Your bookshelves - a scavenger hunt

[Miss Chicken]

Hope some people here what to do this. Amswer as many, or as few questions as you want to.

By bookshelves I also mean your e-books.

I am asking you to look for books that fit the following descriptions

1) Name a book you own that is written by someone with a Z in their name
2) Name the oldest book in your bookshelf
3) Do you have a book that is a diary (real or fictional)? If so name it.
4) Name the fictional book on your shelf which takes part in the earliest time period
5) The five commonest surnames in the USA are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones. Name a book you own that is written by someone with one of these surnames.
6) Name the book that you own that you have read the most times.
7) Do you own a book that is written by an author you have a love-hate relationship with? If so, name the author/book.
8) Name an author who you own more than 10 books by.
9) Excluding textbooks, what book on your bookshelves did you pay the most for?
10) Name the latest book you purchased.
11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etc
12) If your house was on fire and you could only save one book, which book would it be?

 

[Tora Ziyal]

Fun!

1) In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins, by Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza
2) Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman, 1884
3) Does my own diary/journal count?
5) Cat vs. Cat: Keeping Peace When You Have More Than One Cat, Pam Johnson-Bennett
6) Probably the whole Harry Potter series
8) Margaret Coel
10) Four from the used book store: Uppity Women of Medieval Times, Vicki León; I am Spock, Nimoy; Devil in the Sky, Cox and Betancourt; Star Trek Titan: Taking Wing, Martin and Mangels
11) I'd Know You Anywhere, Laura Lippman
12) Either I'd Know You Anywhere or one of several books on spirituality/religion by old friends -- books are usually replaceable, touching inscriptions are not.

 

[Nerys Myk]

1) Name a book you own that is written by someone with a Z in their name

Heir To Empire by Timothy Zahn

2) Name the oldest book in your bookshelf

Beowulf somewhere between the 8th and 11th Centuries ( if that counts) Other wise Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1860)

3) Do you have a book that is a diary (real or fictional)? If so name it.

None that I can see

4) Name the fictional book on your shelf which takes part in the earliest time period

The Many Colored Land by Julian May (Pliocene Epoch)

5) The five commonest surnames in the USA are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones. Name a book you own that is written by someone with one of these surnames.

A Simple Plan by Scott Smith

6) Name the book that you own that you have read the most times.

Dune by Frank Herbert

7) Do you own a book that is written by an author you have a love-hate relationship with? If so, name the author/book.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

8) Name an author who you own more than 10 books by.

Edgar Rice Burroughs

9) Excluding textbooks, what book on your bookshelves did you pay the most for?

Probably the latest hardback I bought.

10) Name the latest book you purchased.

From A Buick 8 by Stephen King

11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etc

Tales of Placerville: Booksellers to the Savage West by Perry Bradford-Wilson

12) If your house was on fire and you could only save one book, which book would it be?

As many as I can carry.

 

[J.T.B.]

It is quite interesting to see the answers.

1) Name a book you own that is written by someone with a Z in their name

Mountbatten by Philip Ziegler.​

2) Name the oldest book in your bookshelf

US Navy Uniform Regulations, 1869.​

3) Do you have a book that is a diary (real or fictional)? If so name it.

Can't think of one.​

4) Name the fictional book on your shelf which takes part in the earliest time period

I, Claudius by Robert Graves.​

5) The five commonest surnames in the USA are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones. Name a book you own that is written by someone with one of these surnames.

The Science of Hitting by Ted Williams.​

6) Name the book that you own that you have read the most times.

As an adult, Moby Dick. Counting childhood, probably Norse Gods and Giants by Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire.​

7) Do you own a book that is written by an author you have a love-hate relationship with? If so, name the author/book.

Can't think of any.​

8) Name an author who you own more than 10 books by.

None.​

9) Excluding textbooks, what book on your bookshelves did you pay the most for?

See #2.​

10) Name the latest book you purchased.

The Generals by Thomas Ricks.​

11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etc

The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer.​

12) If your house was on fire and you could only save one book, which book would it be?

Tough. Probably The Book of Submarines by Jack McCoy, given to me when I was little by my grandparents.​

 

[mimic]

1) Name a book you own that is written by someone with a Z in their name
Nightwoods by Charles Frazier

2) Name the oldest book in your bookshelf
Going to go with Moby Dick. I tried to read that and got too frustrated with the whales being referred to as fish.

