Chapters - XI

“The roads were uneven and bumpy, so we could not read the local guide book during the bus ride to the resort. Because of this, we were unaware of many things that would have made our holiday more fun.”

Okay, I just don't know what to say about this.

Anyway, I wanted to relate this to how reading has always been one of my enjoyments. I think one of the best jobs I could have would be one where I did nothing but read books. Maybe for review (which I do for free nowadays) or just get paid to enjoy a book.

This brings me to my book collection. I don't know how many books I own both in print and various computer files. However, I thought I might share some of them with you. First off, you get an insight into what enjoy and second, it makes for an easy blog when the majority of the blog is copy and paste or listing authors. Lol.

All of the Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators books in the series.

Most of the Doctor Who novels.

Many Bill Bryson books

Many of the Dave Barry books

The James Herriot books

Several of the Uncle John's Bathroom Readers books

Most of the Hardy Boys books

Some of the examples in the horror and sci-fi genres include:

L.A. Banks

Tom Allen

Clive Barker

Algernon Blackwood

Most of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Karen Chance

Brendan Hay

Dean Ing

Stephen King (of course)

David Morrell

Bill Pronzini (include him in the mystery genre)

Dave Watson

F. Paul Wilson

H.P. Lovecraft

Mystery authors include:

Nevada Barr

Lawrence Block

C.J. Box (saw him at Killer Nashville one year)

Donald Bain (ditto)

Jeffrey Deaver (ditto)

Lee Child

Clive Cussler

Every Dick Francis book

Erle Stanley Gardner

Rex Stout

Jack Higgins

Reginald Hill

John Lutz

Lisa Lutz

Steve Martini

Ellery Queen

John Sandford

Dorothy Sayers

Jon Trace

Stuart Woods

I also have many Star Trek and Star Wars stories.

Wow, I just realized that I could go on for several weeks like this, just listing books and authors. Again, I could go through my inventory and count but that would take way too long.

I can do this for you. When I started collecting books, I made the decision to put the horror novels separate from every other genre and start numbering them. I don't know why I decided to do that. Some OCD thing early on. Anyway, every book I deem a horror or something very similar gets a number. As the years have passed I have realized that some of those early choices probably should have been placed in the mystery or sci-fi section, but I'm not going to go back and change the list.

What I've done with every print book I've bought is place ½ of an index card with the number I've designated for it just inside the cover and the other half with the same number showing on the back of the book when I wrap it in plastic for storage. When the eBook files started rolling in, I just included them. Now, I will admit that some of the stories listed in the horror section are not full length books. Some are short stories that have been published on their own and some have been included in anthologies. Again, I wasn't going to take the time to research. However, the vast majority of the numbered horror stories are full length books. At the time of this writing, I am up to number 1585. That's just in the horror genre.

Currently, in my 'to read' collection I have a bookcase that is approximately three feet wide with six shelves, double-stacked with paperbacks. I also have a metal bookcase approximately four feet wide or so, three shelves full of hardback with a three foot stack of hardbacks on top. Then I have a video case about a foot wide with, I think, six or seven shelves for the rest of the hardbacks. Then I couldn't even begin to guess how many of the eBooks are on the 'to read' list.

In storage, waiting for my dream library, are at least twenty boxes of various sizes of wrapped already read books.

So, if you don't mind, I think I'll get back to reading.

What are some of the books in your inventory?