The F Word, by Jesse Sheidlower
The Joys of Yiddish/Rosten
5 volumes of The Straight Dope Books/Adams
Panati’s Parade of Fads, Follies, and Manias
Going Nucular,/Nunberg
Walter Johnson, Baseball’s Big Train/Thomas
The Teammates/Halberstam
Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary
No Uncertain Terms/Safire
Tropic of Cancer/Capricorn/Miller
The Professor and the Madman/Winchester
…and too many slang dictionaries/quotation dictionaries/etc. to count.
Let’s see…out of the 18 individual shelves of books in my bedroom, the one next to my bed has…
Treasure Island
Flight of the Phoenix
First Landing by Robert Zubrin (I’ve read fanfic better than this one. Furry fanfic. With romantic subtexts and far more compelling techno-thriller plotlines.)
The Difference Engine
The Ra Expeditions
A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
How to Seduce, Pleasure, and Titilate in Classical Latin
Ring of Fire and The Grantville Gazette
Coriolanus
Field Guide to the Apocalypse
His Share of Glory—Cyril Kornbluth omnibus
The Manga of Escaflowne, Vol. 1
The Fall of Colossus
The Holy Terror—H.G. Wells
Paradise Lost
and My Tank is Fight!
The mess on the shelf that’s sort of eye level-
Lots of old text books I should get rid of but I keep thinking someone might want them.
Molecular Biology of the Cell
Culture of Animal Cells
The Chemistry of Living Systems
Color Atlas of Histology
Ann Tyler - Digging to America
When the Women Come out to Dance- Elmore Leonard
The Traveler - John Twelve Hawks
Mosby’s Medical,Nursing & Allied Health Dictionary
Notebook
Dog brush
box of crayons
1/2 pack computer paper
deformed coffee mug that I made
A rock? No idea where it came from
I have scads of bookshelves, but the closest one is to my right, here:
13 three-ring binders packed with research materials for my current book: photocopied scrapbooks and newspaper articles; e-mails; photos; notes; drafts; book excerpts; web printouts.
Also a few research books I have to grab most frequently: encyclopedias on American Theater, Musical Theater, World History Chronology; The Canadian Air Force in WWI; Variety Obituaries.
Atop the shelf is my working 1920s French phone.
Directly over at eye level to my left, I see:
Steven Brust’s Viscount of Adrilankha trilogy
Dune, Frank Herbert
Wolves of the Calla, Stephen King
Watership Down, Richard Adams
The Autobiography of Michel de Montaigne, Martin Lowenthal, ed.
The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare
Politics, Aristotle
The Satanic Bible, Anton La Vey
There are also some DVDs:
Carnivale, Seas. 1
Count Duckula, Season 1
Futurama, Season 1
Monty Python’s Flying Circus, collection no. 3
Mr. Bean: The Whole Bean
…and some others.
I’m between houses, so all my books are in boxes and my bookshelf has only the few books I’ve either just read, or will read in the next few months:
A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin
Refiner’s Fire by Mark Helprin
Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin
Memoirs from Antproof Case by Mark Helprin
The Anubis Gate by Tim Powers
Quincunx by Charles Palliser
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley
Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko
Nero Wolfe Season 2 DVDs
On top of the shelf is a rusty horseshoe, a glass egg with weird bubbles and filaments inside and an antelope skull.
No bookshelves in the basement, but there’s a stack on the desk that’s the start of a round-robin, as soon as I get off my lazy butt and get them sent.
The Keepers of Truth - Michael Collins
All Over but the Shoutin’ - Rick Bragg
The Truest Pleasure - Robert Morgan
Replay – Ken Grimwood
The Robber Bride & Alias Grace – Margaret Atwood
White Crosses – Larry Watson
In the Lake of the Woods – Tim O’Brien
Mrs. Bridge – Evan Connell
The End of the Affair – Graham Greene
City of Truth – James Morrow
In the Fall – Jeffrey Lent
Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
On the small bookshelf next to my computer there is, from left to right, top to bottom:
A basket of dead cd covers and odd cds, approximately 30. In basket there is also an asthma inhaler, a gold gift-bow, a bauble from last-years Xmas tree, a black texta and some White-out, and the plastic top from a can of fly-spray.