3) Do you have a book that is a diary (real or fictional)? If so name it.
Used to have Diary of Anne Frank, but that must still be at my parents house

4) Name the fictional book on your shelf which takes part in the earliest time period
Julian, Gore Vidal

5) The five commonest surnames in the USA are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones. Name a book you own that is written by someone with one of these surnames.
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn - Betty Smith

6) Name the book that you own that you have read the most times.
Probably Harry Potter? I don't reread a lot anymore.

7) Do you own a book that is written by an author you have a love-hate relationship with? If so, name the author/book.
Maybe Jonathan Franzen fits this. I love his prose how real his characters are, but at the same time they tend to be utterly despicable people. I enjoy reading his books, but I never quite like them, if that makes any sense.

8) Name an author who you own more than 10 books by.
Jim Butcher

9) Excluding textbooks, what book on your bookshelves did you pay the most for?
No idea. But I did accidentally purchase 3 copies of John Green's A Fault In Our Stars instead of just 1, so that ended up being expensive.

10) Name the latest book you purchased.
And the Mountains Echoed, Khaled Hosseini

11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etc
The Silver Star, Jeannette Walls

12) If your house was on fire and you could only save one book, which book would it be?
I would grab my Kindle with its 90 books! But in the spirit of the question, probably Napoleon's Buttons, because it was lent to me by a friend and isn't technically mine and I haven't read it yet.

 

[auntiehill]

1) Name a book you own that is written by someone with a Z in their name
Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming by Roger Zelazny (and Robert Sheckley).

2) Name the oldest book in your bookshelf
Physically the oldest? Wild Life Among the Red Men, first edition, 1902. Earliest written? Probably the play of Aeschylus, written about 500 BC.

3) Do you have a book that is a diary (real or fictional)? If so name it.
The Diary of Anne Frank.

4) Name the fictional book on your shelf which takes part in the earliest time period
The Hobbit, or maybe Letters from the Earth (Twain), where angels discuss the creation of man.

5) The five commonest surnames in the USA are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones. Name a book you own that is written by someone with one of these surnames.
Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown

6) Name the book that you own that you have read the most times.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

7) Do you own a book that is written by an author you have a love-hate relationship with? If so, name the author/book.
War and Peace by Tolstoy. Some of my favorite all-time characters but the most difficult and repetitive book to get through.

8) Name an author who you own more than 10 books by.
More than 10? None.

9) Excluding textbooks, what book on your bookshelves did you pay the most for?
I think I paid full price for Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys--about 26 dollars. I rarely pay full price for books. I get a lot as gifts or I buy them used.

10) Name the latest book you purchased.
Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Got it last week.

11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etc
The Shadow Gate by Margaret Ball.

12) If your house was on fire and you could only save one book, which book would it be?
Very tough. Probably Mostly Harmless, because Douglas Adams autographed it for me.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

1) Name a book you own that is written by someone with a Z in their name
The colours of Space by Marion Zimmer-Bradley

2) Name the oldest book in your bookshelf
The Odyssey, printed in 1806

3) Do you have a book that is a diary (real or fictional)? If so name it.
neither

4) Name the fictional book on your shelf which takes part in the earliest time period
Tochter des Feuers (Daughter of the Fire) by Barbara von Bellingen. A love story between a Neandertal woman and a Chro Magnon man

5) The five commonest surnames in the USA are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones. Name a book you own that is written by someone with one of these surnames.
The Professor Jameson series by Neil R. Jones

6) Name the book that you own that you have read the most times.
That would propably be one of my old childrens books. For example Das Christkind kommt (the christ child comes) by Marga Müller. I still read that one at least once a year.

7) Do you own a book that is written by an author you have a love-hate relationship with? If so, name the author/book.
fortunately I have none

8) Name an author who you own more than 10 books by.
Agatha Christie

9) Excluding textbooks, what book on your bookshelves did you pay the most for?
A facsimile of the Hortulus Eystettensis, a botanical book from the 16th century

10) Name the latest book you purchased.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (discovered the books by Roald Dahl during a rainy vacation in Wales and got addicted )

11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etc
Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley is set partly in my area.

12) If your house was on fire and you could only save one book, which book would it be?
None. I'd have my hands full with my hamster, my guitar and my jewelry (in that order)
If I had an additional arm - Zaphod Beeblebrox style - I'd rescue An Evening at Joe's because Jim Byrnes autographed it for me

 

[Kommander]

1) Name a book you own that is written by someone with a Z in their name: I only have two so I might as well name them both: The Art of War by Sun Tzu, and The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor LaVey

2) Name the oldest book in your bookshelf: Oldest as far as when it was written, probably The Art of War again, or The Odyssey. Oldest when it was printed is my copy of Rocket Ship Galileo by Robert Heinlein which was printed in 1978.

