Only a third of the books I own can be found in my Brooklyn
apartment. Which is sad, really, since this is the first apartment I’ve ever had
that actually has room to house all of them.
Six years ago, I made a sudden (and disastrous) decision to
move to France. So I crammed all of my books into a storage facility in Queens.
When I returned to New York nine months later, I rented an apartment on the
third floor of an old brownstone. The stairs were so steep that I pitied the
moving men I’d hired to transfer my belongings from storage. I left most of my
heavy book boxes in Queens. That was three apartments ago.
The books you see in the photos are either books I needed to
write my own novels—or books I purchased for pleasure in the last six years.
(Fortunately for me, there’s a fair amount of overlap between those two
groups.)
There’s very little organization involved. (I keep expecting
to move my other books out of storage, which would screw up any system I might
develop.) My dining room bookcase (the one with the plague doctor mask on top)
holds my favorite books. You’ll find everything from Poisons and
Antidotes to Rats to The Dictionary of Imaginary Places. (And
yes, my last hardcover copies of Kiki Strike and The Empress’s
Tomb.)
The shelves in my living room house a truly random assortment
of books. (And believe me, things get really random at my house.) I’ve
filled a little alcove between my dining room and living room with my heaviest
tomes. (Most are devoted to art, weird places, or the history of New York
City.)
The books I’ve read most recently can be found beneath my
bedside table. (Or on my Ipad, which is always on top of the table.) I’m working
on a haunted house/horror novel at the moment, so many of the books are ghost
story anthologies. (I highly recommend the ghost stories of Edith Wharton. Who
knew, right?) Also, if you look closely, you’ll see the first two Nancy Drew
books.
And last but not least, just yesterday I received a package
of galleys. The books stacked on the radiator next to my desk are copies of my
latest novel, How to Lead a Life of Crime. Unfortunately, they won’t be
staying here for long!
