Bookshelf Meme

[kerravonsen]

Absorbed from droxy:

Your Bookshelf Rec Meme
These books must be on your bookshelf or recently read.
Droxy added "books lying about, stacked on tables, under desks..."

I'm also going to cheat a bit, and include some series as "one book".

What six books on your shelves would you rec to children under 11?

Richard Scarry's ABC Word Book (yes, I kept this from my childhood! Lowly Worm was my favourite character.)
The Velveteen Rabbit
"The Very Best of Friends" by Margaret Wild and Julie Vivas
the Narnia stories
the coloured Fairy Books by Andrew Lang (pick any random one, they're all good)
"The Little Princess" by Frances Hodgson Burnett

My copy of "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins" seems to have gone walkabout.

What six books would you rec for children 11-19?

"Valkyries" by Jerri Massi
the Narnia stories
the Harry Potter books
"Many-coloured Realm" by Anne Hamilton
"The Ogre Downstairs" by Diana Wynne Jones
"Watership Down" by Richard Adams

What six books would you rec for your peers?

Only six?
Okay, my theme will be sense-of-wonder.

"The World Beyond the Hill" by Alexi and Cory Panshin (non-fiction!)
"Babel-17" by Samuel R. Delany
"The Napoleon of Notting Hill" by G. K. Chesterton
"Smith of Wootton Major" by J.R.R. Tolkien
"Norstrilia" by Cordwainer Smith (it looks like my copy of the complete-short-stories-of has vanished. Boo!)
"Don't Bite the Sun" and "Drinking Sapphire Wine" by Tanith Lee (re-issued in one volume as "Biting the Sun")

What six books would you rec to authority figures?

"Little Brother" by Cory Doctorow (except it might give them ideas)
"Adrenaline and Stress" by Dr. Archibald D. Hart
Asimov's Guide To Science (Volume 1 and Volume 2)
"The Cathedral and the Bazaar" by Eric S. Raymond
The Mythical Man Month

I was going to include "The Diary of Anne Frank" only I discovered I don't have a copy. 8-(

What are the top six strangest book titles on your shelves?

I assume this is talking about titles, rather than the strangeness or otherwise of the books themselves.

The Dragonhiker's Guide To Battlefield Covenant At Dune's Edge: Odyssey Two
Don't Bite The Sun
Kill the Dead
The Left-Handed Hummingbird
The Unaborted Socrates
Eats, Shoots & Leaves

What are your favourite six technical books on your shelves?

Not quite sure what is meant by "technical".
Ah, there was an explanation in the comments: I invented the technical section myself. I just meant ones not about ideas. How-to would count for me. Some of mine are, as you saw, instructions for various things. Origami of card techniques, for instance, but they are not simple how-to.

Okay, so they're technical/practical books.

Self-Editing For Fiction Writers
The Elements of Style (aka Strunk & White)
Mastering Regular Expressions (no, this is not for fiction writing, this is Programming)
"The Complete Book of Beads" by Janet Coles & Robert Budwig (my favourite book on beading; it transformed my approach to it, since it wasn't just techniques, but also about design.)
The Elements of Graphic Design
Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Crochet (with which I taught myself crochet)

What are your six least favourite books on the shelves?

As droxy said: "If I didn't like my books they would not be on my shelves."
I have a box in the front hall which is full of "free to a good home" books that I don't want any more.

Comments

[watervole]

I recently added Napoleon of NOtting HIll from Project Gutenberg. I shall move it up my reading list as you recommend it.

[kerravonsen]

While Chesterton is more well known for his "The Man Who Was Thursday", I like "The Napoleon of Notting Hill" better.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

I can't stand the Velveteen Rabbit. Ever since I was little, years before Toy Story, I always felt that toys were real when I wasn't looking and they're all THROWN IN A FIRE!

I mean the rabbit gets to be the lone survivor but still, I found it really disturbing even when people tried to point out the "happy" ending.

Seriously, how do we know the rabbit didn't get PTSD from it?

I agree with everything else on your list though, very awesome.

[kerravonsen]

I discovered the Velveteen Rabbit when I was an adult, so I was not traumatized by the toy-death. I was more delighted about things becoming Real when they are Loved.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

I would have a problem deciding the Under 11 category.
I was reading things like "Dragonflight" and "High Deryni" pre-11. Trying to work out what would be classed a "normal 11" year old's reading range is difficult if you go on your own reading experience.

[kerravonsen]

So true, so true.

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

The last question is a bit confusing... if I don't want them, they go to the Book fair or are donated to the local library...