What do you think?
Rate this book
The Groaning Shelf, and other instances of book love
Notes from a bibliophile on the romance of book collecting, the beauty of dust jackets, the lure of rare and first editions, the art of browsing in second-hand bookshops, the bibliomania of book thieves, movies about books, the inner life of a reader, the pleasures of bibliophily and of course, favourites.
The delightful genre of books about books which looks at the book as physical object, as a crafted work of art where its bibliographical aspects binding, typography, edition, condition, rarity matter as much as the literary content inside, has seldom been explored in Indian writing with the cultic devotion displayed over these little essays that capture the drama of bookish obsession, the joys and snares of the bookish life and the gentle madness that is book love.
I have spent the last hour getting the books down and now they are everywhere in the apartment: on the floor, in boxes, even on the bed. What I am looking forward to is the putting back you remove them in haste but you labour over the rearrangement. That familiar moment Walter Benjamin speaks of in Unpacking my Library when the books are not yet on the shelves, not yet touched by the mild boredom of order.
The delightful genre of books about books which looks at the book as physical object, as a crafted work of art where its bibliographical aspects binding, typography, edition, condition, rarity matter as much as the literary content inside, has seldom been explored in Indian writing with the cultic devotion displayed over these little essays that capture the drama of bookish obsession, the joys and snares of the bookish life and the gentle madness that is book love.
I have spent the last hour getting the books down and now they are everywhere in the apartment: on the floor, in boxes, even on the bed. What I am looking forward to is the putting back you remove them in haste but you labour over the rearrangement. That familiar moment Walter Benjamin speaks of in Unpacking my Library when the books are not yet on the shelves, not yet touched by the mild boredom of order.
296 pages, Hardcover
First published March 12, 2012
6 people are currently reading
183 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 1, 2015
Loved this book. And it has absolutely nothing to do with Pradeep's skills as a writer (he has a pleasant, conversational style though). I love reading about reading and the many interesting chapters on varied aspects of reading and bibliophile made this a very rewarding experience. Covering everything from books on book collecting,rare books to book covers, illustrations, one-book geniuses etc, I enjoyed this as much for the actual content as to the number of updates I made to my list of must-read books. This is a must read for book lovers and lovers of those who like reading about reading.
April 16, 2011
This site has been a gradual evolution in my reading graph. I found this as one of the most influential web sites the TIME magazine rated. The first thought was that of a regular social network with books added to it, the review-reading came next and then the online friendship with some well read people. I now have a significant portion of my bookshelf crammed with books that were recommended in one way or another through this site. This book, while not a recommendation was something I found from a friend's list. Even though I started off with Alberto Manguel, this is the first book on Bibliophily that I have completed.
The definitions in this book rate me as a lover of the Carnal kind when it comes to books. More than the feel and the texture of the book, I love the words, the passages, the characters, the locales and the plot. My reviews stand testimony to this, there is no foreplay & I cut straight to the plot. There is a glee when I discover that such people do exist in the world of book love. Pradeep Sebastian is more of a collector than a compulsive reader as he confesses in the book. The author being a journalist collects between the covers some of his writings that have appeared in national dailies.
What stands out here is a love affair with books that is a gentle madness that embraces many others in the world. The author talks of varied topics on book love : antique & rare books, bibliomania, the kleptomaniacs of the book world, books about books, famed book stores, sherlockian pastiches and many others. My evaluation is that it is a mixed bag in here, like any other anthology of writings.Some of the writings are outright enjoyable while some do not spark the interest in account of them being extremely personal for the author & the enthusiasm does not spill over to the reader. One instance that keeps repeating over the pages is the author's love for two works : The Catcher In The Rye & The Great Gatsby . They figure in almost every article, while it's understood that they are seminal works in the annals of literature it shows to be more of the authors favorites than anything else in this collection.
It is a very readable collection of short essays and there are quite a few interesting anecdotes and book recommendations in here for the book lover too.
Passing note : A quote I picked up from the book by Alberto Manguel :
For the cosmopolitan reader, a homeland is not in space, fractured by political frontiers, but in time, which has no borders...I wouldn't define myself as a writer. I would define myself as a reader.
The definitions in this book rate me as a lover of the Carnal kind when it comes to books. More than the feel and the texture of the book, I love the words, the passages, the characters, the locales and the plot. My reviews stand testimony to this, there is no foreplay & I cut straight to the plot. There is a glee when I discover that such people do exist in the world of book love. Pradeep Sebastian is more of a collector than a compulsive reader as he confesses in the book. The author being a journalist collects between the covers some of his writings that have appeared in national dailies.
What stands out here is a love affair with books that is a gentle madness that embraces many others in the world. The author talks of varied topics on book love : antique & rare books, bibliomania, the kleptomaniacs of the book world, books about books, famed book stores, sherlockian pastiches and many others. My evaluation is that it is a mixed bag in here, like any other anthology of writings.Some of the writings are outright enjoyable while some do not spark the interest in account of them being extremely personal for the author & the enthusiasm does not spill over to the reader. One instance that keeps repeating over the pages is the author's love for two works : The Catcher In The Rye & The Great Gatsby . They figure in almost every article, while it's understood that they are seminal works in the annals of literature it shows to be more of the authors favorites than anything else in this collection.
