“A lot of people ask me if I were shipwrecked, and could only have one book, what would it be? I always say ‘How to Build a Boatâ€.
~Stephen Wright
Asking an avid reader/collector of books to pick a favorite has the potential of setting off an internal debate that could nigh well last a lifetime. A favorite? Impossible! Especially when the question of favorites doesn’t have to do so much with the story a book tells but the physical object itself and what it represents. Ever the intrepid blogger, Chris was inspired to ask just that question the other day:
I just love reading about the stories behind people’s favorite books in their collections. Even if there’s not much of a story, I love just knowing what they are. So I decided to invite everyone to share just that! What’s your favorite book or books in your library? Not necessarily the title, but the book itself. I couldn’t limit it to one, so I picked 5.
Following Chris’ lead, I set out to share with you five favorite books that currently share space in my bookish abode. These are just five of many ‘favorites’. I cherish my books, each and every one. Often they are first picked up because of their aesthetic appeal thus picking favorites is even more difficult. But here goes:
This raggedy old book, ever-so-slightly held together by the barest of threads, is one I have cherished since the day my wife brought it home for me from a library book sale. Is it not a beautiful volume?
The texture thrills me every time I pick it up. The book was more than a whim purchase, it was given with love as my wife knows it contained one of my most favorite poems:
Alfred Lord Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott. Thank you Megan Follows (as Anne Shirley) for inspiring my initial interest in this fascinating, mysterious, and melancholy poem.
The next book in this microcosm of favorites is The Wizard by Gene Wolfe. It is the second in the compelling duology that first introduced me to the master storyteller.
My first experience with this book involved checking it out from the local lending library and the protective plastic cover on the dust jacket reminds me of the pleasure I had experiencing this book. I love books with raised lettering/images on the dust jackets. You can almost make out that Gregory Manchess’ knight stands out from the rest of the cover illustration. Jeff pointed out this particular volume to me at last year’s Heinlein Centennial. I was thrilled to discover that this first edition was being sold for cover price and that it was autographed:
(how illuminating, a lens flare rainbow!)
I can hear the shocked intakes of breath all the way on my side of the computer screen! 😉 Before you get all hot and bothered, let me assure you that the title and cover image of Thomas Allen’s first photography book is as much a play on words and images as anything else. One of my most enjoyable Friday Favorites occurred in February 2007 when I featured the nostalgia-inducing creative work of Thomas Allen. I have since conversed with Mr. Allen a few times via email and I can unequivocally say that he is one of the nicest artists I have ever had the pleasure of ‘talking’ to.
The book itself is a delight. Printed in chunky book format (like those hard board books they make for kids) the cover itself is a cut-out that gives a foretaste of the precision knife work that Mr. Allen engages in when setting up his book dioramas for shooting.
The book was deservedly named one of Amazon.com’s Best Books of 2007 and they continue to have the best price for this book. It is well worth adding to your collection.
Mr. Allen was generous enough to allow me to send him my book for a personalized signature. Little did I know that I would get back something so lovely.
The fourth of my five books is Flying Solo by Jeremy Bulloch. Jeremy had the pleasure of playing one of the most enigmatic villains in science fiction movie history: Boba Fett.
Not only is the title extremely clever, the book itself is a thing of craftsmanship. I love the gold embossed Fett faceplate on the front of the slipcase.
This is a well-constructed volume and is a treasure of my collection. I was able to pick this up from the man himself at Planet Comicon a few years back. He and his wife were so pleasant and I had such a good time watching them talk with the fans. If anything can be judged by watching the way they interacted with each other, they have a beautiful relationship. Getting the book signed personally by the man who played the role that I often chose during our neighborhood Star Wars sessions (everyone always wanted to play the good guys, after all) was one of the highlights of my convention-going experiences.
Last but certainly not least in this batch of favorites is a book I have shared with you before:
I have mentioned before that this book has great significance in my youthful science fiction education: it was the first non-Star Wars book I purchased on my own and has long been a favorite.
I have often lamented the fact that I lost my original used copy of this cherished novel. Last year at Balticon Ravyn picked this particular volume up for me at a used book vendor and did something wonderful for me:
Receiving this was a very emotional experience as I recount here (it is a good story, you should click over and read it!) and I get choked up even now thinking about how precious this book is to me.
Well there you have it. I encourage you to go and view Chris’ favorites and would love to hear about your own, either here in the comments or in your very own posts. Or both!
