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What belongs in your "base" hard-copy library?
I finally have the space to finish a project I've been working on which is a study with 3 bookcases. So far, my idea is to have 1 with books that will always be there, such as classic reads, or even an encyclopedia maybe?, or other reference material. Basically, a permanent bookcase whether or not I've read the material. The other two will be rotated in and out of stuff that I'm reading, have read recently or on my backlog before swapping or donating.
Anyways, what's in your "must have" bookcase? Reference, fiction/non-fiction, Calvin & Hobbes even! (Although that's more of a coffee table piece)
Right now I don't have the luxury of bookshelf space, so the books worth keeping to me are those I've read and had some significant connection with or those that had any emotional, developmental or educational impact throughout my life. Most notably: The BFG, The Phantom Tollbooth, Hatchet, Holes, The Ear The Eye and The Arm, Coraline, The Mysterious Benedict Society, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Jane Eyre, The Book Thief, Animal Farm, Fun Home, The Omnivores Dilemma, Flow, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Hitchhiker's Guide, Into the Wild, Educated, Dreams from my Father, Maus...and others.
I hold onto books as a will-read, but they're not necessarily must-keeps until they've been read.
I have no space for such reference books now but eventually I would love to own that $1000 world encyclopedia series, but if not that a good substitute would be just like those science series of zoology, botany, human anatomy, astronomy, geology etc. reference books with detailed photos and shit.
Also "Art of" reference books of my favorite movies/shows would be nice.
Oh must add on: a world atlas!
Love the reference book options, especially the atlas! I was thinking some medical books as well even though I’m not in the profession just to flip through non-stop but an atlas is definitely making the list.
Your comment just got me back on my old idea to buy a proper encyclopedia. And what do you know, for 40€ I got a Encyclopedia Universalis in prime condition just a 15min drive from home.
It's actually the compact version of 2005 and not the humongous 3000€ one, but still happy :)
For me, it'd start with my Sandershelf - I'm a huge Brandon Sanderson fan and he's been releasing really gorgeous 10th-anniversary leatherbound editions, so those along with the 1st editions make up a pretty substantial proportion of my physical book collection.
Sanderson has successfully take over an entire shelf on my bookshelves.
The correct answer is a Sandershelf. If you (a general you) can afford the leatherbound editions (unlike me) then you absolutey should. Oh, and the year of Sanderson swag boxes have some pretty sweet looking loot to put on a Sandershelf as well.
Almost my entire audiobook library is just Sanderson. Id love to get some leatherbound copies, even though I almost exclusively use audiobooks.
Sanderson audiobooks are excellent, too - love to hear Kramer and Reading's performances
Suzy Jackson absolutely killed it in the cytoverse readings too
I've got the entire Warhammer40K Horus Heresy & Siege of Terra novels on one black bookcase. I cannot imagine ever getting rid of them, simply because they're all first editions and very over-the-top, rule-of-cool awesome.
I've got various other scifi sets Asimov, Banks (Culture), Herbert that I think are fantastic and very inspirational.
On my shelf of work. I've got a few data books (Modelling, TOGAF, Strategy) and then some more on my future professional around therapy and counselling that I default to in my current world when someone needs a helping hand.
A good dictionary, a grammatical/style reference, and one of those one-volume encyclopedias are good things to start. Maybe a world atlas? English isn't my first language, so my recommendations are moot. The same extends to other books from my must-haves.
The Feynman Lectures on Physics by Feynman, Leighton and Sands, and Penrose's Road to Reality. The former is likely self-explanatory. The latter, however, is a great overview and tour of mathematics in its connection to physics, beginning with addition and ending with supersymmetric theories. It's hard to find a well-written (text)book with a broader scope, imho.
Sourcery by Pratchett. It's a book equivalent of a joke that - regardless of how often told - can reliably make your inner fifth-grader laugh, and everyone needs that from time to time. My all-purpose pick me up.
Cyberpunk 2020 core rulebook and associated The Guide to Night City. One of my favourite role playing games alongside one of the best expansions to any game I own or read. The entire line is good, even if rough around the edges, but those two are exceptional.
48 Laws of Power by Greene, The Prince by Machiavelli, The Leviathan by Hobbes. I doubt people here will go 'sigma grindset' in response to those books, but still, a reason: they're full of historic trivia, both as commentary and as references.
Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and Squee's Wonderful Big Giant Book of Unspeakable Horrors. Absolutely not something I should have been reading as a teen, but I'm MOSTLY normal now.
My angsty teen self was obsessed with JTHM and of course Invader Zim. I have my original JTHM Directors Cut book from 20 or so years ago. A few years back I managed to snag all of the individual comics in mint condition on eBay. I think I'm due for a read through.
