored when people pass them my way, and yet half the time I forget about them and never do them. I’m a horrible person, I am! It’s not ingratitude, it’s just a bad memory and laziness. Horrid. With that said, there was one tag I promised myself I was absolutely not going to forget and would do. It’s a tag all about my bookshelf and the books thereon. How could I not do such a delicious tag? BOOKS, PEOPLE. A HUGE thank you to my girl Deborah @ The Road of a Writer for telling me to do this thing. (Even though it was way back in June. . .) You knew I couldn’t resist! So here we go, a tag all about meh babies! 1. Describe your bookshelf (or wherever it is you keep your books-it doesn’t actually have to be a shelf!) and where you got it from:
I actually have three because, ya know, books. This was my first one that my parents got me for Christmas from. . .I don’t know where. But before then I never really had a bookshelf, so I was quite ecstatic. It’s been rearranged about 2389 times since I got it. These little wall shelves were a rummage sale find. I had to slap a fresh coat of paint on them, but otherwise they were perfect. And yes, that’s Smaug with the TARDIS up there. The dragon has the phone box. Lastly, we have this big, gorgeous wall shelf that my wonderful dad built for me when my other two shelves ran out of room. Let’s just say he made his book-lover daughter VERY happy. Isn’t it beautiful? (And if you’re wondering, that is a fez on the top left there. My best friend and fellow Whovian got me the TARDIS and fez as a present because she’s the awesomest person in the world. Obviously.) I may or may not spend immense amounts of time just staring (and perhaps drooling. . .) at my shelves. Boooooks. 2. Do you have any special or different way of organizing your books?
This is a funny thing about me. I’m so insanely OCD. Everything in my life has to be precisely organized and straight and even and clean and PERFECT. (And yeah, it’s annoying.) BUT with my bookshelves there’s really no actual order to them. You’d think I’d be obsessed with making them perfectly organized since I’m so OCD and books and rearranging them are my favorite things. Yet I don’t put them alphabetically or anything like that. They are organized in a way, but a Christine way that only makes sense to me and I couldn’t possibly try to explain it. I think the problem is I’m OCD in the way things look. So instead of keeping things alphabetical or the like, I do my best to make it all look good—grouping similar colors, putting books the same size together, etc. Obviously I keep series together and do my best to group them by author. And I do kind of place them by genre. . .ish. Like I have most of my fairytales together and the classics on one shelf and such. But otherwise there’s really no rhyme or reason to it. I just want it to look pretty. Shameful. 3. What’s the thickest (most amount of pages) book on your shelf?
This was tough, I apparently have a lot of thick books. But The Library of Classic Adventures boasted 1152 pages and won for most pages. It’s a book that has a bunch of different classics together, Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island, Gulliver’s Travels, things like that. I’ve never actually read any of them because I can’t seem to get into classics *cough, cough* but it looks nice on my shelves. I like pretty things, I can’t help it! 4. What’s the thinnest (least amount of pages) book on your shelf?
That would be The Elements of Style, a necessity for every writer so I’m told. Even though I haven’t actually really looked through my copy. . . But I have no doubt I’ll use it plenty as my years of writing go on. 5. Is there a book you received as a birthday gift?
Wait, I supposed to ask for things other than books for my birthday? o.o That’s absurd! Ahem. Yes, many, many books for birthdays. Seriously, my birthday and Christmas lists (I’m not the only one who still makes Christmas lists, right?) are 90% books. One of my newest ones would be Dragonwitch, the 5th book in the Tales of Goldstone Wood series by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. Loooove that series! Except I have so many books on my shelves I haven’t read, Dragonwitch has yet to be opened, but it’s on my read-VERY-soon list. 6. What’s the smallest (height and width wise) book on your shelf?
Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep by Gail Carson Levine. It’s so wittle and adorbz. Also it would have worked for the last question because Deborah herself sent it to me for my birthday like the wonderful, fantastic friend she is. <3 7. What’s the biggest (height and width wise) book on your shelf?
