Your bookshelves and you, one and the same
Emily, Princeton, New Jersey, who writes, “I would like it noted in the record that I am a college student with a hundred and twenty square feet in which to live, and so my selection at present is somewhat limited.”
Emily, what can I say. I find this shelf inspiring, all the more so because this collection represents those precious few books you wouldn’t live without for even a semester (granted some are probably coursebooks, but I’m guessing that most—even if they began that way—now hold personal value). I see many essential reads—Sedgwick’s “Epistemology of the Closet,” Butler’s “Gender Trouble,” Frank’s “What’s the Matter with Kansas?,” Whitman, Wilde, Waugh, Freud, Nietzsche, James (William), Ed White. There’s also Peter Manso’s “PTown” and “The Group Singing Songbook.” To state the obvious, this is a gay bookshelf, which isn’t, in itself, anything to get excited about. What I like about it is its range: if you are concerned with a particular topic, it’s smart to read widely and with purpose. I’d wager that you’re interested in activism (or are already active), and have educated yourself appropriately. It’s inspiring because it is all too easy to be both very concerned with something and too lazy to do the work of becoming truly informed. Your books suggest to me that you are serious, smart, and un-lazy. But on to your second shelf:
Now, normally I would only tackle one shelf, but two things in this photo caught my eye: there’s a lot of fun (Harry Potter, “The Phantom Tollbooth,” “Wolf Hall”) and a lot of McPhee. McPhee, as you are no doubt aware, teaches at your school. He is also one of my favorite New Yorker writers. So, analysis: you have good taste.
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