Books are some of the most cherished treasures we possess and I, like Chris, love reading about people’s particular favorites. Please share.
Fantastic post! You could’ve went through your whole library and I would’ve been happy 😀
You and your wife have the best relationship. Y’all do the sweetest things for each other and that Tennyson book is a testament to that…and it’s gorgeous! They don’t make books that look like that anymore.
I remember that Thomas Allen post clearly and forgot that he had a book! I’m going to have to get that. His art is amazing. I went back to that Friday Favorites post quite a few times. Awesome inscription and it’s always nice to find that someone who’s work you admire is also a great person!
The Jeremy Bulloch book rocks! I had never heard of it and I’m guessing I can forget about getting my hands on a copy, but how cool that you got a copy and got to meet him! The man himself!
And the story behind the Niven book nearly brought me to tears as well. That was incredibly kind of Ravyn and I can’t imagine the thrill and nostalgia you felt at being reunited with a true favorite from your past.
And if anyone else does a post, let me know! I’ll link it back to the original post where you can find others’ favorites and after a few days I’ll push it back at the top of the page or something.
Thanks for sharing Carl! (I sound like I’m leading a group :p)
Great idea Chris and Carl!
Carl – Love the choices and the stories behind all of them. I noticed that all the book’s where signed except for the first one. We’ll have to track down that Tennyson gentlemen one of these days and get that one signed for ya, too.
My most cherished books ” today ” are:
1. My ” A Game of Thrones ” MMPB that I was able to have Mr. George R.R. Martin sign for me two years ago. I will never forget that experience and will always treasure that book. It’s the copy I read that lead me down the path of reading the greatest fantasy series since J.R.R. Tolkien’s LOTR.
2. My oversized softcover collected edition of Stardust that I was able to have Neil Gaiman sign for me a few years back as well. He even drew a little moon in it for me as well. Too cool.
3. Frank Frazetta’s ICON by Cathy and Arnie Fenner. Carl and I first really connected as friends over our mutal love of Frazetta’s art and it’s leads to us shareing so many other great life experiences together. For me it all started with this book and it reminds me of that begining everytime I look at it.
4. Dreamsongs VOL.1 by George R.R. Martin. My daughter got me this one for Christmas this past year. She loves to read as much as her parents and this is the first year she really wanted to make sure she got us books and one’s we really wanted. It’s was just a wonderful feeling.
5. The last books I cherish are actually one’s I have given away. My love of fantasy reading all started with The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien back in school. Well I had always kept the 3 actual books I had read when I was kid figgering I’d passed them onto my kids one day since they mean’t so much to me growing up. Three Christmas’s ago my dad was making care packages for his veteran’s group to send over seas to our troops and one of the items the soliders wanted were books to help them pass the time. LOTR was so popular at that time and I figured there would be soliders really missed home, the movies, etc. I thought they might enjoy these books and that the books might let them connect with home in a small way. I hoped they would feel connected with the big pop culture wave LOTR was makeing at home and they might fall in love with fantasy reading just like I did so long ago as well. It might sound a little corny but I felt that by giving them those 3 books I was giving them a part of me that year. It was the deepest way I could think to say thank you at that time.
Chris:
Lead on Chris, lead on! 🙂
I am a very fortunate man in my mate, that is for sure.
I could almost do my whole library, that is how hard it is to single out certain books to the exclusion of others.
You can still get the Jeremy Bulloch book, autographed, here.
I highly encourage you to get the Thomas Allen book, it is worth it.
And yes, it was great of Ravyn to do that. I was so blown away by the whole experience.
I encourage everyone to click on the link to the post of Chris’ that inspired this all as he has others’ posts up as well.
Jeff:
Cool list. I thought of posting my oversized Stardust as well, with Gaiman and Vess signatures, but it is at my office and not available to me for photographs! Great…or obsessed…minds think alike!
Very cool with the Icon book. I remember that as well and feel the same connection. Aw shucks!
Love that you did that with your LOTR books. That is awesome. I’m sure they were appreciated and what an incredible thing to think about, wondering where they are and how much they’ve potentially been read since then. Wow!