Next to that there is a bottle of cheap perfume, a tray of moulding clay (Plasticine) a biro, a box that some nice-smelly-bath salts came in, and another rotunda of dead cds. (only 20 this time).
Next to THEM, is a CD wallet, a DVD cover, miscellaneous letters for my kids from the various creditors who are after them, a baseball cap, 2 X A3 sketch books, a pair of sunglasses sans the glass, some small change, another pair of glasses (my reading ones), a diary and an old plastic cover from somebody’s mobile phone.
Underneath, on the next shelf down, we actually have some BOOKS!!
There’s a stack of Geos (Australian National Geographic), a Melway’s Street Directory, Margaret Fulton Cookery Book, Wonders of the Animal World, Chucklebud and Wunkydoo, Alternative Australia, A Season to be Born, The Dumb House,* Bushdwellers of Australia*,* Birth Without Violence*, The Damage Done, The Dark Tower, The Inflatable Volunteer, Melbourne’s Great Outdoors, a World Atlas, more bills for the kids, an old biscuit tin containing my sewing kit, a backgammon set and some paint brushes.
Shall I go on?? 
There’s another shelf that is equally messy and eclectic.
OK: a dead computer keyboard, three vinyl LPs, 8 photograph albums, more Geos, books of poetry (x2), herbalism (x2), cook books (x4), another crappy atlas, an Oxford dictionary, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, old books of notes from university (x11), MORE tram-fine bills for the offspring, a Terry Pratchett novel (Pyramids), an Australian Encyclopaedia (one volume), two ‘Murder in Mind’ periodical mags, a photo frame, a newspaper from 4 months ago, and lots and lots of dust.
Note to self: clean out yer’ bloody bookshelf, NOW!!
PS…there is another twelve-shelf unit AND a three shelver in the loungeroom that are home to only books. However, I’m sure they could do with some serious culling too!!
Excellent book to share – I think that everyone should read that book at least once. 
I’m a sci-fi/fantasy nut, apparently:
- Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time series
- David (& Leigh) Eddings - The Belgariad, The Mallorean, The Elenium and The Tamuli series, plus Belgarath the Sorcerer, Polgara the Sorceress and The Rivan Codex.
- Douglas Adams - The More Than Complete Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul and The Meaning of Liff
- Robert Asprin - Phule’s Company and Phule’s Paradise
- L.E. Modesitt Jr. - The Recluse series (up to book 5 only)
- Terry Goodkind - The Sword of Truth series
- Piers Anthony - The Xanth series (up to book 12 – stopped reading them after that), the Battle Circle series, the Adept series, the Mode series (up to book 3), But What of Earth? (re-release with editor’s notes)
- Bob Grant & Doug Naylor - All Red Dwarf novels (including solo efforts)
I’m in my office:
So 42 computer books.
The Essential Calvin & Hobbes, Far Side Gallery, Calvin & Hobbes: It’s a Magical World, Pre-History of the Far Side, Doonesbury Chronicles, One Krazy Kat, Bloom County Classics, Fox Trot, 20 Doonesbury books from the 70s and 80s. several Dilberts, four Dave Barry books, More Bloom County books, more C&H, Goomba’s guide to life.
The Atlas of Middle Earth, The Gold Binding copy of the Hobbit, The Red Leather edition of the Lord of the Rings, The Monsters and the Critics by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished tales, Letters of Father Christmas and books 1-7 & 10-12 of the History of Middle Earth.
Jim
The outer layer of the top shelf next to my PC:
Toby Cecchini - Cosmopolitan. Kind of like Kitchen Confidential, only bar-oriented. The author is the guy who developed the Cosmopolitan.