3) Do you have a book that is a diary (real or fictional)? If so name it: The closest thing I have is The Paths We Choose by Sully Erna which is a memoir/autobiography. I probably have some novels that contain journal entires, but no, nothing really.

4) Name the fictional book on your shelf which takes part in the earliest time period: End of an Era by Robert J. Sawyer mostly takes place in dinosaur times.

5) The five commonest surnames in the USA are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones. Name a book you own that is written by someone with one of these surnames: The Book of Mormon, which was written by Joseph Smith until someone proves otherwise.

6) Name the book that you own that you have read the most times: Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin

7) Do you own a book that is written by an author you have a love-hate relationship with? If so, name the author/book: I have several books written by Orson Scott Card

8) Name an author who you own more than 10 books by: Robert J. Sawyer (23), Robert Asprin (24), Orson Scott Card (11),

9) Excluding textbooks, what book on your bookshelves did you pay the most for? Probably The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide by Douglas Adams. It's got one of those ribbons and gold leaf or something on the edges of the pages and everything.

10) Name the latest book you purchased. Skipping Towards Gomorrah by Dan Savage

11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etc I don't have anything actually set in Michigan, but some fictional settings in Robert Asprin's Myth Series are based on Ann Arbor.

12) If your house was on fire and you could only save one book, which book would it be? Probably Skipping Towards Gomorrah because I'm reading it right now. Books can be replaced, but the book I'm currently reading at any given time can't be replaced quickly.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

2) Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman, 1884

2) Name the oldest book in your bookshelf
Physically the oldest? Wild Life Among the Red Men, first edition, 1902. Earliest written? Probably the play of Aeschylus, written about 500 BC.

Oh, I didn't even think of the "earliest written" option! That would be the Bible.

 

[Waylander]

1) Name a book you own that is written by someone with a Z in their name: I have several by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, but I'll go for my favourite The Angel's Game

2) Name the oldest book in your bookshelf: Physically the oldest is probably The Times Atlas from 1910, for the oldest writings The Iliad

3) Do you have a book that is a diary (real or fictional)? If so name it: Lots of memoir type books, but probably the only one that is truly like a diary is The Diary of A Young Girl (or The Diary of Anne Frank)

4) Name the fictional book on your shelf which takes part in the earliest time period: Possibly the Doctor Who novel Only Human where a lot of the book takes part in the cross over between Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens.

5) The five commonest surnames in the USA are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones. Name a book you own that is written by someone with one of these surnames: The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams, but that's listed because it's the first one I came to, if pushed I can probably find one for all 5 surnames

6) Name the book that you own that you have read the most times: It's a toss up between A Good Walk Spoiled by John Feinstein or The Little World of Don Camillo by Giovanni Guareschi

7) Do you own a book that is written by an author you have a love-hate relationship with? Dune by Frank Herbert

8) Name an author who you own more than 10 books by: Terry Pratchett (complete discworld 39 books plus some of his other works), also David Gemmell, David Eddings, Raymond E Feist, Terry Brooks and there may be others, if I like an author I tend to try and read everything they produce

9) Excluding textbooks, what book on your bookshelves did you pay the most for? Not sure if it counts as one, but I paid a lot for a special 3 book set of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, The Lord of The Rings & The Silmarillion

10) Name the latest book you purchased. The Traitor Queen by Trudi Canavan

11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etc: I currently live in the county where Laurie Lee was raised so the book Cider with Rosie

12) If your house was on fire and you could only save one book, which book would it be? I'm with Kommander on this one, it would be the one I'm currently reading as I want to know the end, so The Traitor Queen

 

[Miss Chicken]

To answer my own questions

1) Name a book you own that is written by someone with a Z in their name

I was surprised when looking through my books on LibraryThing how any of my books had an author with a Z in their name. However as my answer I will name the Serbian writer Zoran Zivkovic. I have 4 of his short story collections that are all centred on a theme and I am currently reading Seven Touches of Music.


2) Name the oldest book in your bookshelf (I did mean physically oldest book but I don't mind people answering anyway they see fit)

My oldest book is Across Iceland by W. Bisiker published in 1902

3) Do you have a book that is a diary (real or fictional)? If so name it.

I think I have 4 diaries (all real). Of the four my favourite is The Journal and Letters of Lt. Ralph Clark 1787-1792. Poor old Ralph was the first whinging pom to arrive in Australia. He traveled on the First Fleet and all he did from the very beginning was moan, moan, moan.


4) Name the fictional book on your shelf which takes part in the earliest time period

I think it would be The Golden Ass by Apuleius. Set in about the second century AD (?). I have it on my Kindle. I seem to have lost my paperback edition.


