New Blog Design & The Bookshelf Tag

Happy first day of spring everyone! As a very spring-ish activity, I've redone my blog design! :) I'm still settling into it, but overall I'm feeling pretty happy. What do you all think of it (type, visibility, background, etc)?

Also, Natalie (from Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens) has just started this delightful tag and when I saw it I couldn't wait to get started! Thank you, Natalie! (Note: Unless specified, all of the following books/pictures are my personal copies or exact matches.)

~ The Bookshelf Tag ~

Describe your bookshelf (or wherever it is you keep your books-it doesn't actually have to be a shelf!) and where you got it from: Let’s see… Some of my books are on their own shelves in the library of our (new) house, some are on other shelves mixed in with the family’s historical fiction, and some are in a corner of the attic bookshelves (in our ‘old’ dwelling ;)). My current reading is stacked on my lovely big cedar hope chest in my bedroom (along with my fiddle case), and I have a few more piled in my closet for good measure.

Do you have any special or different way of organizing your books? ~ All my standby’s/classics have their own, very specific niches. I like organizing a lot of our historical fiction (including mine) by date and a lot of my other books are grouped by collection or by what looks well together (size, color, etc). I’m actually quite particular.

What's the thickest (most amount of pages) book on your shelf? ~ It would be a toss-up between Les Mis or Count of Monte Cristo. (I just checked—Les Mis wins by one page: 1463 over 1462! :))

(Yes, Natalie--we're twinsies! ;))

What's the thinnest (least amount of pages) book on your shelf? ~ Manalive by G.K. Chesterton.

Is there a book you received as a birthday gift? ~ A favorite: Downright Dencey by Caroline Dale Snedeker.

What's the smallest (height and width wise) book on your shelf? ~ My (illustrated by Tasha Tudor) copy of Psalm 23.

What's the biggest (height and width wise) book on your shelf? ~ Either my coffee table-type anthologies of Norman Rockwell and N.C. Wyeth (they’re the same size). Or…no, I think my favorite southwest cookbook is actually a little bigger (along with the matching Italian and Tuscany books).

Is there a book from a friend on your shelf? ~ Several! To select: The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden and The World of Mr. Mulliner by P.G. Wodehouse. (Hmmm, that was two...)

Most expensive book? ~ My parents have given me several special ones, but the most expensive I’ve purchased myself was Rider on a White Horse by Rosemary Sutcliff ($30).

The last book you read on your shelf? ~ Persuasion by Jane Austen.

Of all the books on your shelf, which was the first you read? ~ According to my reading log (and after picture books): An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott in March(!) of ‘96. (Wow, was it actually that long ago?!?)

Do you have more than one copy of a book? ~ Yes! Oh, dear me, yes! We actually have quite a few doubles floating about (between mine and/or a siblings’ copy of something or a ‘family’/loaning copy). Personally, I have double copies of several of Augusta Jane Evans’ books: A Speckled Bird, St. Elmo, etc. 

Do you have the complete series of any book series? ~ Not counting ‘collections’ (matching books by the same author), I have the entire Borrowers series by Mary Norton.

What's the newest addition to your shelf? ~ Wordsmithy by Doug Wilson.

What book has been on your shelf FOREVER? ~ For a picture book: Once Inside the Library by Barbara A. Huff.

What's the most recently published book on your shelf? ~ The Princess and the Prince by Victoria Stringer.

The oldest book on your shelf (as in, the actual copy is old)? ~ I have quite a few old bindings, but some are tricky as the copyright is mid-1800’s, but I think they might be 1875-1902-ish reprints. To be quite positive: my copy of To Have and To Hold by Mary Johnston was definitely published in 1900.

(My copy has the etched figures,
but it's blue with less type)

A book you won? ~ Shane by Jack Schaefer.

Thank you, Hamlette!!

A book you'd hate to let out of your sight (aka a book you never let someone borrow)? ~ Journey for a Princess by Margaret Leighton. To paraphrase the Queen of Hearts (with a British accent), “NEVER!”

Most beat up book? ~ The Missourian by Eugene P. Lyle. Published in 1905 it was pretty worn before I got it and I’ve (carefully) tried to avoid adding too much with all my page turning. Montgomery’s Blue Castle and Wodehouse’s Code of the Woosters are two paperbacks I’m in the process of reading to pieces.

Most pristine book? ~ As in read yet still crisply paged? Maybe Dante’s Divine Comedy.

A book from your childhood? ~ Elin’s Amerika by Marguerite de Angeli.

(I first read it with this gorgeous cover; however, my copy
sadly lost it's jacket somewhere before it found its new home... :P)

A book that's not actually your book? ~ Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves: Book 1 of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene edited by Roy Maynard. (It’s a family book—and I don’t have a double. ;))

A slightly newer edition

A book with a special/different cover (e.g. leather bound, soft fuzzy cover etc.)? ~ No, I don’t think I have any (except for my Bible, of course).

A book that is your favorite color? ~ Pink and blue are my favorite colors, but with book bindings I like green a lot as well (possibly due to reading A Speckled Bird so many times)! Sticking with blue, though, I LOVE my Dover edition of The Flying Inn by G.K. Chesterton.

Isn't it beautiful?

And…because we're talking about blue and this has some (and is also one of the most amazing covers ever):

And since that picture really doesn't do it justice:

Book that's been on your shelf the longest that you STILL haven't read? ~ The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Any signed books? ~ Yes, when I was about fifteen one of my closest friends published a book and I still have my authentic signed copy!

Thanks again, Natalie! This was such fun!

And everyone else, remember the tag is open! I'm pasting the questions down here again so you can easily copy them if you like.

The Bookshelf Tag~
Describe your bookshelf (or wherever it is you keep your books-it doesn't actually have to be a shelf!) and where you got it from:
Do you have any special or different way of organizing your books?
What's the thickest (most amount of pages) book on your shelf?
What's the thinnest (least amount of pages) book on your shelf?
Is there a book you received as a birthday gift?
What's the smallest (height and width wise) book on your shelf?
What's the biggest (height and width wise) book on your shelf?
Is there a book from a friend on your shelf?
Most expensive book?
The last book you read on your shelf?
Of all the books on your shelf, which was the first you read?
Do you have more than one copy of a book?
Do you have the complete series of any book series?
What's the newest addition to your shelf?
What book has been on your shelf FOREVER?
What's the most recently published book on your shelf?
The oldest book on your shelf (as in, the actual copy is old)?
A book you won?
A book you'd hate to let out of your sight (aka a book you never let someone borrow)?
Most beat up book?
Most pristine book?
A book from your childhood?
A book that's not actually your book?
A book with a special/different cover (e.g. leather bound, soft fuzzy cover etc.)?
A book that is your favorite color?
Book that's been on your shelf the longest that you STILL haven't read?
Any signed books?