Saturday 19 September 2009

The Blue Shelf


So, what do you think of my blue shelf? Again, in honour of my colour-themed bookshelves, this shelf was a spur-of-the-moment creation for the photo-op. Perhaps coincidental, I notice that there are a number of enchanting reads on this shelf, all magical in their own way. I love blue and the gradation of the colour from left to right, darker to bluer.

31 comments:

verity said...

I really am going to have to copy this at some point. Lots of Viragoes in there I see.

Unknown said...

I really want to read Tender Morsels! I'm going to have to find a copy soon!

Paperback Reader said...

Looking forward to you copying it, Verity! You have longer shelves than I do.

There are quite a few blue Viragoes; I left off The Well of Loneliness and one Pym and Spark.

Jackie, I really need to settle down to Tender Morsels soon. I was lucky enough to pick it up in the Oxford St 50% off closing down sale in July. I even have the perfect bookmark set out to use with it!

Darlene said...

Lovely shelf! I think 'Caribbean' when I see those cool blue tones. The book on Fairies at the end looks delightful.

Paperback Reader said...

How I wish it was the Caribbean, Darlene, and I could float in the clear water just now and read on the beach... The fairies book is delightful with beautiful illustrations; I'm fairy mad.

JoAnn said...

The blue is so cool and relaxing...just like a beach! It seems so strange to see Poisonwood Bible with a blue cover...and I jusr love the spine of Fairies!

Paperback Reader said...

It is a very zen shelf, JoAnn. The Poisonwood Bible is immediately recognisable here with its cover!
The cover for The Fairies Handbook is even lovelier than the spine; I'll dedicate a post to it at one point because it's a special book.

anothercookiecrumbles said...

I love it. I have only read one from the shelf, but it looks absolutely gorgeous - almost like the calm before the storm. As Darlene said : Caribbean-esque.

If I had to do a blue shelf, half would be occupied by the Dr. Seuss bookset, which has about 20 Dr. Seuss books!

PS: OpenID seems to have stopped working with Wordpress. At least for me. Can never use it anymore :S

Paperback Reader said...

anothercookie, the one you have read being The Magic Toyshop, yes? By far one of my favourite covers.

I LOVE Dr Seuss but have not succumbed to the boxset yet. The collection of his I have should go on the red shelf...

Sorry to hear about OpenID. One of these days I will move over to WordPress but not quite yet.

Steph said...

I think visually speaking, my favourite shelf is still your pink shelf (what can I say, I love pink!), but this shelf has many wonderful reads on it. I Capture the Castles is one of my all-time favourites! I have a copy of the The Line Of Beauty (unread), but mine features a very ornate gate... not a disembodied head! ;) I know you love Angela Carter, so I hope to read some of her soon! I have Nights At the Circus and Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories (which I think might be abridged! Eek! If so, I'm going to take it to the used bookstore... I can't stand abridged books!).

claire said...

Wonderful! Blue is my favourite colour! I love the GGMs of course. And Anansi Boys with the cobweb on top..

I had issues with wordpress when importing, which is why I didn't push through. The space breaks between paragraphs wouldn't appear, so everything's compressed together (the imported posts, at least), no matter how many times you edit. (Let me know if you figure that out.) Also, you couldn't customize anything unless you had a paid account.

Paperback Reader said...

Steph, I love pink too and that shelf definitely had the wow factor. I Capture the Castle is also one of my all-time favourites! I've read The Line of Beauty (review is in my archives) and the cover is actually taken from the BBC adaptation of the book). Nights at the Circus is an exceptional book and also one of my all-time favourites (I have a soft spot for it as it was also my first Carter). I can't abide abridged copies either! How odd. I can always give you an idea of what's missing if you want to check.

Claire, I love blue too and of course GGM. Anansi Boys is a peculiar book as it has been published in a few different colours; I like the cobweb too.

I will let you know how I get on with wordpress; I have domain name and hosting stuff to sort out before the importing logistics (I'm curious how all my links will transfer over).

Annabel Gaskell said...

It looks gorgeous. I might have to copy this idea one day if you don't mind!

Paperback Reader said...

Not at all, Annabel. I'm running out of colours anyway!

Kailana said...

It looks so nice when people organize their shelves like this, but I don't think I could. I wouldn't know where anything was!

Paperback Reader said...

Hi Kailana, thanks for commenting. It's easier to find books on coloured shelves than you would think. Or perhaps I just have a homing device on my books!

Rachel (Book Snob) said...

Beautiful. It looks like the sea off the coast of a Greek island. :)

Lots of books in there I want to read. The Poisonwood Bible is one I must get around to one day. And Dusty Answer too.

Paperback Reader said...

This shelf makes me want to go on holiday badly!

I've read Dusty Answer (about a year ago) but The Poisonwood Bible is also one I must get around to one day.

Oh said...

Wonderful picture! Wonderful idea. My kind of decorating.

Stacy said...

The various shades are striking...especially the blue of Tender Morsels.

Susan Moorhead said...

Very pretty - I'm not at all surprised blue lends itself to magical books.

Paperback Reader said...

Oh, thank you. It's fun and pretty :).

Book Psmith, Tender Morsels is a wonderful shade of blue is wonderful, isn't it? A lovely royal blue.

Hi Susan, thanks for commenting. I think blue lends itself to magical books wonderfully well.

JoAnn said...

Happy Sunday, Claire! I have an award for you...
http://lakesidemusing.blogspot.com/2009/09/tss-sigh-of-relief-and-some-awards.html

SFP said...

This is just lovely. One of these days I'm going to organize my shelves by color. Or, maybe, just organize them!

Paperback Reader said...

Thanks, JoAnn! I hope you have a lovely day.

Hi SFP, thanks for commenting. Some of my books lend themselves to be organised by colour/imprint but others definitely need to be shelved by author so it's something of a mish-mash of organising styles!

Molly said...

Color coded book shelves -- what a GREAT idea!

I just found your blog this morning by following Joann's link and I am so glad that I did. I look forward to following you in the future!

Paperback Reader said...

Hi Molly, thanks for commenting! I have a whole series of colour coded bookshelves for your persusal - enjoy!

Mark David said...

And what a coincidence too that they're all of the same height even though they're of different prints! Very nice. Oh I'm really gonna have to plan stacking my books in a similar fashion when they start getting plenty. Thanks for sharing :)

Paperback Reader said...

Mark, it's the first shelf where the book heights are uniform instead of a random steps formation; very pleased with how this one turned out.

Mark David said...

My books are mostly of different heights because I keep buying trade paperbacks that have different dimensions :( But, oh well, when they reach a hundred maybe I'll be able to arrange them more nicely :)

Paperback Reader said...

Mark, I don't consciously buy trade paperbacks but have accumulated a few here and there but they are such odd dimensions! I don't call myself paperback_reader for nothing...