Summer Reading

Since I won't be going to Germany for some time yet, I thought I might start my year of studying books, periodicals, and all things print by indulging in some lighter reading. There is a surprising number of books regarding the love, purchase, collection, storage, and reading of books, many of which are by all reports (er, Amazon reviews) quite delightful. In celebration of my temporary freedom from academic restraints, I'd like to try to make some headway in reading through a few of them:

A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books ~ Nicholas Brisbanes

"Unpacking my Library" ~ Walter Benjamin

A History of Reading ~ Alberto Manguel

The Anatomy of Bibliomania ~Holbrook Jackson

Ex Libris ~ Anne Fadiman

The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop ~ Lewis Buzbee

Over the course of the summer, I'll post short reviews of these to supplement any bookish adventures I may have while still at home. If any jokes occurred to you at the including of Benjamin on my "light summer reading list," keep them to yourself. Thank you.

One book I have read in this vein is Henry Petrowski's The Book on the Bookshelf. Although he sometimes waxes a little too poetical about his inspiration for the book, most of the chapters are fascinating bordering on making you want to turn to strangers nearby as you read and exclaim "Did you know...?" Well, okay, I had that reaction, but I also have a reputation for oversharing facts. Nevertheless, the history of the bookshelf is actually a history of its accommodation to the design of written word from scrolls to the codex to the modern book. Although we now often regard bookshelves as decoration, or an aesthetically pleasing presence in the home, they were for much of their history purely functional and sadly inadequate for the needs of the day. For example, did you know that until the eighteenth century books were shelved with the spines facing in? A relic of the medieval oversized, bejeweled book chained to the desk. Nevertheless, that system made as much sense to those who used it as our alphabetization and spine-titles do to us today. The history of the bookshelf is not only a history of an evolving technology, however. It is also a chronicle of the initial preciousness, increasing availability, and gradual commodification of knowledge...and, because it's written from the perspective of an an engineer, there are plenty of pictures.

The history of the bookshelf and the books upon it doesn't need to be recounted here, but if you have strong feelings about the "proper" way to shelve your books, or even if you pile them in stacks on the floor because there's just no place to put them, this short volume makes for an entertaining and often surprising read.