I have...too many books. But my "must-haves" are definitely the more niche ones. The illustrated Harry Potter books, some nice leather-bound editions of Lord of the Rings, an illustrated version of Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, a bunch of Headstamp Publishing's hyper-niche firearms history books, and some of those large-format Star Wars guides about vehicles and weapons and stuff.
Everything I can get my hands on by Tolkien. I've got several cool versions of Lord of the Rings (one really nice printing in Swedish), as well as the well-read paperback copy that got me through high school, the first editions of the more recent stuff that was released (Beren & Luthien, Children of Hurin, Fall of Gondolin), Beowulf, Lost Tales, etc etc and some art books.
One day I'll get around to making a nice live-edge floating shelf just for them but for now, they've got a permanent spot on my bookshelf.
The only reason I can think of for having books on your bookshelf, without reading them (or even intending to read them), would be to show off to visitors: "Look how smart I am! I read classic books." But, if you don't read them, that's effectively a lie.
What's the point of this exercise? Are you actually going to read these books? Or are you just trying to impress people by making them think you've read books that you really haven't?
Do you typically read the dictionary?
No, of course not.
And now I'm regretting that I deleted a couple of paragraphs about the fact that I've read all the books on my bookshelf, with the minor exception of literal handful of reference books, such as a dictionary and a phrase book. But I figured that made the comment too wordy, created an unnecessary digression, and pointed out something which is common sense that people already know, so I deleted it before I posted that comment.
I mean, I read one of our dictionaries as a kid, so idk, maybe you had.
There’s a ton of books on my shelves I haven’t read simply because they’re my husband’s books and I’m not at all interested in them. I agree with you it makes no sense to have the classics on your shelf if you haven’t actually read them and it’s pretentious. But most answers in this thread about some book that’s always on your shelf are some form of reference book, and very few people read those.
Oh. I'm seeing recommendations for notable works of non-fiction and popular works of fiction.
And I'm still no more enlightened about why @GreasyGoose wants a whole bookshelf of classic books that they may never read.
The reference part is what I should have alluded to more. I remember having a hard bound Encyclopedia Britannica in my middle school to just flip through for hours.
As for the “showing off part”, I’m pretty much a hermit, so that’ll be happening like, never. It was more along the lines of “I would always have X books in my collection because…” line of thought.
Maybe. You did leave it fairly open to all categories: "Reference, fiction/non-fiction, Calvin & Hobbes even!"
And, based on the recommendations you're getting, people have definitely picked up on those other categories.
But now that I know what you want, I'll make some recommendations as a top-level comment.
I can't speak for the OP, but I've got a massive built-in bookshelf with plans to triple that soon. I keep a ton of books out both to read and to lend out to visitors. It's oddly counter-cultural these days to have a dinner party and talk about BOOKS instead of movies or shows, and I love being about to stand in front of a bookshelf and hand people stuff to read.
Powell’s Books in Portland has the Pearl Room of rare and old books which has some amazing works but you have to be supervised due to their nature. That sort of thing comes to mind as well.
CRC handbook of chemistry and physics, Celtic Myths and Legends by Peter Berresford Ellis, and now Tress of the Emerald Sea just because it’s the prettiest book in our Sanderson collection so far.
I concur on the Tress book looking very nice. My second "Secret project" book should be here in a few days. I hope they all look as stunning as the first book did.
I recently fell back in love with reading. I stopped around middle school/early high school. But one author got me hooked on reading right away. The way of kings is the book I fell in love with. The author, Brandon Sanderson makes these hardcover leather bound books along with art pieces. Im slowly building my collection of them. I have warbreaker and way of kings so far. But they have mistborn and a few others I'd love.
I'd have to go with the Jurassic Park and The Lost World novels, I'm a sucker for good dinosaur books.
The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons
My hobby lately has been to go around to used books stores and find old copies of the Star Wars novels. They are still printing them but they all now have "Legends" printed on the front ever since Disney decided they are no longer canon. So I'm attempting to get the whole library of them from "back in the day"
Leftist Theory. All of it.
The Dark Tower by Stephen King. All of it.
Curious George. All of it
I don’t have much to add that hasn’t already been said, but if it were my shelf I’d probably include copies of the main religious holy books.
As you've said elsewhere, you're mainly looking for reference-type books.
The Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary
Despite being "concise", and printed on thin paper, and with paperback (rather than hardcover) binding, this still manages to weigh in at just under 2kg!
It's Australian because... I am. And it's Oxford because... well, there simply are no other dictionaries that good. (Yes, I'm a dictionary snob!)
But I never use it any more, when I've got access to multiple dictionaries online.
The Oxford Library of Words and Phrases
A three-book box set, containing:
Quotations
Proverbs
Word Origins
I haven't opened it in years. These days, it's been replaced by www.quoteinvestigator.com and www.etymonline.com. But it still looks pretty on the shelf.
