We moved
into a house of horrors last year and I am waiting until we have finished our
renovations before I unpack all of my books (so check back in about ten years!).
I do have a small bookcase near the front door though that holds my go-to books,
which I am sharing a photo of today.
I tend to
shelve my books by category (YA, Children's, Classics, etc.) and then by genre.
I also like to keep like colors together within genres (e.g. books with dark
covers and books with bright covers). Yes, I realize this is a bit OCD. One day
I would love to have a bookcase completely sorted by color, although I am not
sure how I would locate books. I think it would need its own dewy decimal
system!
The bookcase
is filled with my books, because my husband mainly reads non-fiction and, aside
from a couple of novelty books (top-left), cookbooks and language books
(bottom-right), that category is relegated to the spare room.
Here are a
few of my favorite books in this bookcase:
You Know You’re A Writer When… by Adair Lara
This book
makes me laugh so much. A friend saw it in a bookstore and after reading a few
of its entries thought it fitted me like a glove. I have to agree. My favorites
are:
·
There are
three empty cereal bowls next to your computer – one for every meal.
·
You were
nine when you started writing poems, twelve when you moved on to tragic
stories.
·
You run
out of room on Hallmark cards. (I am notorious for this whenever there is a
farewell or birthday card doing the rounds at work.)
Lady Cottington’sPressed Fairy Bookwritten by
Terry Jones and illustrated by Brian Froud
This is
another book that makes me laugh. In fact, I was in hysterics when I started
reading it in the bookstore and I ABSOLUTELY had to buy it. The book is the
fictional diary of a girl who collects fairies by pressing them in books, as if
they are flowers. It begins with a message assuring the reader that no fairies
were harmed in the making of the book.
Shanghai
Baby by Wei Hui
This was New Adult before there even was New Adult.
This semi-autobiographical novel was publicly burned in China for its sexual
content (40,000 copies, in fact!). I just love the writing style, with credit
due to Bruce Humes, who has translated it beautifully from Chinese.
Excerpt:
Every morning when I open my eyes I wonder what I
can do to make myself famous. It’s become my ambition, almost my raison d’etre, to burst upon the city
like a firework.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
This is a
much-loved second- or third- or fourth-hand copy of Pride and Prejudice from the 60s. It is one of my all-time
favorite books, which inspired my young adult novel When the World was Flat (and we were in love) published by Strange
Chemistry. BTW: I have a heap of Strange Chemistry novels in the bookcase too
(middle- left).
Einstein’s
Dreams by Alan Lightman
This is a beautiful collection of short stories
about the dreams Albert Einstein might have had while he was creating his
Theory of Relativity.
Physicist Lightman creates a range of different
worlds: worlds where time stands still; worlds where everyone lives forever;
and worlds where time is not continuous, but stops and starts. My novel When the World was Flat (and we were in
love) explores the life and theories of Einstein and I found this book (as
well as a mountain of non-fiction books about Einstein) extremely inspiring.
Excerpt:
There is a place where time stands still. Raindrops
hang motionless in the air. Pendulums of clocks float mid-swing. Dogs raise
their muzzles in silent howls.
I will never stop collecting books, but I recently
bought an eReader and a lot of my recent collecting has been done
electronically. I thought this bookcase was small, but I guess my eReaderis
technically the smallest bookcase in the house.
P.S. I should probably also explain the green toy
(bottom-left). I have a friend who is a crafter and she made me a zombie writer
(he is wearing a beret and carrying a notebook) after learning of my love of The Walking Dead. This particular friend
is also an author (K.J. Taylor). I was lucky enough to also get a handmade
one-of-a-kind griffin from her brilliant series The Fallen Moon.
Ingrid Jonach writes books for
children and young adults, including the chapter books The Frank Frankie
and Frankie goes to France published by Pan Macmillan, and When the
World was Flat (and we were in love) published by Strange Chemistry.
Since graduating from university
with a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing (Hons) in 2005, Ingrid has
worked as a journalist and in public relations, as well as for the Australian
Government.
Ingrid
loves to promote reading and writing, and has been a
guest speaker at a number of schools and literary festivals across Australia,
where she lives with her husband Craig and their pug dog Mooshi.
Despite her best efforts, neither Craig nor
Mooshi read fiction.
Find
out more at www.ingridjonach.com
When the
World was Flat (and we were in love)
Author: Ingrid
Jonach
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Release Date: 3 September 2013 in the US and
Canada, and 5 September 2013 in the UK, as well as worldwide as ebook and
audio.
Looking
back, I wonder if I had an inkling that my life was about to go from ordinary
to extraordinary.
When sixteen-year-old Lillie Hart meets the
gorgeous and mysterious Tom Windsor-Smith for the first time, it’s like
fireworks — for her, anyway. Tom looks as if he would be more interested in
watching paint dry; as if he is bored by her and by her small Nebraskan town in
general.
But as Lillie begins to break down the walls
of his seemingly impenetrable exterior, she starts to suspect that he holds the
answers to her reoccurring nightmares and to the impossible memories which keep
bubbling to the surface of her mind — memories of the two of them, together and
in love.
When she at last learns the truth about their
connection, Lillie discovers that Tom has been hiding an earth-shattering
secret; a secret that is bigger — and much more terrifying and beautiful — than
the both of them. She also discovers that once you finally understand that the
world is round, there is no way to make it flat again.
An epic and deeply original sci-fi romance,
taking inspiration from Albert Einstein’s theories and the world-bending wonder
of true love itself.
Giveaway
Details
Enter below for your chance to win one
of two awesome prize packages as part of the Around the World in 80 Days Blog Tour for When the World was Flat (and we were in love) by
Ingrid Jonach.
There will be two winners worldwide.
Each prize package includes:
·
a signed copy of When
the World was Flat (and we were in love)
·
a pair of silver
plated key-shaped earrings in a When the World was Flat (and we were in love)
gift box
·
a When the World was
Flat (and we were in love) bookmark.
The competition will run until 21
October 2013 and the winners will be announced on this page and via www.ingridjonach.com
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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