Hubby loves his books and always wanted a big bookcase to fill the whole wall in a room. He finally got his wish when we moved into our new place a few years ago. The bookcase didn't quite fill up the entire wall in the room, but it was big enough. He'd given a lot of his books away during our various moves in the past years and this was just the right size. The last thing you want is a half empty bookcase in the room, making you look like a wannabe intellect. This one is made from reclaimed scaffolding, is very sturdy and has a lot more character than good old Billy. We didn't totally ignore Ikea, and he often sits and reads in his comfy POÄNG, looking out to the window.
The illogical logic
Since this is hubby's bookshelf, I'm not sure how he arranges his books. I think there's some logic to it, only he knows. Like in the top shelf below, he's got a bunch of economics/finance books, then a few Chinese ones to the right, which has nothing to do with economics. On the two shelves underneath, it's mainly Chinese, with a few English ones scattered around.
Mitch Albom and Living a Simple Life
I just noticed these two books on the shelf that I have read in the past, well, sort of. I've read Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, but not For one more day. This will go on my to read list now. The other book, Living a Simple Life is a great little book. It's full of little tips, each only two or three pages long, so you can just open it up for a short read whenever you like.
My study books
I'm not much of a reader, never have been except when I had to for study. I have a few books on English language grammar and usage, these were from the days when I was studying to get my CELTA, that's a qualification from Cambridge University to teach English as a foreign language. It was a backup plan when I stopped working. The books on the left are text books from uni, deadboring stuff, but are they there to make us look clever 😎
Chip War and A History of Britain in 21 Women
Here are more English books, you've probably noticed hubs has quite a varied taste in what he reads. One of his favourite books is Chip War by Chris Miller, he's recommended it to a lot of his friends. Many people probably don't realise how important chips are in the modern world. We need them in pretty much everything in our daily lives. You can have a lot of missiles and warheads, but in an ideal world, they're for deterrent purposes only. Domination in microchips can make or break a country's position in today's world. Chip War has been on my to read list for a long time, but I'm avoiding it as it's a little too heavy to read.
Tucked away behind the little buddha, is one of the few books I bought, A History of Britain in 21 Women. I enjoy reading history books, but only if they're interesting and I can relate to them. The stories of the women here cover all walks of life such as political, science, culture, social etc. I learnt a lot from the trailblazers before us.
Jin Yong
The set of books on the right was written by the most popular novelist in Hong Kong called Jin Yong. Jin Yong's genre is wuxia, historical fantasy Chinese martial arts, and many of his works have been made or adapted into movies and TV series. He wrote 15 fictions in total, and one year when we were at a book festival, hubby saw the full set on offer - 35 books in total. It's always been his dream to own the whole set of Jin Yong's work, and we ended up lugging them back home on the bus. We then took the books with us to Taiwan. They sat on a shelf directly in front of the west facing window, and gradually the graphics on the spine faded into white on most of the books.
Nerd and anime
Hubs is a bit of a nerd and was learning python a few years ago. He also finds time to read entertianing stuff like The Hunger Games, and he enjoys manga as well. He used to have lots of Detective Conan and other ones that I can't remember, but now he's only got Death Note left. I'm not sure why he kept this particular set and not the others.
Whispers of Ice
During my Antarctica trip last year (which I still have a couple of posts to write before I'm all finished), I received a book written by one of the expedition guides, who also happens to be a law professor at the university in Buenos Aires. I was going to buy the book from him anyway, but then I won it in a raffle, and he wrote me a lovely message.
The book takes readers on a journey to the Antarctica through the author's personal experience. Although I have been, I always feel that I rushed the trip, was overwhelmed with everything, and overlooked a lot of the details of this beautiful continent. I hope this book will take me on my second trip to Antarctica, and help me relive my first trip.