Elaine Pagels - The Gnostic Gospels
Arthur Machen - The Terror and Other Stories. An anthology put out by Chaosium.
Laura Penny - Your Call is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit.
Ty Wenzel - Behind Bars. Kind of like Kitchen Confidential, only bar-oriented.
Malcolm Gladwell - Blink
Stuart Walton - Out of It: A Cultural History of Intoxication.
Thomas P. Hughes - Human-Built World. Musings on the sociology of technology.
L. Ron Hubbard - Typewriter in the Sky. Schlocky but entertaining.
Peter Collett - The Book of Tells. A pop-oriented book about body language.
Lord Dunsany - The Collected Jorkens, vol. 2. Club stories from the best fantasy writer ever.
Michael Reaves and John Pelan, eds. - Shadows Over Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu.
John Jacob Astor (yes, the guy who died on the Titanic)- A Journey in Other Worlds. A spiritual science fiction novel.
Arthur Machen - The White People and Other Stories. An anthology put out by Chaosium.
Algernon Blackwood - The Complete John Silence Stories. “Weird detective” fiction from one of the best horror authors ever.
Chad Oliver - Far From This Earth. Anthropologists in spaaaaaace!
B. J. Fogg - Persuasive Technology. Changing workflow via friendly UI design.
Elaine Pagels - The Origin of Satan
Edward Tenner - Our Own Devices: How Technology Remakes Humanity. Musings on the sociology of technology.
Elaine Pagels - Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas. (Yeah, I have a lot of Pagels books. I went to a talk she gave and decided to just grab a bunch of autographed copies.)
Algernon Blackwood - The Lost Valley.
S.T. Joshi - Lovecraft’s Library: A Catalogue. Exactly what it sounds like.
Jeff VanderMeer and Mark Roberts, eds. - The Thackeray T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases
James P. Blaylock & Tim Powers - The Devils in the Details. An anthology of short fiction.
Alain de Botton - Status Anxiety. Wankery that thinks it’s popular philosophy.
Lord Dunsany - In the Land of Time and Other Fantasy Tales
Philip Wylie - Gladiator. The book that inspired Superman.
Elaine Pagels - Adam, Eve, and the Serpent
Clark Ashton Smith - The Sword of Zagan. I think CAS was still a teen when he wrote this one, and it shows.
Galen Cranz - The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design.
Ian Cameron Esslemont - Night of Knives. This is the other guy who developed the back-story about the Malazan empire.
Francis Stevens - The Nightmare and Other Tales of Dark Fantasy. More pre-Lovecraft fantasy/horror.
A couple of issues of The Magic Whistle comic.
Phyllis Siefker - Santa Claus: Last of the Wild Men. Cross-cultural information about Santa Claus and Halloween customs. Puts forth the suggestion that they’re the last remnants of fifty-thousand-year-old Neanderthal bear worship customs.
Donald Norman - The Design of Everyday Things. The classic book on human factors.
Clark Ashton Smith - The Double Shadow.
Alfred Bester - The Deceivers. Don’t bother reading this one.
Tim Powers - Powers of Two. A reprinting of his first two novels. For completists only; he’s asked people not to read his first book.
Jonathan Cagan & Craig Vogel - Creating Breakthrough Products.
Steven Vogel - Prime Mover: A Natural History of Muscle. A pop book on how muscles work.
Richard Paul Russo - Carlucci. A single-volume edition of the Carlucci novels.
Edward T Hall - The Silent Language. Classic book on proxemics.
Dell McCormick - Tall Timber Tales. Paul Bunyan stories.
James P. Blaylock - The Man in the Moon. The original version of his first novel.
Far too many books on The Great War.
A Lot of Dostoyevsky.
Travel books for Scotland.
And a paper back copy of The History of Farting.
It’s probably worth getting the hardback.
