My Library -- My Old Paperback SF Books

 

Before going on to talk about the books I was reading besides SF in the 1960's, I thought that I might as well post my complete collection of mass market SF books from not only that era, but from the 70's to 90's as well. I had to reduce two walls of bookshelves into one, and I'm afraid these books were not a priority. As a result, they ended up on the bottom shelves, piled up between the wall and the bookshelf, and then along the top of the bookshelf, where it was just an inch or so too low to stand them up -- a situation far from idea, but necessity must be served. 

Above, my very modest fantasy shelf, and above it, but not shown, is my Garret PI collection and a handful of other Glen Cook books take up a shelf. Books are in no particular order, though I have tried to keep the books of an author together.

Notable on the shelves above is my collection of A Bertram Chandler's  John Grimes series of books. That is one of the few series of stories that I read and enjoyed once again as an adult. The fact is that I missed many of them when they were published, which meant that I had to go back and collect them later. Above this shelf, but not shown, is a whole shelf of Edgar Rice Burroughs books which I featured previous post.

Some books by authors at the end of the alphabet -- Vance and Zelazny each with a series that I do remember something about -- Vance's "Planet of Adventure" series, and Zelazny's first Amber series.

Above, classic SF books here -- my collection of  E E Smith, Arthur C Clarke, and Heinlein books

Now we're going up the side of the bookshelf between the wall and shelving. Odds and ends at the bottom.

James Blish Cities in Flight series stands out here along with a sample of the old stories reprinted in books from Ray Cummings and John W Campbell that were common in this period. Plus the book, The Blind Spot, which I remember as being very unusual, though the story largely escapes my memory

Fletcher Pratt, De Camp, and Paul Anderson books are featured in this photo.

Jack Williamson, Van Gogt, and Jules Verne are the standout authors in this photo, along with two of Charles Fort's books. We've now reached the top of the bookshelves and will slide back along the top.

We also get a glimpse of my collection of The Man From Uncle books, half hidden behind the SF books along the top of the bookshelf.

Most of my Andre Norton Collection. I am amazed at how many books she wrote and I never read -- even during the time I was reading so much SF. I think that after Witch World I fell out of love with Andre Norton, probably because they were less boy's own adventure stories -- the type of stories that appealed to me.

Here we begin to see some of the SF books I picked up likely in the 1990's. I have 8 Honor Harrington books. I stopped reading those after I found myself rooting for the "socialist" Peeps and realized that they would never win.

More Honorvers books, and two Redwall books.

My modest StarWars collection, and the Mageworlds Series from my brief flare of interest in paperback SF books in the mid-1990's.

And finally, the last of my 90's books, what books I have of the Exordium series, and two books of the Deathstalker series. I was finding SF books in general to dark and grim for my taste in this period, so that my interest in SF waned and I stopped dropping by the local bookstore. I also realized that I had way too many books, and that one day I, or my heirs, would have to either move or dispose of, so that I only have acquired a couple dozen books in the last 20 years, and instead relied on the library for my reading pleasure. And I did have to move them, and it was heavy work, indeed.

And with that, we've completed my collection of mass market SF paperbacks. Next post I will talk about the other books I was reading in my teen years and the effects they had on my reading going forward in my life.