Bookshelf Tour 2016 – Part 1

It is July 1st and here I am with, as promised, the first part to my bookshelf tour of my main bookshelves. I am starting with the right book case and its first 3 shelves. These shelves are more themed and author focused.  I will also be comparing each shelf to what it looked like last year because I find it interesting to see how it evolves through the years. The post for these shelves for comparison can be found here. So let’s just dive into it.

Intro / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

Remember that these picture were already taken at the start of June to be able to plan these posts in. So bits have changed since then, and you can’t see any new books I got after May.

This first shelf starts with my Barnes and Noble Leatherbound books. I really love the spines of these editions. Though I never realized that The Snow Queen is taller than the other two, haha.

In any case I have The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Alice’s Adventures in Wonder and Other Stories by Lewis Caroll, and The Snow Queen and Other Winter Tales. I have read all of Sherlock Holmes. I did start The Snow Queen but I stopped, and I never picked it pack up again. With Summer coming it feels like the wrong time to read it so maybe in the Winter again.

Next to that is my small English leather copy of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. It is so cute and pretty. Though you can’t read it if your nails are sharp and/or long because you will damage the leather.  Next to that you see my Dutch set of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings that I’ve had for over ten years now. I really like how the black has the languague that is used in this story in it. And next to that is my large bind-up of The Lord of the Rings in English. It is so soft.

Next to that I have a leather Tolkien, a Dictionary by David Day which is just really pretty and I think I will find it interesting to thumb through once I’ve completed rereading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I have two copies of Mathilda by Roald Dahl. I have a very pretty hardcover from Puffin in English. I love that cover. And the other one is in Dutch. Then I have Snow White by the Brothers Grimm which is illustrated by Camille Rose Garcia. I loved the illustrations in this. Worth a look at least if you come across it. Next up I have two more Jules Verne books in this lovely blue clothbound edition, 20 000 Leagues under the Sea part 1 and 2 in Dutch. I see these editions a lot at second hand stores. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is next to that in a watercolour edition frm Splinter. Lastly on this shelf I have a stack of Wordsworth Classics with at the top Perfume: A Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind. I read this one when I was still in high school, but I remember really liking it. And being a bit shocked by the ending. That is what I remember most about this book.

On this stack are books like The Jungle Book and the Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, Peter Pan and Peter Pan in Kensingtong Gardens by J.M. Barrie, Tales from the Arabian Nights, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgens Barrett, English Fairy Tales and Irish Fairy Tales, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip van Winkle and Other Stories by Washington Irving, and of course another edition of Alice in Wonderland.

These mentioned above have a more of a cutesy look with the white covers and the drawings compared to the darker end of the stack. Most also seem to be more of children’s books.

The rest of the stack holds some Jane Austen like Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey and Emma. Below that is Jane Eyre by Charotte Bronten. Then we have The Lost World and Other Tales by Arthur Conan Doyle, Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare, and finally The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas.

Comparing this shelf to how it looked last year, the theme certainly hasn’t changed. It is still a classics shelf. However more books have been added to it since then which also caused me to have to put some classics elsewhere.

Shelf 2 – Harry Potter

You can’t have missed from the picture above that this second shelf is a complete Harry Potter shelf. While Harry Potter isn’t my absolute favorite there is so much about the world that appeals, that also makes it easier to collect things for it. Like different sets of the entire series. To be fair, we only have on matching complete set which are these lovely Dutch paperbacks I collected over the last two years for my husband.

Like I have mentioned before, I didn’t start reading Harry Potter until the fifth book was released and that was also the book I started with. I have hardcovers of the last three, but I threw away the dustjackets. I know, I know. Sin. I regret that now but that is why we do have multiple copies of some books. Of The Chamber of Secrets, The Prisoner of Azkaban, The Goblet of Fire, The Order of the Phoenix and The Half Blood Prince we have two copies. One of each in Dutch and in English. Of The Philsopher’s Stone we have three copies of which one in Dutch and two in English. And the last book, The Deathly Hallows, we have four copies of. Two in Dutch and two in English. One of the Dutch copies is my husband’s old copy that came with him when we moved in together.

Of course we also have the three novella’s from Hogwarts Library. Tales of Beedle the Bard, Quidditch Through the Ages, and of course the soon to be movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. They don’t match in language or in format. But I don’t really mind that too much with these.

Lastly I of course have the illustrated edition of The Philsopher’s Stone. It is so huge. I can’t fit it properly on this shelf the way I would like which is that you can see the cover properly. So this has to do I suppose.

Looking back at last year I didn’t have quite as many Harry Potter books then. Obviously there was no illustrated edition and we didn’t have a complete set of the Dutch ones which also takes up some space. But I think I like how this shelf is now matter. It doesn’t feel quite so empty. It’s a bit too full actually. But I think I like that.

Shelf 3 -Rick Riordan and Jonathan Stroud

This shelf starts with Rick Riordan of course. Last year this was just the Rick Riordan shelf, but he has had to make some space for Jonathan Stroud. I don’t think he minds. They seem to get along.

Of course first I have the Percy Jackson series, not all in matching editions. But to be honest you don’t notice that too easily. So I’m okay with that. It starts with The Lightening Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan’s Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth and ends with The Last Olympian. I quite enjoyed this series. They are such quick reads with sass. But I still prefer The Heroes of Olympus.

The Heroes of Olympus consists of The Lost Hero, The Son of Neptune, The Mark of Athena, The House of Hades and The Blood of Olympus. I just love the character editions to this series, like Leo, and how it is written in third point of view.

On top of that stack is of course the first book in Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, called The Sword of Summer. An entertaining start to a new series that I am curious to see how it will be continued in October.

In between these series are three companion books. Greek Gods, Greek Heroes and The Demigod Files. Out of all of these books I still have to read Greek Heroes. Hopefully before the next Magnus Chase comes out.

The other half of this shelf is reserved for Jonathan Stroud. If you’ve read some of my posts you might have noticed that I have a big love for his books. My collection is incredibly mix matched though. It isn’t even funny.

Let’s start of with my favorite series by him, the Bartimaeus trilogy. The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem’s Eye and Ptolemy’s Gate are the books within this series. I especially am in love with the second and the third book. They are amazing. The Ring of Solomon is a prequel novel that doesn’t quite live up to the rest of the series unfortunately. And I also own the graphic novel of The Amulet of Samarkand. I also have a second copy of Ptolemy’s Gate because my cat put holes in the taller one.

Next to that is his recent series, Lockwood & Co. A more light hearted series compared to the Bartimaeus series, but I enjoy reading it nontheless. It consists so far of The Screaming Staircase, The Whispering Skull and The Hollow Boy. I love the covers of these editions.

So there you have it. Part 1 of my bookshelf tour 2016. On Friday July 15th you will be able to see the rest of this bookshelf in part 2. See you then!