This is one of my favoritest things I own. It’s a humongous annotated collection of Sherlock Holmes stories that I found at a secondhand bookstore place for just a few bucks. I almost died of sheer joy when I saw it. Sadly, it’s volume two. I keep hoping I’ll just come across volume one sometime, then I’ll have the whole Sherlock Holmes collection in two amazing, annotated books. But the likelihood of me stumbling upon the first volume is pretty low, I should probably just go to ebay or somewhere and find it there. Buuut it’s also fun being on the hunt for books like this. It’s all about the hunt! 8. Is there a book from a friend on your shelf?
Deborah passed along Orphan’s Song by Gillian Bronte Adams (along with a couple other books) my way just because she’s the nicest person in the world. (Seriously, go follow her blog, she’s the best.) I’ve been following Gillian’s blog for a while, and when her debut novel released I was chomping at the bit to get myself a copy. Then, lo and behold, Deborah surprised me with one. (Have I mentioned she’s the best? Because SHE’S THE BEST.) 9. Most expensive book?
This took me a moment of perusing my shelves. I’m cheap (and broke) and will rarely pay anything above $15 for a book, and even that is only for the ones I really want. But then I remembered our second copy of Lord of the Rings which was nearly $40 I think. Our first copy is very worn and even has pages falling out. It went through my dad, brother, and me. Much loved. So we eventually had to buy another one. 10. The last book you read on your shelf?
Aquifer by Jonathan Friesen. Sadly, I didn’t like it at all. 11. Of all the books on your shelf, which was the first you read?
I’m not actually 100% sure, but I think it’d be Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace. I read this series real early on and it was actually one of the first books that made me realize how much I loved to read. This series has been a huge part of my childhood on up through teenage years. I can’t express how special these books are to me. I still adore them. 12. Do you have more than one copy of a book?
Quite a few. I mean, when you find a pretty copy of a book you love for like a dollar at a secondhand bookstore or something, can you really resist? I’m a book collector, what can I say? Some of my favorites would be my 3 copies of The Hobbit. 13. Do you have the complete series of any book series?
LOTS. I loooove me some series. I have a lot of uncompleted series too though (again I say, I’m broke) but I try my best to complete series. Even if it takes a while. I’m probably most proud of all my Bryan Davis books. I have all the Dragons in Our Midst and Oracles of Fire books. All the Starlight ones, and his Echoes from the Edge trilogy. Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten the last two of Children of the Bard, but SOON. I need them! Yeah, I’m obsessed with his books, I won’t deny it. And by won’t deny it I mean I demand every person I meet to GO READ HIS AWESOME BOOKS! 14. What’s the newest addition to your shelf?
Jut last week I found the 4th Percy Jackson book for the outrageous price of. . .50 cents. Secondhand bookstores, people. They’re the wellsprings of a book lover’s life! I haven’t actually read the Percy Jackson books yet though. . . But I’m trying to collect them and then read them, because I’m almost positive I’ll love ‘em. Annnd my memory is basically non existent so sometimes I like to collect at least the first few books of a series so I can read them all together instead of having huge gaps between reads in which I’ll forget what happens in the last book. (Is that super weird?) Right now I have the first, third, and fourth of the Percy Jackson books. I must find the second one! Then maybe I’ll start reading them. 15. What book has been on your shelf FOREVER?
*points to Betsy-Tacy series* 16. What’s the most recently published book on your shelf?
Rooglewood Press’s Five Enchanted Roses collection which released on July 27th.   And I reviewed it a couple weeks ago. LOVED IT. 17. The oldest book on your shelf (as in, the actual copy is old)?
Not real sure about this one. I had a few that are quite old. One of them is a copy of Little Women. It didn’t have a date in it, but it looks the oldest out of all my books. Isn’t it a sweet little copy? 18. A book you won?
