I didn't see this topic yet, please forgive me if it's already been done. What are your bookshelves like? It occurred to me recently that my bookshelf is like a crude road map to my life -- in my 29 years different authors, genres and fields of study have etched upon this map from whence I came.

Here's a glimpse at my path as accurately as I recall it, tracing through from my current stock:

Age 5: begin collecting books
notable mentions:
Norby the Mixed up Robot series by Asimov
The Great Brain series by Fitzgerald
Horror classics like Frankenstein and Dracula

Age 10: the inquisitive years, lots of books about snakes and dinosaurs, got the 15th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica

Age 13: The scifi/fantasy years
notable mentions:
The Wheel of Time by Jordan
Middle Earth books by tolkien
The Foundation Series by Asimov

Age 15: The history years
began collecting history books: 40+ on the American Civil War as a primary focus, many various others in other periods of history.

Age 18: College
began collecting books on Psychology and military science.

Age 22: Career
Int'l affairs, geopolitics, expanded military science, int'l development, technology, intelligence.

Age 25: Darker fiction & Classical Lit
notable mentions:
World War Z by Brooks
House of Leaves by Danielewski
Sprawl and Bridge series by Gibson
War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, lots of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky

Age 29, today:
History: 82 books
Science Fiction: 31 books
Psychology: 30 books
Fantasy: 28 books
Military Science: 19 books
Science: 16 books
Literature: 11 books
Religious: 11 books
Global Issues: 9 books
Nonfiction misc: 5 books
Philosophy: 4 books
Space science: 4 books

Overflowing and damn near about to collapse. We have boxes and boxes of books that we have to keep stored because they won't all fit in our apartment haha.

When I moved out of home, it was comprised of the first four milkcrates I managed to "find", now it's 17 of them; plus a couple more to hold my record player, computer, etc.

My bookshelves just have the stuff I like to reference frequently, and some antiques I like to display. They're crammed full, then the rest of my books I have in boxes in the garage. We had a garage sale over the summer and had tons of books out, but very few sold. I might take some to Half-Price Books.

Is anyone here a member of paperbackswap.com or bookmooch.com? They're a great way to get rid of excess books as well as get some new ones. Free.

As for my bookshelves...I have WAY too many books. In my old apartment, I had three bookshelves, full, and those were all unread (I think I have a problem...). Recently I've decided to invest in a Kindle (Ebook reader), that will 1. significantly reduce space needed to store books (all my books will be digital), and 2. save me lots of money (the books I can't get free will cost me less, since they don't have to be printed.) It just seems to make sense. I have a feeling it'll pay for itself in under a year.

We're in the process of building a book shelf along the wall of our den. When it's completed and I'm not feeling too lazy, I'll post pics.

As for the collection, mix of mostly everything.

I'm in grammar school, I have mostly 19th century fiction on my bookshelves(Tolstoy, Dostoevsky). And some manuals, and some other stuff. Like weird little ornaments. One of an owl with all these mirrors. And it's made of wood, and came from Portugal. I'm sure if I looked in enough places, I'd find a book about it, or maybe I could write one. I'd have to look in a lot of places in order to write a coherent book. I tend to get sidetracked.

I'm in grammar(what I've heard an American might call a prep school) school, I have mostly 19th century fiction on my bookshelves(Tolstoy, Dostoevsky). And some manuals, and some other stuff. Like weird little ornaments. One of an owl with all these mirrors. And it's made of wood, and came from Portugal. I'm sure if I looked in enough places, I'd find a book about it, or maybe I could write one. I'd have to look in a lot of places in order to write a coherent book. I tend to get sidetracked.

edit: American translation