5) The five commonest surnames in the USA are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones. Name a book you own that is written by someone with one of these surnames.

Looking through my books on LibraryThing I have books by authors with 4 of these surnames (no Williams). For this question I will answer The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson


6) Name the book that you own that you have read the most times.

Probably The Wizard of Oz. I also have several different version of it.

7) Do you own a book that is written by an author you have a love-hate relationship with? If so, name the author/book.

The author is Philip Jose Farmer. I absolutely love his ideas but his actual writing often annoys me. My favourite PJF book is Venus on the Half-Shell.

8) Name an author who you own more than 10 books by.

I have 17 books by Philip K Dick. I technically have more books by Agatha Christie and Lilian Jackson Braun but those are books I "inherited" following my mother's death and they don't really feel like my books yet.

9) Excluding textbooks, what book on your bookshelves did you pay the most for?

I paid a whooping $145 for The New Encyclopedia of Mammals edited by David MacDonald.


10) Name the latest book you purchased.

I bought the Annotated Sherlock Holmes Vol 2 from Book Depository a couple of days ago. Of course it hasn't arrived yet so not actually on my bookshelf.

11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etc

Doctor Wooreddy's Prescription for Enduring the Ending of the World by Mudrooroo Nyoongah. A historical novel about Tasmanian Aboriginals.


12) If your house was on fire and you could only save one book, which book would it be?

Probably The Blue Elephant by Peter Thornhill. It is the book I have personally owned the longest. I remember taking it to school in the second grade (48 years ago) and my teacher read it out to the class.

If this thread is a success I will probably have regular bookshelf scavenger hunts (if people want them)

 

[Miss Chicken]

Margaret Coel

I have read The Eagle Catcher (the first book in her Wind River Reservation series). I do have plan to read more in the series but first I will have to read her biography of Chief Left Hand - I own it but it is still on my TBR pile.

 

[sojourner]

1) Name a book you own that is written by someone with a Z in their name
The Amber series Roger Zelasny
2) Name the oldest book in your bookshelf
physically oldest: the Rick Brant books from the 50's.
3) Do you have a book that is a diary (real or fictional)? If so name it.
no.
4) Name the fictional book on your shelf which takes part in the earliest time period
The Pliocene Saga by Julian Mays.
5) The five commonest surnames in the USA are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones. Name a book you own that is written by someone with one of these surnames.
The Lensman series by E.E. Smith
6) Name the book that you own that you have read the most times.
The Cosmic Computer (aka, Junkyard Planet) by H. Beam Piper
7) Do you own a book that is written by an author you have a love-hate relationship with? If so, name the author/book.
Everything I own by Michael Crichton
8) Name an author who you own more than 10 books by.
Stephen King, Piers Anthony
9) Excluding textbooks, what book on your bookshelves did you pay the most for?
The Atlas of Middle Earth
10) Name the latest book you purchased.
Whatever the most recent book in the Lost Fleet series is, can't be bothered to check the title.
11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etc
Alas, Babylon
12) If your house was on fire and you could only save one book, which book would it be?
My oldest copy of The Cosmic Computer. It's a first edition, and while not valuable, I prize it.

 

[Sector 7]

I was excited about this thread until I read it only applies to e-books. Samuel T. Cogley is rolling over in his grave tonight.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I was excited about this thread until I read it only applies to e-books. Samuel T. Cogley is rolling over in his grave tonight.

No, it doesn't only apply to e-books. It includes e-books. Otherwise I couldn't have included 'your odest book' or 'the one book you would save' etc.

 

[Sector 7]

I was excited about this thread until I read it only applies to e-books. Samuel T. Cogley is rolling over in his grave tonight.

No, it doesn't only apply to e-books. It includes e-books. Otherwise I couldn't have included 'your odest book' or 'the one book you would save' etc.

Gadzooks, I wasted a good thread bomb... due to lack of reading comprehension!

I'll have to do my homework and get back to you.

 

[Smellincoffee]

1) Name a book you own that is written by someone with a Z in their name
Howard Zinn's A Power No Government Can Suppress.

2) Name the oldest book in your bookshelf
I have a history of German music that dates to the 1880s, written in German. My German-language professor presented our class with a box of books and said "Pick one!". I chose that one because it was in the old Gothic script.

Oh, and I have several Bibles, including a King James Version translation. That could technically date to the 17th century.

