As a person who’s got books coming out of her ears, the idea of shelfies, or pics of your books – a phenomena I observed on social media long before I heard the term – is appealing if also strange.
A couple summers ago when I did a piece for Huffpo, inviting a number of writers I liked/knew – Rick Moody, Lynne Tillman, Greg Tate, Eileen Myles, Edmund White, among them – to share what was on their night stand, I never thought to just ask for a photo! And frankly, I’m glad I didn’t. Like all book nerds, I am wary of those who use books to impress or worse, as decor ala this Guardian article commemorating the so-called shelfie moment of 2013 with reader-solicited examples that focus on how the books/shelves look or are arranged. Of course there’s still voyeuristic fun to be had peeping inside a stranger’s apartment (who doesn’t like to check out other people’s bookshelves) so consider these shelfies, snapped haphazardly around my messy apartment tonite, your chance to peep mine. They may the first and last you’ll see from me!
