The Bookshelf of an Avid Reader on AbeBooks

Some of you may remember a past Avid Reader feature, Undercover: Judging People by Their Books, in which I talked about the pleasure of perusing the bookshelves in people's homes. In the article, I lamented the rising prevalence of e-readers, because their increased presence means eventually fewer books, on fewer shelves. Even worse, it is considered impolite to nosily browse through someone's electronic device without asking, while it's accepted and expected to gawk at someone's bookshelf. It was a popular feature, and garnered comments from our readers, many of whom suggested that they'd like to view one of our bookshelves.

So, you are cordially invited to enjoy one of my bookshelves. Some of its contents are obscure, like the title Songs Unbidden by author The Prospector (actually George E. Winkler, apparently) - a collection of poems, published here in Victoria. B.C., whose foreword begins "This little book of verse is fraternally dedicated to prospectors everywhere, whether they travel over the burning sands of the southern deserts, "mush" across the frozen tundras of the far North, penetrate along the great waterways of the Pre-Cambrian shield, or climb the steep forested slopes of the Cordilleran ranges in search of the buried treasures of old Mother Earth". The book has no publication date, but research suggests it was around 1920.

Most of the contents of my shelf are more common, modern books for reading - lots of Canadiana like Alistair MacLeod, Margaret Atwood, Douglas Coupland, Carol Shields, Rohinton Mistry and Evelyn Lau, lots of graphic novels by the likes of Jordan Crane, Gene Luen Yang, Craig Thompson, Garth Ennis and Adrian Tomine, plus some poetry, some guilty pleasures, some books I will read and read again, some childhood leftovers, and more.