As I was surfing Twitter (do people still use that term – ‘surfing?’) I stumbled upon @mybookcaseapp who was asking people to post pictures of their book case and this got me thinking. In this crowded, loud world where so many of us can access the lives of a good portion of the 6 billion people that live on this planet there are a lot of voices to shout over. It is difficult to be heard, tough to get to know anyone through so much traffic and noise that the internet produces every day. In this age of technological overload where even reading a book is a misnomer as so many of us are looking at text from a screen – there is no ‘book’ involved in the process – I thought it refreshingly retro to use the bookshelf as a window into the souls of those avid readers out there – is the bookshelf even still relevant? Time will tell! So then, let’s take a look at mine….
At a glance – there seems to be a mix of historical fiction, scifi with a smattering of political/historical texts. This makes sense – I read a wide range of genres but much of what I do read does originate from these areas.
Science fiction – that sense of adventure based around advanced technology has always been a part of my life. I admit to being a science geek and avid follower of whatever NASA/ESA mission happening. Here we see some of the classics ranging from the legend that was Ray Bradbury ‘The illustrated Man’, the founder of the cyberpunk genre – William Gibson with ‘Pattern Recognition’ to more recent scifi with the excellent Hugh Howey’s Silo series represented by ‘Wool’ and ‘Dust’. Julianna Baggott’s Pure Trilogy – set in a post-apocalyptic world – is also there and I am yet to read it but have been told to expect an exciting fast paced story.
Historical fiction is in there with the wonderful Shardlake series. C. J Sansom brings the world of Henry VIII alive in colourful and vivid detail all the while keeping his readers on the edge of their seats as Shardlake, his hunchbacked lawyer come detective -goes against the social grain to solve a variety of mysteries. I think this genre would be on many a bookshelf – agents tell me it is the ‘buzz genre’ of the moment – everyone is looking for the next C.J Sansom. I guess with all the media coverage of the Richard III burial and popular series Time Team (that show has been going on forever!) as well as many other programmes – all make history is cool again – add to that a crime and mystery element – and there you have it – a blockbuster in the waiting! I certainly love crime and mystery and have always held history – political/social/fictional – with great interest. This brings me onto my next genre….
We can always learn a lot from what we did in the past – growing up in Northern Ireland with a very politically motivated family( I have many memories of intense discussions around the dinner table as I was growing up) – probably encouraged this! This environment extends to my passion for historical texts represented in this bookcase snapshot by ‘Wanderings’ Chaim Potok’s History of the Jews, Ilan Pappe’s ‘The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine’ and ‘Full Circle’ by J.E Johnson (an exciting, edge of you seat history of air fighting in the 20th century).
The rest of the books reveal my one overriding passion of writing – ‘Becoming a Writer’ by Dorothea Brande and ‘The Successful Author’s Handbook’ by Gordan Wells gives this obsession of mine away. There are a couple of books on Cathedrals and churches – these may suggest a religious part to my life but this is not the case – I have a healthy respect for all religions but do not practice any myself – these books were in fact used for research for my book ‘City of Darkness’.
So does this glimpse at my bookshelf reveal to the world who I really am? Yes and no. So much of what I do and what I identify myself as being come from books – however there are many that are not in this photo – I love crime fiction. The character of the detective for example (as seen in film noir for instance) is important to me for a number of reasons – and this is not seen here. Let’s just say that this sneak preview of my bookcase is just a glimpse at who I am – keep watching though! More to follow….
Please post me pics of your bookshelves – so we can see what you are reading at the moment..
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http://www.dpwrightauthor.co.uk
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D P Wright 