Books on shelves memage

[camwyn]

Choose three books from your personal library that as a set of three would allow most of your friends to guess with reasonable certainty that they came from your house, and explain why if necessary. The aim is to pick books if possible such that any two of the three don't necessarily uniquely define you.

The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, by Barry Hughart, autographed by Kaja Foglio (the illustrator)
On Cooking: A Textbook of Culinary Fundamentals, second edition, Sarah Labensky
Night Watch, by Terry Pratchett

Then choose three more that people would be surprised to find on your shelves (Terminal damage to your street cred is optional).

The Violence of Love: The Pastoral Wisdom of Archbishop Romero, a collection of sermons and speeches by the martyred Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador; James Brockman, trans.
The Manual of Heraldry: A Concise Description of the Several Terms Used, and Containing a Dictionary of Every Designation in the Science, by Francis J. Grant, W.S., Rothesay Herald
AIDS and Accusation: Haiti and the Geography of Blame, by Paul Farmer

I had a few other books that would have been surprising, but they don't really count as they were gifts that I've never actually read. And I haven't included my cartoon collections because I'm not really sure they count - although if they did, replace AIDS and Accusation with either of the two books of Baldo comic strips.

Comments

[erisiansaint]

Oh my goodness. Someone else who's read the Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox! I've re-read those so many times I nearly have them memorized, I adore those books!

Oh, heck yes.

[camwyn]

They're a good part of what got me sucked into Things Chinese back in high school. Hence the 'Barry Hughart' under interests on my userinfo page.

[goweli.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the bottom three on your shelves. I think you're going to have to try harder on that one.

Re:

[camwyn]

Well, I was at work at the time. Let's see...

Crap. I'm not sure ANYTHING on my bookshelf is surprising. Here are the best candidates.

If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor, Bruce Campbell. Autographed, mind you.
The Perl CD Bookshelf from O'Reilly Press.
Tuva Or Bust, by Ralph Leighton.
How To Draw A Radish (and other fun things to do at work), by Joy Sikorski.
The Complete Book of Tanning Skins and Furs, James E. Churchill
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work, multiple authors - this one was a gift, although it's one I read
Stronger Abs and Back, Brittenham and Brittenham
Mankind, Nation and Individual From A Linguistic Point of View, Otto Jespersen
The Hand of God: Thoughts and Images Reflecting the Spirit of the Universe, edited by Michael Reagan
Buoy: Home at Sea, Bruce Balan and Raul Colon - another gift, but a very very good one
The Power of Positive Thinking, Rev. Norman Vincent Peale

Any of those even remotely surprising?

[goweli.livejournal.com]

I'll give you one on The Power of Positive Thinking.

And a half point for the Stronger Abs and Back.

:)

[camwyn]

Okay... I went downstairs and looked over the shelves of books I moved out of my room in one of my usual futile cleanups.

The Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom, Caitlin and John Matthews
The New Book of Magical Names, Phoenix McFarland. (It was less embarrassing as a source of character names than buying a baby name book.)
Some book on deer hunting and management by one of the major outdoor magazines - I forgot to write down the exact title and author's name. Bought it as reference material for my fictional civilization, the Aftherai, whose primary riding animal is Megaloceros giganteus and whose major meat animal is Dama dama, the fallow deer.
A hardcover book that's mostly excerpts from the Kama Sutra in front and from a similar work called the Ananda-Ranga (I think) in the back

The problem is that I really don't think any of my books are all that surprising. I don't buy uncharacteristic books. If I want to read something ridiculous or unusual or not in my usual line of interest, I borrow it from the library, I don't spend money on it. Well, beyond overdue fines, anyway.