Shelf Share Thursday

Welcome to Shelf Share Thursday! This is the place to give a little love to the books that have been lingering on your shelf for a little while. Every week I will post a letter and 3 books that start with that letter. Maybe I'll find that book I've been hanging onto is a drop everything and read it right now or maybe I'll find its suited to better purposes-like spider squashing. Feel free to share your shelf too and leave a link using Mr. Linky at the bottom of the post. This weeks letter is G.

is for..........

A Game of Throne by George R. R. Martin

From Amazon:

"Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens."

I have heard great things about this series. I looked at the reviews on Amazon and it looks like you either love this guy's work or you absolutely hate it (and hopefully I'll love it since I'm investing the money to buy the series...). I really like epic fantasy and I really don't read a lot of it. Maybe it's because I get super annoyed when I go to the fantasy section of Barnes & Noble and find it clogged with paranormal. Nothing wrong with that, I just think it belongs in a section by itself and not in with the regular fantasy stuff. I'm looking forward to giving this series a try if I ever get time.

G is also for....

Great Cases of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

From Amazon:

"A collection of Sherlock Holmes adventures in a special limited release by The Franklin Library. The book has a raised spine, acid-free paper, gold end pages, and unigue inlaid gold design on the outer binding. Titles included in this book are "The Musgrave Ritual", "The Red-Headed League", "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" plus sixteen more Sherlock Holmes episodes. Although it is a hardbound binding, it has the feel and look of leather. A true collectors book for lovers of Sherlock Holmes."

That, sadly was the only description I could find of that particular volume. This book has the distinction of being tied with a hardbound volume of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (also from the Franklin Library Collection) as being the book I have own the longest without reading. This book has been on my shelf for 18 years! Normally that would be an indication that if I haven't read it at this point I'm probably not going to but I saw the AWESOME Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law when it came out and loved it so now I have a renewed interest in reading this one :)

and finally G is for....

Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland

From Amazon:

"This luminous story begins in the present day, when a professor invites a colleague to his home to see a painting that he has kept secret for decades. The professor swears it is a Vermeer--but why has he hidden this important work for so long? The reasons unfold in a series of events that trace the ownership of the painting back to World War II and Amsterdam, and still further back to the moment of the work's inspiration. As the painting moves through each owner's hands, what was long hidden quietly surfaces, illuminating poignant moments in multiple lives. Vreeland's characters remind us, through their love of this mysterious painting, how beauty transforms and why we reach for it, what lasts and what in our lives is singular and unforgettable."

Confession-until recently I wasn't really an art person. The extent of my art appreciation was oohing and aahing at ones with pretty colors without giving much thought to the age of the painting, the artist, technique, etc. Its kind of like when I go yarn shopping with my friend Krista when she's in town. Since I'm not a knitter I evaluate yarn based on its softness and squishiness and not by quality or what its made of or what you actually make with it. Then I read Girl with a Pearl Earring and discovered Vermeer. I transported myself back to high school french class and found a new appreciation for Monet and I stumbled upon a couple of paintings by John William Waterhouse that completely blew me away. I became a fan of art and subsequently a fan of historical fiction about art and artists. I picked this one up at Goodwill for 5o cents. Obviously Vermeer was a popular guy since Chevalier also wrote about him. I'm hoping I'll like this one as much as Pearl Earring.

And that is all for me this week. Now it's your turn

What's on your Shelf?