r/bookporn

Here’s the next installment. See anything appealing to the eye? Some fairly popular recent titles here, and some older wondrous titles as well.

Faust, perfume, Monster, and a tiny Batman figure. Somehow this shelf explains my taste better than words do

A couple of my favorite authors represented pretty well here. Any guesses who? Comments and questions always welcome!

My all time fav is The Sittaford Mystery... what's yours?? In my college days I was a huge fan of Agatha and collected a few books of her. However time has changed and we want more thriller stories.

This book had me smiling, raising an eyebrow (in fun way), and doing both at the same time. It’s a cat lover’s delight, though not in the traditional sense of a novel. Instead, it’s a series of musings on cats that are not literally true, but poetically true. Does it make sense!

If you are a cat parent, or someone who has ever had the pleasure of interacting with a cat, or simply someone who appreciates the unique charm and companionship that these feline friends bring into our lives then you are in for a delightful experience. This book is specifically crafted for you, offering insights, stories, and tips that will deepen your understanding and enjoyment of the wonderful world of cats. Whether you are a seasoned cat owner or just beginning your journey with these captivating creatures, this book promises to be an engaging and enriching read.

I love tales about the enchanting impact cats can have on our lives, but most of the stories I encounter are from Japanese authors and folklore, so I was fascinated to read one initially penned in Chinese - and it was executed with superb translation.
What a great find, sorry, i shouldn’t be bragging but it’s delightful.

My favorite book of all time!

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Protagonist Ivan spends his entire life doing what society told him was "proper": Get a good career, model wife, follow aristocratic social practices. To an outsider, he looks successful, but a closer look reveals that Ivan's soul is rotting from the inside out. He grows ill, and on his deathbed, becomes haunted by a horrifying realization: "What if my entire life was a lie?"

Ivan's life of vanity and decadence led to emptiness and loneliness. Even his friends and family don't care for the dying man. Tolstoy's insight is that the greatest human tragedy is not death itself, but reaching death only to discover that you never truly lived at all.

Modern people tend to think of death as a distant abstraction that applies to humanity in general, but somehow not to themselves personally. Tolstoy shatters this illusion. He shows that most know intellectually they will die, yet they live as though they are immortal. They distract themselves with status, entertainment, careerism, and social approval, such that they never have to confront what mortality actually means. But the terrifying power of death is that it destroys one's illusions. And in that moment, all the things society told you mattered suddenly reveal themselves to be hollow.

However, Tolstoy does not present this realization as nihilistic, in fact, quite the opposite. He suggests that only by fully confronting death can man begin to live authentically. Only when you realize your time is finite do cowardice and conformity lose their grip over you. The fear of death, then, is not something to suppress, but something capable of awakening the soul. A man who learns how to die is finally capable of learning how to live.

A nice potpourri of older, newer, lettered, and somewhat obscure books today. Heavy on the Lucious Shephard; someone else wanted to see what all I had from Shephard, so these are together. Of course, there a few that are elsewhere. We’ll run in to those as we go along.

Today’s photo is for the Centipede Press lovers out there; you know who you are. Enjoy seeing all of your favorite MoWT titles in one place. A little overflow in to the next shelf, but we’ll get to that. Comments and questions welcome.

Haven't read this since the 90s. Got the good cover to