Bookshelves by Elin Hilderbrand, Diana Gabaldon, Garrett Graff, Vanessa Riley, Emma Straub, Hernan Diaz, Jennifer Weiner, Chris Bohjalian, and Christopher Buckley
I asked nine writers to share a photo of a favorite bookshelf (or which social networks they could refer to as a “shelf”), explain the organizing principle (if any) and tell me a little about what is on that shelf. This is what they said.
Hilderbrand is the author of 28 novels, including “The Island,” “Summer of ’69” and, most recently, “The Nantucket Hotel.”
This shelf is unique – my other shelves are organized by the time in my life when I read the books. So, for example, there’s a shelf of novels I read in 1992-1993, when I was living in New York City and commuting from Manhattan to my teaching job at IS 227 in Queens. There is another shelf that I read when I was nursing my first son, Maxx. There is a shelf that I read when I was going through my divorce, when I was being treated for cancer, etc. But if a book was lucky, they would relocate it to this shelf! This is my “favorite books” shelf and my #1 favorite book of all time is “Franny and Zooey” by JD Salinger. I received a first edition for my 50th birthday from my sons, which really means we can give credit to my ex-husband who somehow tracked one down. (He was looking for a signed first edition, but that apparently added a digit.) It doesn’t matter, this is the best gift I’ve ever received.
Gabaldon is the author of the Outlander series. The last installment is “Go tell the bees I’m gone.”
This is part of my work reference collection, which includes over 80 herb guides (some weirder than others); a dozen slang dictionaries; a “Claire” shelf, which has medical references (such as the Merck Manual representing the time limit of her medical knowledge in the Outlander series) and biographies written by and about doctors; historical medical material; Scottish material (history, language, customs, geography, Scottish novels and poetry, etc.); Assorted big books, ranging from a two-volume collection of the Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck stories by Carl Barks to books on historical costumes, maps, and things like the history of hurricanes. In addition, I have biographies of people I think I’ll need to meet, medical history, a small collection of pornography and a shelf of family writings (my grandfather occasionally wrote fantasy tales), my mother’s only published book (professional, as in the profession teacher) and my great-grandmother’s Bible. There are approximately 2,000 books here in my office. There are another 1,500 below. Then there is a “real” library (it is a room completely filled with bookshelves and has no other function) in my old family home. Charming and quiet room. Whenever I’m there, I always make time to sit and read quietly for an hour or so.
Graff is the author of, among other books, “The Threat Matrix: Inside Robert S. Mueller III’s FBI” and “Watergate: A New History.”
It often seems that “book management” is my main job: acquiring them, reading them, shuffling them on the shelves. When my wife and I moved from DC seven years ago, we had about 5,000 pounds of books and I’m still amassing them at a rate of about 200 a year. Despite that, I can tell you where each book actually is in my library. I usually group them by theme first and then try to loosely organize them by color and/or theme so the shelves don’t look too chaotic. I have my Cold War bookshelves; my 9/11 shelves; the shelves of my presidency; and, of course, a handful of fictional bookshelves. I also sprinkle in a lot of historical artifacts and photographs that I have amassed. My shelf of Richard M. Nixon tapes actually has as a bookend a boxed hazmat suit that was once in George W. Bush’s presidential limousine.
Vanessa Riley writes historical fiction, historical mystery, and historical romance novels. Her most recent books include “Island Queen” and “Sister Mother Warrior.”
Me Shelfie’s principle is to have things within reach that make me smile or make me think. This shelf is near my work desk and is often visible on my Zoom calls. At the top are my Barbies: Maya Angelou, Rosa Parks, The African Goddess (designed by Bob Mackie), Ida B. Wells, and Katherine Johnson. Then come the books. My favorite authors and titles, things that excite me, things I learned from, things that changed me. My reading habits are diverse. I need Beverly Jenkins’s “Something Like Love” near Hilary Mantel’s “The Mirror and the Light.” There’s nothing like having the court exploits of Henry VIII alongside the political struggles of Olivia Sterling. The latest from Jayne Allen, Kristan Higgins, and Nancy Johnson keeps me tethered to the present, while Kate Quinn, Maya Angelou, Sadeqa Johnson, and Denny S. Bryce bring the past to life in rich new ways. And, of course, my career achievements, my titles and awards, complete my shelves. Probably on the floor near this bookcase is my latest manuscript, again reflecting my theme of past and present.
Straub’s most recent book is “This Time Tomorrow.” She also owns the Books Are Magic bookstore in Brooklyn.
I would describe our shelves as randomly arranged alphabetically, with rocks and children’s art and mysterious little objects scattered everywhere. Pictured: Pretty full sections of Dan Chaon, Michael Chabon, and Lauren Groff, a paper cut-out portrait of me and my husband in front of Books Are Magic, done by Lorraine Nam, an amazing artist, and given to us by Mabel Hsu, a book editor who worked part time in the bookstore, several totem poles made of sticks and ropes, a rock that lived in my older brother’s bedroom when we were kids, a painted pineapple, some top hats, some loved books, some never read books. In short, a piece of life.
Díaz is the author of the novels “In the distance” and, more recently, “Confidence”.
This is a more or less random section of my library, mostly representing fiction. If the taxonomy of genre here is rather vague, so is my attempt at literacy. Different languages coexist quite promiscuously. Even if this is all somewhat chaotic, at least the image shows that I am emphatically not a thornbuster. The notebooks on top of the books (coiled, red, yellow) are handwritten at different stages of proficiency. Dickens and Tintin stand guard.
Weiner is a novelist whose books include “The Summer Place,” “Mrs. Everything” and “Good in Bed.”
My house has a giant closet that was clearly meant for a woman with a huge wardrobe. I don’t have a lot of clothes, but I do have a lot of books, so the closet is now a closet/library, containing excess shelving from the living room, office, and bedroom. I order my books by color, sorry, not sorry, but books, as well as being magical portals that offer escape and transformation, are also physical objects that you live with, and there’s nothing wrong with arranging them in a way that makes you happy. be aesthetically pleasing. Up here, I keep my favorites that have traveled with me since college, friends’ books, TBR books, books I read as research for my own novels, and books with special meaning – the copy of “Almost Paradise” by Susan Isaacs was a gift from my mom, who had it inscribed by the author for my 40th birthday.
Bohjalian is the author of numerous books, including “The Lioness”, “The Witching Hour” and “The Stewardess”.
My fiction is arranged alphabetically by author, and my nonfiction, which leans heavily toward history, moves chronologically. So the Vikings precede the Puritans, who precede John Pershing’s WWI Doughboys. But my F. Scott Fitzgerald collection is extensive (not valuable, but extensive), so I break the alphabetization of my fiction to give his work and the work about him two shelves of their own. I usually introduce a book for my own entertainment when I walk into my library every morning, and currently it’s my Armenian translation of “The Great Gatsby”, which I appreciate because I’m Armenian.
Buckley’s books they include “Thanks for Smoking”, “Losing Mum and Pup” and “Make Russia Great Again”. His next novel, “Has Anyone Seen My Toes?”, will be published in September.
All the books in this section were originally archived not just randomly but chaotically, causing an endless and time-consuming search. Then one day my agent called to report that my current book was sinking. I was so depressed that I spent the next three days sorting them alphabetically. I don’t know why, but for some reason, it helped.