This week we acquired a new fender guitar amp, which was , perhaps, not strictly an essential purchase..
Except it was…
I’m sure I’m far from alone in being a fan of Douglas Adams – not only is Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy one of the best things I’ve ever read, there’s also the lesser known Dirk Gently series – and Last Chance To See and the Dr Who episodes. I could go on….
Adams was also a rather good leftie guitar player – and this amp used to belong to him. It’s a nice amp – great sound – and its provenance makes it very very cool. As a ‘thing’ to collect it resonates with our love of both books and music..
I’m very good (or should that be bad) when it comes to filling the house with ‘things’ that I think are cool, or that have special meaning. I thought I might share a couple of gems from my bookshelves with you.
I picked up this rather tatty Penny Popular Tale – published by Stead’s Library in one of my favourite rare book shops.
It’s a very early translation of Jules Verne’s Five Weeks in A Balloon – that grew to become Around the World in 80 Days.
It’s immensely fragile and we have to handle it with care – but it’s lovely.
As kids on different continents, we both read Verne. From him came our love of science fiction and fantasy.
In 2012, just after Hurricane Sandy hit New York (where we were living at the time) I fought my way through a blizzard to the fabulous Strand Book Shop to buy this signed first edition copy of Kurt Vonnegut’s last book. It’s leather bound and quite beautiful.
It was supposed to be a surprise gift for that man with the amp, but I accidentally left the receipt on the table where he saw it – thus spoiling my own surprise. But the book is lovely.
This early Rudyard Kipling is one of my favourite possessions. My late father introduced me to so many great authors. He got me to read Kipling’s Just So Stories – and I was hooked.
This book has the most beautiful colour plates – and includes The Maltese Cat – the wonderful story about a polo pony that got me started on this whole writing journey.
I love genre fiction – romance, sci fi, fantasy, crime, horror – love them all and really dislike it when people write them off as in some way inferior.
This James Herbert manuscript is one of a limited number of uncorrected proofs that were produced and signed by the author prior to the 1994 release of The Ghosts of Sleath.
Like so many other genre writers, for much of his career, Herbert was considered somehow less of a writer than his more literary contemporaries – but I find his books show wonderful insight into the human mind. Herbert was eventually given the recognition he deserved – awarded an OBE.
It’s sad to think there will be no more new James Herbert books.
My bookshelves are full of children’s books, most of them as old as these lovely Little Grey Rabbit stories by Alison Uttley.
As a child, I think I almost wore them out, reading and re-reading them. And I love the beautiful illustrations.
They were eventually passed on to my nieces – who loved them as much as I did.
Finally, they have found their way back to me, and I smile every time I look at them on the shelf where they sit alongside other childhood favourites.. most of which involve ponies.
And last – but never least – is this whole section of bookcase – which holds signed copied of books by writers I am honoured to call friends. Some of them were established writers when we met – and helped me learn what I needed to know to fulfil my dream of being a writer.
Others were, like me, unpublished when we met – and shared the journey with me.
Every time another of my friends has a first book published, I try to get a paper copy (you really can’t sign an e-book) and have them sign it for me.
This collection already extends to the next shelf – and it will keep growing… because sharing the journey is part of what makes it so wonderful.