Resistance by Jaye L. Knight. I haven’t read it yet, but I hope to VERY soon. I was sooo excited when I won it. I’ve only ever heard good things about this book and it sounds just up my alley. Seriously, it looks amazing. 19. A book you’d hate to let out of your sight (aka a book you never let someone borrow)?
Mmm. . . All of them? *cough, cough* I’m verrry possessive and protective over my books. I’m sorry, but they’re meh children! *huggles them all* Okay, okay. Probably my first copy of The Hobbit. That little book literally changed my life and shaped who I am and what I love. It opened up a whole new world. Plus I’ve read it over 10 times. . . It’s SO special to me. I don’t mind if family members borrow it, but I couldn’t bear it leaving the house. 20. Most beat up book?
Probably a copy of Eight Cousins. I want to say it was passed down by one of my mom’s family members, but I’m not entirely sure about that. 21. Most pristine book?
I don’t even know. I treat my books like something sacred (meh babies! <333) so the majority of them (except the used ones I bought in bad condition) are all pretty pristine. 22. A book from your childhood?
Most of the books I read as a child are somewhere else in the house, but the early Betsy-Tacy books would definitely count, as well as The Hobbit. 23. A book that’s not actually your book?
This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti is technically my dad’s but I keep it on my shelves. Really cool book! 24. A book with a special/different cover (e.g. leather bound, soft fuzzy cover etc.)?
Okay, so last Christmas my parents got me this copy of The Hobbit and it was basically my favorite gift and one of my most favorite books on my shelves. It’s big and gorgeous and the cover is FUZZY. Unfortunately, you can’t really tell in the pic, but it’s literally soft and fuzzy and wonderful. It’s so gorgeous. And it has beautimous illustrations inside. I just really love this book, okay? 25. A book that is your favorite color?
Speaking of favorite books I own. . . Not only is it my favorite color, it’s one of my favoritest stories of EVER.
Look at this thing, look at it! *drools* 26. Book that’s been on your shelf the longest that you STILL haven’t read?
So many. It’s embarrassing. I buy way more books than I have time for. I have a problem, I do. And then books I bought ages ago get left behind for newer, shinier ones. Poor things! The Inheritance by Louisa May Alcott would be one of them. Classics always get put off for newer books. But I will read you someday, dear little book, I will! 27. Any signed books?
A fair amount, actually. I think the majority of my Bryan Davis books are signed. You can buy them from his website for really good prices and he’ll sign them with no extra charge. It’s awesome! This one I won so he put my name there which made me happy! I also found this little treasure at a secondhand bookstore (I’m obsessed, okay?!) a few months back. I was quite excited. (Even though I’ve yet to read any T.A. Barron books, but I will!) ~*~*~*~ If you’ve made it this far, then I applaud you! I hope I didn’t overload you with too many bookish pictures. I may have went a little overboard, but I kind of had the best time photographing my children. It was lovely sharing some of my collection! Obviously I have to pass on this amazing tag. . . ~I tag~ Jack @ However Improbable Skye @ Ink Castles Kiri Liz @ Lianne Taimenlore Sarah @ Sarah, Plain and Average Rachel @ Secret Scribblings and ANYONE else who wants to do this tag because it’s too delicious to not pass on to ALL the peoples, but there is no obligation to anybody to do it. Whether I tagged you specifically or not. Only do it if you want to. And also take note, it is in no way a requirement to take pictures. I think it was originally meant to simply answer questions. I was just having fun pulling out my babies and capturing shots of them. If you do participate, please share the link! I adore seeing people’s book collections. Gimme ALL the books! (Hello, my name is Christine and I’m a bookaholic.) So tell me fellow bookaholics, what’s YOUR most prized book in your collection? And what’s the last book you read? Was it good? Bad? Share with me all your bookish thoughts! Seriously, I could talk about books to the end of time and beyond, so speaketh with me!