{"id":4381,"date":"2014-01-05T07:57:16","date_gmt":"2014-01-05T07:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=4381"},"modified":"2014-01-05T07:57:16","modified_gmt":"2014-01-05T07:57:16","slug":"a-few-special-gems-from-my-bookcase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=4381","title":{"rendered":"A few special gems from my bookcase\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Zebedee<\/a>
Zebedee the Cat has laid claim to the amp – but John gets to use it if he feeds said cat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This week we acquired a new fender guitar amp, which was , perhaps, not strictly an essential purchase..<\/p>\n

Except it was\u2026<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure I\u2019m far from alone in being a fan of Douglas Adams \u2013 not only is Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy one of the best things I\u2019ve ever read, there\u2019s also the lesser known Dirk Gently series \u2013 and Last Chance To See and the Dr Who episodes. \u00a0I could go on\u2026.<\/p>\n

Adams was also a rather good leftie guitar player \u2013 and this amp used to belong to him. It\u2019s a nice amp \u2013 great sound \u2013 and its provenance makes it very very cool. As a \u2018thing\u2019 to collect it resonates with our love of both books and music..<\/p>\n

I\u2019m very good (or should that be bad) when it comes to filling the house with \u2018things\u2019 that I think are cool, or that have special meaning. I thought I might share a couple of gems from my bookshelves with you.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>
My Dad used to refer to ‘Penny Dreadfuls’. I think he meant something like this.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

I picked up this rather tatty Penny Popular Tale \u2013 published by Stead\u2019s Library in one of my favourite rare book shops.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a very early translation of Jules Verne\u2019s Five Weeks in A Balloon \u2013 that grew to become Around the World in 80 Days.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s immensely fragile and we have to handle it with care \u2013 but it\u2019s lovely.<\/p>\n

As kids on different continents, we both read Verne. From him came our love of science fiction and fantasy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\u2019s last book. \u00a0It\u2019s leather bound and quite beautiful.<\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>
I love leather bound books – they smell so wonderful.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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 \u2013 thus spoiling my own surprise. But the book is lovely.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s Just So Stories \u2013 and I was hooked.<\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>
I wonder if I would have become a writer without this book … probably, but the stories here certainly inspired me.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This book has the most beautiful colour plates \u2013 and includes The Maltese Cat \u2013 the wonderful story about a polo pony that got me started on this whole writing journey.<\/p>\n

I love genre fiction \u2013 romance, sci fi, fantasy, crime, horror \u2013 love them all and really dislike it when people write them off as in some way inferior.<\/p>\n

\"It's<\/a>
It’s fascinating to see such a great author’s uncorrected work. He had a lot fewer mistakes than I have in my uncorrected manuscripts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Like so many other genre writers, for much of his career, Herbert was considered somehow less of a writer than his more literary contemporaries \u2013 but I find his books show wonderful insight into the human mind. Herbert was eventually given the recognition he deserved \u2013 awarded an OBE.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s sad to think there will be no more new James Herbert books.<\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>
I used to read these under the bedcovers with a torch when I was supposed to be asleep.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

My bookshelves are full of children\u2019s books, most of them as old as these lovely Little Grey Rabbit stories by Alison Uttley.<\/p>\n

As a child, I think I almost wore them out, reading and re-reading them. And I love the beautiful illustrations.<\/p>\n

They were eventually passed on to my nieces \u2013 who loved them as much as I did.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And last \u2013 but never least \u2013 is this whole section of bookcase \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The ‘friends’ section of my bookcase keeps growing. There’s a ‘my books’ section too, although it’s not this big – yet!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Others were, like me, unpublished when we met \u2013 and shared the journey with me.<\/p>\n

Every time another of my friends has a first book published, I try to get a paper copy (you really can\u2019t sign an e-book) and have them sign it for me.<\/p>\n

This collection already extends to the next shelf \u2013 and it will keep growing\u2026 \u00a0because sharing the journey is part of what makes it so wonderful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week we acquired a new fender guitar amp, which was , perhaps, not strictly an essential purchase.. Except it was\u2026 I\u2019m sure I\u2019m far from alone in being a fan of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7g6jm-18F","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}