Show us your bookshelves!

[Farseer]

Oh, nice!

[fool-ish]

They look just grand and your books look like they're in fantastic condition joost. Some of mine (most of them) are horribly misshapen. Every time I get a new one, I promise myself I'll not 'break' it, but I always do. Though I do have a bookmark now, so no leaving them open, face down or corner of the page turning anymore.

[Farseer]

fool-ish - book assassin!

[fool-ish]

fool-ish - book assassin!

I know! My spine-bending antics are the most shameful of all!

[Wolfang]

Impressive collections!

['thul]

we'come out of the lack and into the plenty...

[o0Ampy0o]

There is a lot to be missed handling a physical book. The last purchased book I had in my hands was an example of one of the finest illustrating many aesthetic and tactile qualities, a hardbound version of The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfus. The construction of that book would have added to the reading experience (i.e. fine paper, an elegant font, fine binding). However, that book also marked my decision to go digital. I sent the book back and purchased a Kindle, my bookshelf. I almost always read on the road, rarely at home where I can take care of a beautiful yet heavy tome. I may save a tree or two or three. Kudos to Amazon for taking Apple's lead and packaging these so thoughtfully. They truly are special in their own way from the moment you have the box in your hands to each time you use them. I just discovered there is a landscape mode, a plus IMO. I may upgrade to the newest Paperwhite this year.

[Valarya]

I do most of my reading in electronic format (Nook or third-party e-book app), but some books are just meant for the shelves. You returned the Wise Man's Fear?! I have that hardcover book signed by the author. See, you can't get e-books signed.

But I do much prefer to read in the electronic format for sure.

[LEGOscum]

I'm very proud of my collection and hope one day to get them all signed. I won't be crushed if I don't manage to meet her though, because I once met another of my favourite authors at a signing and it turned out to be a miserable experience.

Well, I finally got my chance to meet RH. She was at Supernova in Brisbane and I brought along my entire 1st edition hardback collection - all the Farseer, Liveships, Tawny Man, Rain Wilds, Fitz & the Fool (book 1), Soldiers Son, Legends II, Songs of Love and Death, Voyager paperback (The Inheritance firsT publication) and The Inheritance. So 21 books in total, added to the Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince, and A Fantasy Medley which I bought pre-signed, I now have a completely signed RH collection.

I got there early, with one book in hand, and had a chat with her about how I had met the aforementioned author and what happened, and despite the knowledge of how many books were in my collection RH still agreed. I came back an hour later and rejoined the queue, and we progressively worked through all the books and let others in the line jump in with their books while I got the next batch ready.

She was very gracious and though we didn't get to natter as much a I had hoped I did get to listen to her talk to her other fans, and it was interesting to hear their thoughts on the books. Having only ever met a handful of Realm of the Elderlings readers - and never any real fans - I've never had an opportunity to express my thoughts on her stories but while queuing I got talking to those around and had as much fun sharing opinions as I did meeting RH.

I went to a seminar afterwards where RH was on a panel discussing gender roles in fantasy, and met her again afterwards for a photo together (I had hoped to get one of the two of us with my books arrayed in front but lugging a +20lbs box of hardbacks around was too much so I had already stowed them away).

And now they are all back in pride of place on my bedroom bookshelf, and I have the memories of meeting RH to go with them.

           

[Mervi]

That's pretty amazing having your whole collection signed!