3) Do you have a book that is a diary (real or fictional)? If so name it.
I have Anne Frank's diary, naturally, but have also held on to a favorite series from middle- and high- school, California Diaries, featuring journals from four teenage authors -- Dawn, Sunny, Maggie, Amalia, and Duckly, all of whom had separate issues, ranging from suicidal friends to alcoholic and abusive parents.

4) Name the fictional book on your shelf which takes part in the earliest time period
That would probably be Roma, by Steven Saylor...which follows one patrician family in Rome, from prehistorical days to the rise of the Empire.

5) The five commonest surnames in the USA are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones. Name a book you own that is written by someone with one of these surnames.
Bitterly Divided: the South's Inner Civil War, by David Williams.

6) Name the book that you own that you have read the most times.
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, by Max Shulman.

7) Do you own a book that is written by an author you have a love-hate relationship with? If so, name the author/book.

I own one book by Harry Turtledove, who I can't seem to stop reading despite the fact that I haven't really enjoyed anything I've read by him in recent years. That book is the first I ever read by him, Guns of the South. It has Robert E. Lee on the cover, holding an AK-47.

8) Name an author who you own more than 10 books by.
I have an entire bookcase, five shelves worth, of nothing but Isaac Asimov. That includes the Robots, Empire, and Foundation books, numerous essay and short story collections, science and history texts, and a few odd novels like A Whiff of Death.

9) Excluding textbooks, what book on your bookshelves did you pay the most for?
I don't think any item in my collection was purchased for more than $30, though my Deep Space Nine companion may have been $35 or so.

10) Name the latest book you purchased.
Either The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, or Religion for Atheists, by Alain de Botton.

11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etc
I don't believe I own any southern fiction. Shame, shame...

Wait, I own What Are People For by Wendell Berry. It's not fiction, but it's sort of southern...and Bitterly Divided mentioned Selma a few times.

12) If your house was on fire and you could only save one book, which book would it be?
Glimpses of World History, Jawaharlal Nehru. I checked ebay and amazon on a regular basis for three years to find a copy of that book that wasn't selling for $80 or more. I might mention The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, but I keep it in my automobile, so it doesn't exactly apply.

 

[Duncan MacLeod]

1) No
2) if you mean physically oldest Ian Fleming's Casino Royale my copy is about 50 years old. If you mean written longest ago The Three Musketeers.
3) Uncommon Valour was mostly written in the form of diary and log extracts, does that count?
4) The Argonaut Affair by Simon Hawke, much of the story takes place in 219 BC.
5) No
6) When you add up all the proofreading, editing, re-writing, and more proofreading I had to do, Uncommon Valour hands down. If you mean that I read for pleasure: Swiss Family Robinson, even now I re-read it every few years.
7) No
8) David Weber, Robert B. Parker, Earl Stanley Gardiner, Ian Fleming, Alexander Kent, CS Forester, Don Pendleton, shall I go on?
9) The hardcover 6th edition of Champions at $45.00 Steven S. Long and Aaron Allston
10) Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia
11) Most of Parker's are set here. The Godwulf Manuscript if I had to pick one.
12) I grab my Nook, it has most of them saved to it.

 

[thestrangequark]

1) Name a book you own that is written by someone with a Z in their name Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
2) Name the oldest book in your bookshelf Probably one of the pulp sci-fi collection my dad gave me from when he was a kid, they range from the late 40s through the mid 70s.
3) Do you have a book that is a diary (real or fictional)? If so name it. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexi, fiction.
4) Name the fictional book on your shelf which takes part in the earliest time period Probably The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, set in the mid twelfth century. Scratch that, The Illiad.
5) The five commonest surnames in the USA are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones. Name a book you own that is written by someone with one of these surnames. Not one, my mind is blown. What's the fourth most common name?
6) Name the book that you own that you have read the most times. Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman.
7) Do you own a book that is written by an author you have a love-hate relationship with? If so, name the author/book.The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov.
8) Name an author who you own more than 10 books by. PG Wodehouse, Agatha Christie, Carl Sagan, Neil Gaiman.
9) Excluding textbooks, what book on your bookshelves did you pay the most for? Not sure.
10) Name the latest book you purchased.Quirkology by Richard Wiseman.
11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etcThe Good Fairies of New York by Martin Miller.
12) If your house was on fire and you could only save one book, which book would it be?
The Fledgeling, it was a gift from a teacher when I was 12, who saw something in me that I could not.

 

[Miss Chicken]

5) The five commonest surnames in the USA are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones. Name a book you own that is written by someone with one of these surnames.

Not one, my mind is blown. What's the fourth most common name?

I think you mean the 6th most commonest as I gave you the first five. The next 5 most common names are

Miller
Davis
Garcia
Rodriguez
Wilson