Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Tuesday Thingers: Legacy Libraries

Today's question, from The Boston Bibliophile: This week's question: Legacy libraries. With which legacy libraries do you share books? Tell us a little about a couple of them and what you share.

What an interesting question! I'm not sure this is a complete answer, since there doesn't seem to be a quick and easy way to compare my library to the Legacy Libraries. But from my quick glances through the profile pages, I share a lot of books with interesting dead people!

I share books with , in no particular order: e.e. cummings (2), John F. Kennedy (1- Lolita, of all things), Sylvia Plath (2), Marilyn Monroe (1), F. Scott Fitzgerald (3), Samuel Roth (2) and Walker Percy (3). It's very interesting that I share 4 books with Ernest Hemmingway, an author I don't particularly care for. We share The Gentleman's Companion (my favorite of my antique books), The Great Gatsby, Lolita, and The Three Musketeers.

The biggest surprise - I share 7 books with Carl Sandberg, who was apparently a Nero Wolfe fan! We have 5 Rex Stout titles in common (The Case of the Black Orchids, Champagne for One, The Golden Spiders, In the Best Families and Prisoner's Base), as well as Lolita and Orlando by Virginia Woolf.

Also interesting is that I share the same books/authors with several people - various titles by Virginia Woolf, obviously Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. A great question and a great way to learn more about my own library!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

You obviously have more classics than I do. I have 1 book in common with 2 libraries. I know, I'm pitiful.

Shana said...

Kathy, don't feel bad, I'm the same way. The Scarlet Letter, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, that was about it.

Katherine by Anya Seton was one I shared with someone. Maybe Hemingway.

Lisa, you do have an impressive number of classics in your library.

Shana
Literarily

Lisa said...

Thanks, Shana! Part of it is that I listen to a lot of audiobooks and the new releases are really expensive! I've found it's a great way to catch up on the classics that I always think I should have read.

Wendi said...

I've never considered the classics on audio book - what a great idea! After all, they are classics for a reason. :)

Wow - I've just started entering my books as I just learned about this part of the site this morning! I've got 2 with Marilyn Monroe and 6 with Ernest Hemingway!

This was fun - to see the rest of my list: http://wendisbookcorner.blogspot.com/2008/10/tuesday-thingers_28.html

:) Wendi

Cathy said...

I had tons of "hits" with Legacy Libraries--probably because I have a degree in English Lit and have a lot of classics in my library. What tickled me was when I found rather obscure books in common with some of these famous folk.

Anonymous said...

My most interesting overlap with a legacy library is Sylvia Plath's.

Hopefully, the only common ground is our library and our state of birth (not state of mind!)

Anonymous said...

I noticed the same thing. I share Don Quixote with most of the libraries and it's my only one in common with several libraries. Candide and the Decameron seem popular also.

Sandra said...

This was my first Tuesday Thingers post. A fun question to discover the answers to. Some surprises for everyone I expect.

Lisa said...

Wendi, audio is a great way to catch up on classics. meghan mentioned The Decameron and that was a terrific audio book - so many of those stories are written to be told rather than read, so they are a great experience. I listened to things like Gulliver's Travels, Journey to the Center of the Earth and Dracula on audio and really enjoyed them.