Then, of course, Select Documents in Australian History (two volumes: 1788-1850 and 1851-1900) by historian Manning Clark are essential references for me to have. They're collections of replicas of key documents from Australia's history, from initial British arrival to Federation.
Beyond those strictly referential books, I also have some non-fiction books that are references for me.
God is Not One by Stephen Prothero is a great primer for the eight great religions of the world (plus atheism). Even though it's ostensibly a book with a point to make (that the various religions are not just different paths up the same mountain), it makes that point by giving an overview of each major religion (plus atheism). It's a great religious reference in that sense.
The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever by Christopher Hitchnes is a collection of atheist writings across the past two millennia.
And any collection of science reference books must include:
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Cosmos by Carl Sagan
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
If I were to have a physical book case, I would definitely have my copy of war and peace on it. I would also have the numerous early internet books I have on it too. (Another shelf of course). Books such as how to do just about anything on a computer, internet for dummies (both editions that I have), and old windows manuals.
American Gods by Neil Gaimon is one of my lifelong favorites, so for now I have one in a series of illustrated books. Shadows ,art by Scott Hampton.
Love history and am living in one of the oldest colonized parts of America, Savannah Ga. So reading a book written by Jacqueline Jones , Saving Savannah.
Learning about the first immigrants, the now famous Jones man who stole a Confederate ship and escaped to the north. It's a wild ride of a book.
Hyperbole and a Half book one and book two by Allie Brosh. This was a very niche internet sensation brought to me by my oldest daughter. I feel the books are incredibly important in ways I don't have the terminology/education to explain. Beyond saying that, these books became like a horcrux for me and my daughter so I must always have them in physical form.
That's the bookshelf of musts.
The rest are reference type books for obscure topics, books I haven't got to yet, and a couple of Garrison Keillors chosen poems from Writers Almanac npr show.
I have a decent sized home library for my family and I, and my personal half is broken down into the following four categories. My first shelf is fantasy fiction (mostly Sanderson, but also some GRRM, Tolkien, and Pratchett), my second shelf is science fiction (lots of Asimov, Herbert, Banks, Simmons, Gibson, and Stephenson), my third shelf is non-fiction and reference (I have some history books here, a good atlas, dictionary, chicago manual of style, a brief history of time, various science, and general tech books), and my fourth is nonfiction professional (general compsci, language specific compsci, security, and computer hardware).
As you can see, I like books, but since my shelf is pretty full, anything new I get has to be good enough to replace something on the shelf and I give that orphaned book away or donate it.
I think your question is too much a matter of personal taste.
Given the fact that a lot of material is available on-line these days, I would probably go with "beautiful" or interesting historical stuff.
Obviously, I can't afford any of this, but I think Bill Gates had enough good ta$te to purchase the Codex Leicester. Throw in an original Gutenberg Bible and some medieval illuminated manuscripts.
Maybe Fermat's book with his margin comment.
I can dream, right?
edit: apologies if I'm deviating too much from the intended question. In a more realistic sense, I would probably try to buy "beautiful" books on typography and/or first edition books that I found interesting (that I could afford).
The permanents on my bookshelf are books I read and loved, and that make me happy to look at. I also consider whether it’s a book I would like my kids to be able to pick up and read one day as this is how I was “introduced” to a lot of adult literature - there were no rules in my house growing up about what I was allowed to pick up from our bookshelves.
I personally wouldn’t invest money in any reference that is likely to be outdated at some point. We have the internet now, there’s just no need for things like dictionaries and encyclopaedias to be taking up valuable space on my bookshelf! If I was into history I might make exceptions for that since it doesn’t change. I do like to look things up in physical books but space is a premium in my house so it just doesn’t make sense for me
I have bookshelves all around but if I had to trim down my collection these are what I would keep:
Core fiction that I need to have a copy of:
Reference:
All hardback, leather bound where available
For the enjoyment of reading:
Hobbit and Lord of the Rings
Annotated Sherlock Holmes
The Complete John Carter of Mars series but Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett
For reference:
The Foxfire books. They cover a little of everything
The Marlinspike Sailor. I love ropework
I have an assortment of blacksmithing and woodworking reference books
If you're looking for nice books to have on display in your library, look on The Folio Society. They offer beautifully designed hardbacks, some of which have wonderful illustrations inside.
One of my favourite series of novels is Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and The Folio Society hardbacks for them are beautiful. I've bought most of them and have them on display in my bookcase.
I'm also a huge TTRPG fan and have all of the D&D 5th editions books which looks great. Mines are the standard books, however some of the collectors editions look beautiful as well so if you're a D&D fan, grabbing a few of the special editions might be nice.