Silence In The Library

[pattie anne]

Everyone knows Our Mister TOM has this one incredible library. Even back in the days when HE was a struggling actor, HE didn't have a bookcase, but HE had books. Books on the dining table, under the bed, in the closet, stacked against the wall - in neat little rows.

But what about HIS fans? "What's In Your Wallet, ah, Library?" What books do you read and re-read and re-read. Which ones would you grab on your way out in a fire? How about your top ten books of all TIME? Show us (and TOM) your literary prowness.

Yes, I am aware that, Gold Usher started a TOPIC called:

Reading...What's on your pages???

in this FORUM (Fan Community).

But this Topic's Thread is not meant to take anything from hers. As this Thread is not talking about books we may casually read and enjoy, or books that we may have checked out from a public library, or books borrowed from a friend. But the books on this Thread are those we actually own and cherish.

So, how about me? Well, that little tune goes something like this: Religion (with first and formost - The Holy Bible KJV), History, Science/Math, Science Fiction/Science Fantasy, Humor, Biography, Computer Science, Music, and all kinds of reference books. I just adore trivia and reference books. At one TIME even, I had 'Moore' dictionaries than our local county library!

"Are you ready to check out now?"

[Moderator]

YAWN

Just got up for some warm pizza and a cold beer. Wound up with cold pizza and warm beer. Still, the silence in my library includes: The Chronicles of The Vampires series by Anne Rice, Tom Baker's autobiography, and his dark comedy, "The Boy Who Kicked Pigs," and of course, Douglas Adams' books. Which Adams' books? All of them.

Dirk

[Gold Usher]

Books to savor and save....

Let's see..those would be closest in the bedroom on MY shelves.
The American Preceptor - 1798
Library of Humor - Mark Twain with facsimile signature 1887
Casanova Memoirs (12 vol) Adventuros subscription/numbered edition with Rockwell Kent woodcuts 1925
The Hunting of the Snark - Lewis Carroll first edition 1876
Sergeanne Golon Angelique series -- the nine English hardcovers and 9 paperbacks
Pern books...lost count now
Lord of the Rings...I know..just the 1971 paperback edition but my precious!
oh...and of course my own book - "Stained Glass Step by Step" and Si's "How to Work In Stained Glass"
the 10th book...probably the current one being read by W W Jacobs

Ok..I'd be sure to help Si with his Shakespeare collection...a 20 ft long wall floor to ceiling.
His collection of Rex Stout, theater, Broadway....

Oh nuts..

Pattie Anne, you've been here. You know how many rooms are filled with books...two deep on some shelves.
It's over 400 boxes to move them all! Never play with matches near my house!!

[pattie anne]

Dear Gold Usher -

Don't I know! And to think I thought I owned a fair passel of the gold leaf tomes. I'm still in the nursery compaired to you and your Si.

Love,
pattie anne

[Gold Usher]

"From the Tree of Knowledge, many books are made."

That should be my siggie. I certainly should design a bookplate with that in mind

Whenever we visit someone's house I'm notorious for shelf reading (old librarian habit I can't seem to break) if opportunity presents itself.

I would love to peruse what Mr Baker has stashed about

[jaybee]

Well, like Gold Usher, I'm a huge fan of Anne McCaffery's Pern series.

I've become a fan of Naomi Novik, who has written a series known as the Temeraire series (Temeraire is a dragon in the service of Britain during the Napoleonic Wars -- very cool premise).

My favourite book of all time, and one I've read about 7 times now, is Stephen King's The Stand.

I don't keep books. Instead, I pass them on to seniors who live in my apartment building or to friends. The odd time that I buy a hard cover book (because I can't wait for it to come out in paperback), I donate it to a library when my friends are done with it.

Aside from the above-mentioned authors, whose works I can't get enough of, one of my favourite authors ever was Desmond Bagely, a British thriller/adventure writer.

Tom Baker hasn't written enough! If he had done, I'd forsake all the others, as my favourite thing in the world is to laugh! I've read his two books three times each and always find something new to laugh about.

[biddenden_sue]

In no particular order, the ten top prized possessions in my library are:

The Meaning of Liff (autographed by Douglas Adams)
Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy in Four Parts hardback
Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy Original Radio Scripts paperback
The Salmon of Doubt hardback
The Prophesies of Nostradamus paperback (with Form Prize certificate stuck inside as I was top of the class back in 1981)
Other Worlds than Ours - Proctor - hardback - astronomical book of our solar system printed in 1886 - before the discovery of Pluto!
Brave New World/Brave New World Revisited - hardback - Aldous Huxley
The Best of Frasier (15 complete scripts) paperback
V for Vendetta - graphic novel
Watchmen - graphic novel

Hm, yeah, that's a pretty good cross section of some of my favourite stuff, anyway.

I used to have thousands of paperbacks but had to get rid of them when we settled here...a) because my husband thought they were smelly, and b) because he doesn't like books.

I had just about every book erv written by Philip K. Dick, Robert Silverberg, Thomas Disch, Roger Zelazny, Samuel Delaney, and loads of other sci-fi, plus some horror. Those books were my friends. But now I have loads of DVDs, and he can't say they smell!

[merlinsseer]

Different books, different reasons...I'd go down in flames. If I love an authors work I try to collect first editions and get them signed. Anne Rice, all firsts , signed and near complete, minus the Beauty series. Robin Hobb, George R.R. Martin , two amazing writers and creators of living, breathing, 3 dimensional characters in all their books. Frank Herbert's Dune books, I only have one first and none signed but they would all go with me. The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander...

I'm a total fool for old illustrated children's books and will get a book simply because of the artist. Howard Pyle in any form, but my firsts of his King Arthur books and Pirates are favorites. N.C. Wyeth , his student , "The Boys King Arthur " , 1917 by Sidney Lanier . Wyeth was good but never surpassed his teacher.I have various well loved, illustrated edition's of " Alice in Wonderland" and "A Christmas Carol". Boatloads of very old paperbacks that mean nothing to anyone but me..

The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan -1937 by James Morier, with a profusion of pictures by Cyrus Leroy Baldridge. Breathtaking-I stole it, well I didn't steal it, I bought it...found in a flea market, priced beyond my reach until some woman mentioned how she was going to CUT UP the book and hang the illustrations in her bathroom. She made the mistake of putting it down and in a moment of madness I snatched it up and spent my whole months spending allowance to rescue it from that horrid fate.The bathroom, indeed.

Last but not least is this tattered paperback copy of an autobiography of some guy named " Tom Baker". It's so well loved and read that the gold lettering on the cover has all come off and now it just says " Who on Earth is ".....an amazing book, wish I could find more of his works.

[Marcello Cristiano]

Books I reread are Jaws by Peter Benchley, Stephen King's IT, Dracula by Bram Stoker, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

[Captain Rum]

Plenty of reading material, got about 1500 comics and magazines (trimmed down from 5000+ due to space, where's a Tardis when you need one lol) and it's the same with books, too many to mention but trimmed down to about 150.

Got Tom's autobiography and of course "The Boy Who Kicked Pigs", plus loads of others by WIlliam Gibson, Asimov, Arthur C Clarke, Adams, EE Doc Smith, HP Lovecraft, pretty eclectic collection as you never know what mood will take you!!