My New Reference Shelf

Who knew I could get so excited about a forty dollar book shelf? I now have so many reference books on writing, editing, and publishing that the trip across the room to my big bookshelf was really intrusive. This week I spent the big bucks to get a small convenient shelf that fits quite cleverly between my chair and the lamp table.

Now my Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus is at my fingertips. My copy of Diana Hacker's A Writer's Reference, with its big tabs and concise tips and explanations is always within reach. No more teetering piles will spill from the lamp table when I have my notebook computer on my lap.

What else do I have on my shelf? Noah Lukeman's wonderful volume, The First Five Pages is there, along with two by Karen Elizabeth Gordon, The Well-Tempered Sentence and The Disheveled Dictionary. (Transitive Vampire, also by Gordon, is in the car right now, to read on the road.) One of my favorites is Orson Scott Card's Characters and Viewpoint. I bought it because I love his novels. After reading it, I understand better why I love them.

Oh, look... There's Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss. Maybe I'll reread a few pages before bed. This may be the best forty dollars I've spent in a long time.