Librarians like to curate lists for sure, so I look forward to the monthly post on a listserv of what the upcoming month’s celebrations are both as a full month, weekly, and also daily celebrations. For instance, today is Husband Appreciation Day. So I started to think about his books but then other people’s books: their bookshelves, their reading habits, their likes and dislikes, and thought I’d share a few observations about other people’s books.

My husband

… is a logical guy. Computer science major with a math minor. Army veteran. Thinker. Health nut. A grill-obsessed cook that approaches it like a grand science and taste experiment. His reading materials include magazines like Ask This Old House and Prevention. He’s currently bouncing around in his personal copy of Howard Stern’s new Howard Stern Comes Again featuring his biography alongside his best interviews.

My boys

… are 5th graders who love humor and adventure. One wants more silly so he’s a Dog Man and Stuart Gibbs’ FunJungle series, serially listening to them while doing origami. One likes adventure and history who has read the Harry Potter series twice and pays attention to any new books in the I Survived series.

My mom

… has collected bodice-rippers at garage sales forever and she regularly trades them with one sister-in-law too. Occasionally she’ll read a book if I’m obsessively talking about it or I have an author coming in that I’m particularly excited about. And she dived in headfirst to books about “life after retirement” before hers almost two years ago.

A work colleague

… who has taught English for about twenty years who has a voracious appetite for fantasy and science fiction which has led to a house ripping at the seams with books. Now, I confess to having never actually been in her house but her constant descriptions of dusting, cleaning, moving, and reorganizing her books leads me to believe that if I walked in to any room in the house, there would be at least one book in it.

One technology guy in our district

… who I often trade emails and social media tags about books and reading with. And one he had shared probably sums up his books at home (I’m only speculating). It’s the Japanese word tsonduko which is the art of collecting books at home that you aren’t reading and likely won’t ever get to but must have anyway.

Everyone has their own taste and book collecting style. What’s yours? What are your favorite series? Do you buy or borrow or mix it up? Is there someone’s bookshelves or reading nook that you covet?