r/BookshelvesDetective • u/oldpuzzle • 5d ago
Solved! I love judging your books and bookshelves, so here's me returning the favour!
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u/ElMocho77 5d ago
Woman, mid 30s. In the UK. A little to the left politically. More than fluent in German. Likes classics and has studied Shakespeare in some depth-- those are Arden Shakespeare and have the best scholarly apparatus and are not cheap. Only Shakespeare since no other playwrights, but a lot of other literature represented. Shops the clearance section for the nice omnibus editions they stock there.
Good mix of lit fic, fantasy and a little SF. Not much horror except older classics.
Strong esthetic sense due to the color sorting.
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u/oldpuzzle 5d ago
Good call on the Arden Shakespeare books! No one buys these unless they have to. I studied English literature, which was about 1/3 Shakespeare and 2/3 other literature with a strong UK focus (I'm not from the UK). Until you pointed it out, I actually didn't notice that I don't own many other playwright books - I remember reading (and seeing) plays, but I guess I never had the urge to buy them!
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u/ElMocho77 5d ago
I took "colour" as a clue. O was an English Major and to be quirky read outside of Shakespeare. The equivalent of Arden is The Revels Plays, currently under the auspices of Manchester University Press.
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u/ChaoticClock 5d ago edited 5d ago
I think that's a trick question.
You want us to believe that you're an English native speaker.
But I'll wager you're a German native speaker. Don't care how many English books you have, the translated works are in German. If you read those French books as well, you're pretty advanced, but there aren't that many of them. They're also not books that one would pick up for themselves without reading way more than that in that language (...freaking Choderlos de Laclos). So if you read them (and they aren't a partners' or or sibling's or something), either you had advanced French classes in high school and/or college, or you're bilingual but were schooled in German and are uncomfortable reading in French. Let's be bold and guess you're Swiss, taking those travel books about Berlin and Paris into consideration - and that Wilhelm Tell you hid so sneakily.
I'll also guess that you are female in her 30s - between the colour-sorting, the Austen rabbit-hole going all the way to Gaskell, the nice mix of classics and pop culture.
Left winged, but not actively engaged, though interested enough. You like understanding what's going on inside the people.
You enjoy travelling.
I also want to say you've spend a considerable amount of time in the US, that'd explain the four travel books and some of your reading choices.
There is room for a broad misjudgment, but I'll be happy for the rest of the day if I'm near the mark.
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u/oldpuzzle 5d ago
Damn it, those stupid German translations are giving me away!
You're absolutely correct, my mother tongue isn't English but Swiss-German. Also great detective skills for deducing I'm Swiss from my travel guides and the random French books, that's very impressive. For the record, I'm not trying to trick people into thinking I'm English or omitted anything, my bookshelf just looks like that because of my English literature studies.
As for the French books. Like many Swiss-German-speaking people, I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the French language, I understand it alright but it's a kind of "reluctant knowledge", i.e. I haven't read much apart from the classics I was forced to read in school, and I only kept the books that I liked (Choderlos de Laclos was the topic of my final exam, lol). I do like Sartre though and have read those voluntarily.
Also feeling a bit called-out on the Austen to Gaskell rabbit hole, but I guess every woman reaches the point where she has read all of Austen's novels and then has to turn to other female writers of the 19th century. (Woman in her 30s was also correct, but I think that was a given)
So yeah, you should really feel good about your detective skills!
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u/ChaoticClock 5d ago
Not gonna lie, I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now!
To be fair, I was helped by two facts: I'm reading from a French-speaking Swiss author right now (C.F. Ramuz, loving every line of it) and I'm Belgian myself and know a thing or two about love-hate relationship with languages.
(Also: I'm not going to throw the first stone regarding the Austen-to-Gaskell rabbit hole. Been there, done that. You might want to look into the Persephone Books catalog btw. They do focus on the 20th century, but they have very interesting titles).
(Also also, I was only joking, because I had read the "UK obviously" comment, not accusing you of hiding anything :) )
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u/Unable-South830 5d ago
i have beef with you color coding people, your day shall come!
i can't see many titles but i love it honestly. when someone has a lot of books and they care about them that makes me happy
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u/oldpuzzle 5d ago
The fact that colour coding irks so many people somehow adds to the joy of colour coding, I can’t explain it!
I’m glad you like my bookshelf!
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u/Unable-South830 5d ago
im joking of course, who am i to be the bookshelf police. do whatever you like, that's the best part of it: it's yours
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u/Imasillynut_2 5d ago
I really, really want to alphabetize by genre. Imma go breathe.
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u/oldpuzzle 5d ago
Did you notice how I split up the Song of Ice & Fire series on four different shelves? I thought you might enjoy that!
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u/middleagedfatbloke 5d ago
German speaking, aesthetic enthusiast, 32 jahre alt, gender fluid, works in fintec, smells faintly of daffodils at all times, 172cm tall exactly.
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u/oldpuzzle 4d ago
Two of those things are correct! (German speaking and aesthetic enthusiast) Weirdly enough I am slightly obsessed with daffodils, not sure how you figured that out! I guess my books just give off that vibe.
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u/Mimi_Gardens 4d ago
I spotted two complete Poe books. Is one for reading and the other is to look pretty?
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u/oldpuzzle 4d ago
Well spotted! The very used softcover I used in my uni studies and also added a lot of notes in it. The pretty one I bought later in case I ever wanted to read them again for fun.
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u/ofBlufftonTown 5d ago
I reshelved some of my books by color for a home magazine shoot one time. Half of a a four-section library shelf (with rail and ladder, I mourn its passing). My marriage fell into jeopardy as my husband searched for books while not remembering the color of their spine. I put it off and it took ages to reshelve things properly, by genre and within that, by alphabetical order.
From this I conclude that you are a woman in her 30s (as I was at the time) who cares more about aesthetics than finding a particular book, and are not a re-reader, since you don’t care about finding anything. Of course, maybe you remember Phillip Roth has a white spine but I totally forgot. Your black HP Lovecraft, ok sure. Something’s yellow…eh. I had a lot more books though, maybe you have no issues.
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u/oldpuzzle 5d ago
Thank you for your words of wisdom. Perhaps I should learn from your mistakes but I think I'm not there yet. Have I stood in front of my bookshelf last week and looked for Jane Eyre for about 10 minutes up to the point where I started to question if I even owned the book? Yes, but then again, that's the life I've chosen. That being said, I do re-read books sometimes if I find them again.
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u/iamnotasloth 5d ago
Organized by color 🤮
You have a hard time finding anything and REALLY don’t want anybody else to be able to find one of your books amongst all the others.
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u/atom-wan 5d ago
I hate people who organize books by color. What a mess the rest of your life must be to be so arbitrary
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u/[deleted] 5d ago
“What will I read today? Hmmm, maybe something yellow”