What does a bookshelf say about a person? well, firstly there's the shelf itself - this bookcase belonged to my great grandmother. It still has the price chalked onto the back. I inherited it after my grandmother died. My great grandfather on that side worked in a factory, my great grandmother, like most women on the early twentieth century, was a mother and wife and not employed outside the home. This is not a demographic traditionally associated with book buying, let alone enough books to warrant a bookcase. These are my people, this is where I come from.

What can you glean from the objects? A trilobite, a local limestone quartz I found, conkers... I pick things up and put them in my pockets (although I didn't find the trilobite!).

As for the books - lots of mythic influences, folk tales, and folklore inspired fantasy - Charles De Lint and Robert Holdstock. Margaret Attwood, Neil Gaiman, Dianne Wynne Jones, Clive Barker. Poetry - Mary Oliver, Jay Ramsay. Nature books, countryside books. A few Druid titles there as well - Brendan Myers, Robin Herne. One graphic novel on the top shelf there - Eric Orchard's Maddie Kettle. it's not quite my life in a nutshell, but it's close. Many of my influences are in there, many of my passions are represented, but not everything.

In practice I read more indie authors than books from big publishers, but many of those are ebooks. Matlock the Hare is missing, so are my graphic novels - size of bookshelf being an issue. I didn't put any of my own books in, either, because that would have felt a bit weird!

 

 

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