Lets see, the middle shelf of the bookcase closest to my desk:
A five volume set of the works of Goethe
- Faust
- Wilhelm Meister
- Poems, Dramatic
- Sorrows, Affinities, Letters
- Autobiography
Collected Stories - Franz Kafka
The Trial - Franz Kafka
The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkein
Moby-Dick - Herman Melville
Bartleby the Scrivener - Herman Melville
Shorter Novels of Herman Melville - Herman Melville
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass - Lewis Carroll
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexander Dumas
The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri
Tellers of Tales: A Definitive Anthology of the Short Story - Assorted
The Stories of Ray Bradbury - Ray Bradbury
The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie
I’m in the office, which I share with the Hubby.
On the shelf to my left rear are all my writing books plus a shelf and a half of binders with notes for projects in progress.
The books:
Donald Maas, Writing the Breakout Novel and the Workbook thereto, and The Career Novelist
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, Walking in this World, The Sound of Paper, etc.
Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit
Writing books by various novelists, including Terry Brooks, Lawrence Block, David Gerrold and others
The Timetables of History, The Timetables of Science
The Writer’s Digest Character Naming Sourcebook
A half dozen “What Life Was Like” books ranging over various time periods.
George and Martha: The complete stories of two best friends, James Marshall
Blood Memory, Martha Graham
Atonement, Ian McEwan
The English Patient (signed copy), Michael Ondaatje
The Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Williams
Eva Peron, Alicia Dujovne Ortiz
Madonna, Andrew Morton
Madonna: an intimate biography, Randy Tarraborelli
Goddess: Inside Madonna, Barbara Victor
The Diary of Frida Kahlo
The Power of Kabbalah, Yehuda Berg
Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, Lynne Truss
Dance, Keith Haring
Good Omens, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Pure Drivel, Steve Martin
Tales of the Slayer, Vol. 1, 2 & 3, various authors
Fighting The Forces: What’s At Stake on BtVS, various authors
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran
The Elements Of Style, Strunk & White
Soranus’ Gynecology
The Trouble With Islam, Irshad Manji
Complete Works of Children’s Literature, Madonna
The Penelopeiad, Margaret Atwood
Judaism for Dummies, Rabbi Ted Falcon & David Blattmer
I’m on the laptop in the family room, which is by the kitchen/dining room.
Foods of Vietnam
True Thai
The Book of Thai Cooking
Thai Cookbook
The Book of Chinese Cooking
The Joy of Chinese Cooking
Flavors of the Phillipines
Pan-Asian Express
Stir Fry Szechuan
Sunset Chinese Cook Book
Sunset Oriental Cook Book
Middle Eastern Cook Book
Sunset Italian Cook Book
Frida’s Fiestas
Joyce Chen Cook Book
Sunset Mexican Cook Book
Healthy 1-2-3
30 Minutes or Less Cookbook
The Book of Hors d’Oeuvres and Canapes
1-… 20… 30 Minute Cookbook
Keep It Simple
Fields of Greens
Sunset Crockery Cook Book
The Complete Microwave Companion
The Gourmet Jewish Cook
The Africa Cookbook
Israeli Cookery
I’m sitting on the sofa so I’m not next to a bookshelf. But piled on the back of the sofa in arm’s reach are:
Ze 4 - Shimuzu Yuki
Kizuna 6 (English version) - Kazuma Kodaka
Jeraado to Jakku 1 - Yoshinaga Fumi
Gerard and Jaques 1 (English translation of above)
Austin Mapsco
A Dictionary of Japanese Grammar - Makino/Tsutsui
Saigo no Doa wo Shimero! - Yamada Yugi
Close the Last Door (English translation of above)
Amayaka na Toge - Miyamoto Kano
Reading Japanese - Elenor Harz Jorden
Koi wo Shimashou - Nishida Higashi
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter 1-6
The Complete William Shakespeare
Mac OSX the Missing Maunal
The New Oxford Annotated Bible
Strong’s Concordance
The KIng James Bible
Variable Star (Heinlein and Robinson)
Three technical manuals for various fire alarm systems
(Cheetah xi, Irc-3 and EST-3)