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Every book on my bookshelf.

#shelfie

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I got rid of a lot of things before I left to travel. It was a nice feeling to purge everything unnecessary, everything unneeded, from my life. In the end I sold, threw out, or donated over two-thirds of my belongings. Still, I kept many things, a couple of boxes of books included. (Plus a few more boxes dedicated entirely to The Baby-Sitters Club…)

I cut down my book collection to one slightly-overflowing bookshelf worth. I did keep most of my travel books, all the ones I read and perused and lusted over as I planned for my trip. (And I also amassed more guidebooks over the past few years, mailing them home When I left countries or regions, unable to bring myself to throw them out.) I kept the dance books I loved as a child. I kept a collection of young adult favorites. I kept anything I had by Palahniuk and Sylvia Plath among other favorites like The Catcher in the Rye and Perks of Being a Wallflower. I kept a handful of writing manuals from grad school.

Admittedly, I also have a couple of stacks stashed away in my dining room console. Those are mostly computer manuals — HTML, CSS, etc. etc. — that are probably too outdated to be useful but were too expensive to begin with to want to get rid of.

I still, sometimes, buy books. It’s hard not to when Amazon is so convenient and when you live down the block from a book store that also serves wine. But I just got a library card, my first since college, so I’m hoping to start borrowing more than purchasing. And no, no I have no desire to get an e-reader. I like having the physical pages in my hand.

It was interesting to take stock in the books I have. There are a handful I forgot I had, a handful I’ve completely forgotten the plot of, and a handful that I’ve never even read in the first place. So I guess I should read or re-read some of those in the near future.

Or just buy a bunch of new ones and a new bookcase?

One of those.

Here are all the books on my bookshelf…

Every book on my bookshelf. - SHELF 1

Shelf One

Sylvia Plath: Drawings

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
From which I took the name, Choosing Figs.

The Journals of Sylvia Plath

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Three copies…the paperback I’ve had since college, an edition from England, and a sign hardcover.

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

The Beach by Alex Garland

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
You’re going to notice a lot of Palahniuk…

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk
A guy once read a passage from this to me and I fainted. I can’t read this without putting it down and walking away several times.

Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk

Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk

Beautiful You by Chuck Palahniuk

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Autographed.

Naked by David Sedaris
Autographed.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud

Every book on my bookshelf. - SHELF 2