And if you run into Tennyson let me know…especially since that means I’ll have to have you committed for your own safety and the safety of others. 😉
I love Tennyson – and “The Lady of Shalott” was one of the first poems I had to learn by heart for a school performance. I remember only parts of it now – but this verse sticks in my mind to this day:
…She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces thro’ the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look’d down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack’d from side to side;
“The curse is come upon me,” cried The Lady of Shalott…
Thanks for the memory – it is a beautiful book you have there.
Wow, that Tennyson book is a treasure!
And the signed copy of The Wizard, how cool is that! And all the other ones too. You certainly have some very special books!
Excellent post 😀 I’m so glad Chris started this…reading about everyone’s favourites has been great.
Great stories here Carl!! I think we all have many stories about many books and choosing even “just 5” is a difficult thing to do!! And Chris is right, it is fun hearing the stories to some of our precious books!
I am so glad Chris started this…it has been such fun peeking into everyone’s lives in this way. Wonderful, wonderful post, Carl! And oh, that Tennyson book is gorgeous!
While we are on the subject of books, Obscurorant has a wonderful post up linking to a slide show with libraries that you have to see!
What a wonderful post!! I love books!! Your Tennyson book is fantastic!! And it seems you have a wonderful collection of signed books. How cool is that??
Stephanie: Thanks. I do have a really nice collection of signed books. I should do a post on that sometime as I have a fair number of ones that I treasure.
Debi: Me too, it is a fantastic idea.
Deslily: Choosing 5 wasn’t all that much easier than if we could have chosen just one!
Nymeth: One thing that I can easily say is that of al the old books that I have the Tennyson one is far and away my favorite. It is a marvelously constructed book.
Sally: Every year I promise myself I am going to memorize The Raven and The Lady of Shalott. I actually memorized a bunch of Lady a few years ago but then got busy. I should try again and exercise the mind a bit.
Ah, a beautiful post – especially so because of the photographs. When I read the RSS clip from this post my immediate thought would be to take a one volume collection of Shakespeare. After seeing the poetry of your Tennyson volume, I wondered about taking a large volume of poetry. Like Stephen Wright I’d want a book that beat the system, and one on boat building is a great idea. However, I think instead I’d want the one book that would offer me years of entertainment and reflection. So I wouldn’t pick something I’ve already read and loved. I’d want some substantial and new.
Jim
loved this post and all the beautiful editions you have. it must’ve been so hard to bring it down to 5 and i can well imagine that you, of all people, could easily pick many many more favourites.
that gene wolfe cover is beautiful. i also have a particular taste for raised lettering and/or outlined imagery. it just adds something special.
all the covers are beautiful, now that i think of them again. i love them all for obvious reasons – the cool style of flying solo, the tennyson… old-schoolness… all of them.
i’m sorely tempted to get that thomas allen book… gonna have a look to see how much its at amazon uk…
I too could pick a handful of favorites, but not one.
JP: I just envisioned it as choosing 5 for this particular days post as opposed to five overall favorites. It made it easier. And the Tennyson books is easily one of my favorite possessions anyway.
Heather: I know!
Jim: Thanks! Now if it came to what books to be stranded with on a deserted island that would be a whole different set of books!
Wow! Those books are real treasures! The Tennyson book is awesome.
I can only hear Anne/Megan Follows reciting Lady of Shalott as well. That was interesting reading about your books. They all seem invaluable.
thats a good way of approaching it! 🙂
I have two favorites: one, of course, is my well worn, written in, underlined leather bound Bible. I actually have several Bibles, but this particular edition is my favorite because I’ve written in all kinds of dates/anecdotes when a particular verse met a particular need.
The second would be my long out of print edition of Madeleine L’Engle’s The Love Letters, with her signature and note to me: For Meredith, For Love.
It gives me shivers just writing that.
What a great post, Carl!
I’ve sent you the link to my post on my favourite books and why…..what a great idea. I love your Tennyson, wow, I’ve worked in used books before, but never seen a cover quite that colour (seen plenty with the same type of cover, just not that colour.) wow. I really enjoyed seeing your choices. As you say, it’s fun to see what we each love, and why 🙂 Thanks for picking this idea up from Chris at Stuff Dreams are Made Of.
Thanks Susan, I look forward to reading the post. That Tennyson book was such an amazing find by my wife. I am so in love with that book. You’ll have to check in later today (or maybe tomorrow morning) as I’ll post a picture of a different way that I used the book in an image for my wife’s office. It isn’t quite as red as in the pics. Pretty darn close, but I used Photoshop to bump up the contrast just a bit.