Friday, April 11, 2008

Less than three... bookshelves?

JD comes back from his transcontinental business trip tomorrow night. In his absence, I had to outsource food production beyond breakfast and packed school lunch, and with that executive decision we did alright on our own this week. Blogging was the unintended victim. My apologies.

In the vain effort to catch up, I am doing two memes I got tagged for ages ago. In one post. Because there is no time like the present.

So way back in the stone age, two very lovely ladies, C and B, told me they less than three my blog. Awwww.... Which means they heart me. Go on, tilt your head. Maybe the other way. See it?

I less than three them back, of course. I also less than three so many of you it would take me till the morning to just list and link everyone. So how about I go with these five: Bon, Janis, Kate, Niobe, and Tash. Each has a voice that is unique, and melodic, and true, and strong, even when whispering, even when in pain or self-doubt. One day soon I will say more about them. One day. Soon.

Some time ago, you know, less than three weeks back (clear progress in how long it takes me to get to these), Niobe tagged me for the bookshelves meme, where you show off your family jewels. Books. I mean books. So here goes.

 
See the tuskless elephant acting as a bookend on my shelf of lefty political books? So? Funny, right? Always wanted to show this off to more people. The elephant came from Taiwan many many years ago when my mom had an extended business trip there. Well, it wasn't tuskless when it left Taiwan. Sadly, his tusks did not survive the trip. My dad tried to glue them back on, but no luck. He lived, forlorn, on my old bookshelf with not much to do. Until we spotted this lovely shelving unit in IKEA. Putting my books neatly on the new shelves, it occurred to me that there really was no better place for a tuskless elephant than that particular shelf. No? (BTW, I have way more lefty political books. Not all of them live in the same bookcase.)

 
This is JD's shelf in the bedroom bookcase. See the red On Food and Cooking book? My new boss mentioned it within my first couple of weeks on the job. It is basically the chemistry of cooking. Material science, if you will. Which, by the way, was JD's undergrad major. And is very much the way he cooks-- thinking about chemical properties of his ingredients and how they might interact. Makes for extremely yummy grill fare, if I say so myself. When he first got the book (as a Hanukkah present), I wasn't allowed to touch it-- he wanted it all to himself. I still haven't gotten a good look at it, but that has more to do with swamped than the restraining order which I consider lifted by virtue of time elapsed.

 
Our poetry shelf, in JD's office.


The corner of Monkey's bookcase. The diary was one of her birthday presents from a classmate. Nobody is allowed to read it. Except me.

I guess I should be tagging people for this. I am nosy, so here goes: B, Jenny F. Scientist, and Kate even though her blog is private, because I want to know what the academics will admit to having on their shelves. Personally, I also think that Amelie's entry on this was a bit one-sided, so, Amelie, if you are game, please consider yourself tagged.

14 comments:

Lori Lavender Luz said...

Ooooh. May I come raid your bookshelves? Especially Freakonomics.

Betty M said...

You should definitely get JD a Heston Blumenthal cook book if he is into chemistry of cooking. Weird but wonderful. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heston_Blumenthal

Tash said...

Our lefty bookshelves look remarkably similar! Too funny! But the elephant is class. Must borrow that.

Beruriah said...

Hehe. You're going to be disappointed by mine because we've become library and goo.gle books aficionados.

niobe said...

You're so nice to give me some of the less-than-three love.

And thanks for sharing your book collections and the stories that go with them.

Anonymous said...

I may have to look into the On Food and Cooking book. I haven't seen that one yet!

My bookshelf is strictly cookbooks. The real books have been stashed in the basement as I have nowhere to put them.

jo(e) said...

The chemistry teacher at my kids' high school does a lot of cooking in class. She's always saying, "Cooking is chemistry."

Magpie said...

I LOVE Harold McGee. Fascinating stuff. I learned a fabulous shortcut for hollandaise from him - though I think it's in his other book, The Curious Cook.

And I love your left elephant shelf!

loribeth said...

I love looking at other people's book collections -- thanks for posting yours! I keep meaning to do mine for my blog as well...

Anonymous said...

well, dh gifted me with "On food and Cooking" coz I like to cook but it is gathering dust... he expects me to *read* it; for me it's emergency reference. Thanks for less than 3. heart you back.

christina(apronstrings) said...

i love frekonomics too. i love books. but k is the only one who has read most of them. *sigh* one day.
love the pics.

Bon said...

thanks, Julia. i heart you too.

and your books, apparently. i want to come for a reading weekend.

Antigone said...

Which reminds I really need to get some bookcases. I still have stacks and boxes and stacks of boxes of books with no real home to call their own. I hate moving.

Amelie said...

I'll try... unfortunately I don't have all that many books here, what with international moves of undetermined lenght etc. But of course there's more than recipes.

Also, I am embarassed to report that only now after reading Bon's comment I have understood the <3 thing...