As a result of a) the continuing discussion on documenting one’s life, b) a mind-crushing case of boredom and c) an utter lack of topics to write about, I’ve completed cataloging my entire literary library into spreadsheet form. The results are staggering. Here they are, in more detail than anyone would ever want to imagine.
Total number of books: 446
Total number of books if I don’t consider Cliff Notes to be a book: 443
Total number of books in which I am a co-author: 1
(Comment: I would never in a million years have bet that I had that many and I spend every day looking at them. I’m just astounded by that figure. Admittedly, we are talking about a good half a lifetime of purchases and my inability to throw anything away but still, that’s huge. Add the CDs and that breaks a thousand. Insane)
Breakdown by Type:
· Paperback: 269
· Hardcover: 142
· Textbook: 31
· Coffee Table: 4
(Comment: Yes, I have 31 textbooks scattered around my apartment. Half of those are sitting in crates in a closet and are at least ten years old and deal with subjects that I can’t even understand anymore. I mean, it’s not like I’m going to be studying up on Solid State Electronic Devices any time soon but there you are.)
Breakdown by Genre (Partial List):
· General Fiction: 90
· Fantasy: 50
· Humor: 34
· Business: 24
· Graphic Novel: 21
· Science Fiction: 20
· Sports: 20
· History: 18
· Memoir: 18
· Reference: 13
· Travel: 12
· Electrical Engineering: 11
· Self-Improvement: 11
· Writing: 11
· Music: 8
(Comment: I’m still surprised by the General Fiction number but the fantasy number blows me away. For the record, I’ve never read the Lord of the Rings and I stopped playing Dungeons and Dragons when I entered high school. I just want to make that clear. I thought there would be a bigger showing by science fiction but the graphic novels took up a bigger chunk than I imagined. And I find it quite telling that I have the same number of books on electrical engineering as I do on writing. One was my career for six years, the other is what I’ve always wanted to do for a living).
Top Ten Authors (with notes on best known works)
#10 (tie): Cecil Adams (Straight Dope trivia books) and Matt Groening (The Simpsons). 5 books
#8 (tie): Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter). 6 books
#6 (tie): David Foster Wallace (Insanely difficult fiction topped by Infinite Jest) and Julian Barnes (somewhat pretentious British fiction highlighted by Talking it Over). 7 books
#5: Douglas Coupland (Generation X). 10 books. (Comment: I had to recount that Douglas had actually written that many. Despite his unevenness, he’ll still go down as one of the voices of his generation)
#4: Jonathan Carroll (Bones of the Moon. Creator of the best first two-thirds of a novel that you could ever read). 12 books
#3: Scott Adams (Dilbert) 14 books
#2: Neil Gaiman (The Sandman). 25 books (about half are graphic novels. He’s still my favorite writer)
#1: Terry Pratchett (The Discworld Series). 31 books.
Yes, I have 31 books by the same author. About a quarter of those were purchased on trips through the UK because at the time I couldn’t buy them in the states. I wonder how many people actually own 31 books in total. I have a feeling that I’m off the edge of the bell curve with this one.
I’ll close up with some lessons learned. A) moving companies are going to hate me for all of this, B) I probably should have sold those textbooks back when I had the chance, C) I’m not proud of the fact that one of the books that I own was written by Barry Keating, D) or that I have more books on professional wrestling than on poetry, E) I might not be well read but I’ve certainly read a lot.
1 comment:
This comment stems back to a prior posting. NOFX has a song on a video game!? I can't say I disbelieve it, but for a band that has fought (successfully) for twenty years to keep their music off: commercial radio, MTV, movie soundtracks, and just about any other commercial outlets you can think of, I find it surprising/disappointing that they would show up in a video game. Admittedly, their music has shown up in/on: MTV Brazil & a Swedish porno film but both these cases were unauthorized by the band. So now for my question, what song was it? I can't think of a single NOFX tune that has anything to do with football, college, tailgating, or healthy competition...though they do have several about getting really drunk..maybe that's the connection. Most of their songs are about husky lesbians, drugs, homeless people, the government and more songs about lesbians.
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