Phantoms on the Bookshelves

By Jacques Bonnet

The enthralling memoir on the art of living with books Phantoms on the Bookshelves considers how our personal libraries reveal our true natures: far more than merely crowded shelves, they are living labyrinths of our innermost feelings. The author, a lifelong accumulator of books ancient and modern, lives in a house large enough to accommodate his many thousands of volumes, as well as overspill from the libraries of his friends. While his musings on the habits of collectors from the earliest known libraries are learned, amusing, and instructive, his advice on cataloguing may even save lives. Phantoms on the Bookshelves ranges from classical Greece to contemporary Iceland, from Balzac to Moby-Dick and Google. Rich in wit and wisdom, it will be a lasting delight for all who treasure books.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Jul 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781468301854

Reviews for Phantoms on the Bookshelves

[thomaspluck · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mr Gorey never published a novel but this comes close. And hits all the right notes about what it's like writing one.

[livingtech_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Compelling. But I don’t know if it was poignant or pointless. Possibly (probably) both!

3.5 stars.

[ladycato · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This simple, short book written and illustrated by Edward Gorey is probably the most accurate depiction of the novel-writing process that I have come across. It's funny how technology has changed but the process, the agony of it, has not. Gorey's artwork features author Mr. Earbrass with constant wide, fearful eyes, which makes it even more perfect. Really, this book is a charmer, and one I think most writers could well appreciate.

[thothj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Decidedly very odd....just as Gorey intended.

[jphamilton-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gorey is back. This time he's looking at the literary life. Edward's art and humor are always dark, but how can anyone resist taking a look at his book? (6/99)

[riverwillow · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I understand that this was Gorey's first book and, like his heroine Agatha Christie's creation of Ariadine Oliver seems slightly autobiographical as well as universal. There's a great deal more prose than I would usually expect from the master, but it doesn't matter, the illustrations are superb and Gorey's dark humour is evident.

[esta1923 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My first Gorey. It seemed a true true when I got it, and is still endearing.

[dr_zirk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Unstrung Harp is classic Edward Gorey, full of Victorian Gothic trappings, a vaguely sinister plot, and (in this case) "the unspeakable horror of the literary life". As always, Gorey's protagonist is nervous, isolated, and endlessly full of doubt - few authors capture the notion of lives lived in "quiet desperation" as well as Edward Gorey does. But there's enough humor and absurdity in these pages to keep it all from being too melodramatic. In the end, this is classic Edward Gorey, and every bit as rewarding as the very best of his work.

[sthitha_pragjna · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Gorey at his most verbose. He never did any other long work. We can be grateful for the one long form he did. The subject is a writer with writer's block of the eponymous book (TUH). At one point, after a lot of moping, he takes a tram into town and absently rummages through some used books hoping to run into one of his own books discarded, perhaps by someone to whom he inscribed it. I wonder if Mr.Earbuss would have the wit of George Bernard Shaw who, when he found a book of his signed to someone, "With compliments, GBS", bought it and sent it back to the guy, writing "With renewed compliments, GBS" below the original dedication..In the art you encounter strange figbash looking things in glass belljars which he buys for no good reason.Mr.earbuss is certainly Gorey's alter ego.

[crowyhead · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very, very funny, and a bit meta.