It is a very readable collection of short essays and there are quite a few interesting anecdotes and book recommendations in here for the book lover too.
Passing note : A quote I picked up from the book by Alberto Manguel :
For the cosmopolitan reader, a homeland is not in space, fractured by political frontiers, but in time, which has no borders...I wouldn't define myself as a writer. I would define myself as a reader.
September 11, 2012
If you love for books is faltering or you just want to get started this is a great place to start with a brand new obsession!
March 23, 2024
I picked up 'The Groaning Shelf' from the Delhi Book Fair this year from a crowded publisher's stall where it lay unassumingly in the tiny but impressive 'Books about books' shelf. This title had been recommended to me by a close friend months ago, and I had been on the lookout since. Given the content of the book, it was only appropriate that I came across it so.
This is a collection of essays by a certified bibliophile so one feels that one is in good hands from the get-go. A lot of these essays were published in newspapers; it shows on account of their brevity. The rest, like any other essay collection, is a hit-or-miss depending upon how much the subject resonates with you. The writing itself is fairly even-toned and consistent, and in certain sections zips along. The absolute highlight is the abundant book recommendations that Mr. Sebastian throws out (almost flippantly) to make some larger comment.
What I struggled with largely were the following: His fascination with First Editions; Yes, I understand the charm but not enough that it merited multiple essays or mentions within other essays. Secondly, the glaring lack of praise for female writers. In the near-300 page collection, there is only Ayn Rand who gets a chapter to herself where he spends a lot of time insisting that she was an elevated romance writer and her political commentary was an afterthought. Agatha Christie is briefly mentioned but declared inferior to Arthur Conan Doyle in the same paragraph. I refrain from reading too much into this but I did take an entire star off for this unforgivable omission. And on a third and relatively trivial note, his penchant for mentioning novels and giving away major plot-points annoyed me.
Overall, I was entertained but not mighty impressed. There was a chapter where he mentioned how some authors maintained their libraries. If one book sat on the shelf, another had to go. If I were to do a bookshelf overhaul, I am afraid this one won't survive.
This is a collection of essays by a certified bibliophile so one feels that one is in good hands from the get-go. A lot of these essays were published in newspapers; it shows on account of their brevity. The rest, like any other essay collection, is a hit-or-miss depending upon how much the subject resonates with you. The writing itself is fairly even-toned and consistent, and in certain sections zips along. The absolute highlight is the abundant book recommendations that Mr. Sebastian throws out (almost flippantly) to make some larger comment.
What I struggled with largely were the following: His fascination with First Editions; Yes, I understand the charm but not enough that it merited multiple essays or mentions within other essays. Secondly, the glaring lack of praise for female writers. In the near-300 page collection, there is only Ayn Rand who gets a chapter to herself where he spends a lot of time insisting that she was an elevated romance writer and her political commentary was an afterthought. Agatha Christie is briefly mentioned but declared inferior to Arthur Conan Doyle in the same paragraph. I refrain from reading too much into this but I did take an entire star off for this unforgivable omission. And on a third and relatively trivial note, his penchant for mentioning novels and giving away major plot-points annoyed me.
Overall, I was entertained but not mighty impressed. There was a chapter where he mentioned how some authors maintained their libraries. If one book sat on the shelf, another had to go. If I were to do a bookshelf overhaul, I am afraid this one won't survive.
January 10, 2023
Oh, what a great read!
'The Groaning Shelf' is from a genre I had previously unexplored — 'Books on Books'. It's a compilation of essays on everything book-related. From writers' journeys and the e-book vs. physical book debate to unique bookstores and the joy of reading in bed, Sebastian reminds bibliophiles why they fell in love with reading in the first place.
I picked this up at the start of a more hopeful year and it brought me right out of my 2022 slump — the major credit goes to the author's words that are filled with infectious excitement.
I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to remember why they first entered a bookstore or how books are much more than just stories.
P.S. If you're planning to this pick up, get ready to underline and/or make notes because the essays provide many suggestions for your 'to-read' list.
'The Groaning Shelf' is from a genre I had previously unexplored — 'Books on Books'. It's a compilation of essays on everything book-related. From writers' journeys and the e-book vs. physical book debate to unique bookstores and the joy of reading in bed, Sebastian reminds bibliophiles why they fell in love with reading in the first place.
I picked this up at the start of a more hopeful year and it brought me right out of my 2022 slump — the major credit goes to the author's words that are filled with infectious excitement.
I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to remember why they first entered a bookstore or how books are much more than just stories.
P.S. If you're planning to this pick up, get ready to underline and/or make notes because the essays provide many suggestions for your 'to-read' list.
December 5, 2017
Truly amazing book. I couldn't put the book down. A bibliophile's delight.
October 9, 2020
It took me a long while to read and experience this book, but oh what a joy it was.
January 24, 2016
laugh,seriousness,anger,pity all these emotion inside a book about books.well one thing i quite notices that the author always represents most of his bibliophile friends as'she',so i thought there are may be more 'she' readers than 'he'.
apart from that this book is like a treasure house of every thing about books.being a slow reader few years ago when i bought the book out of curiosity started reading and left it due to slowness.again a month ago i had somewhat interest in this book and started reading it again (from the beginning).i am now so great full to have read it.
the author takes you from various authors to bibliophiles to bibliomania,from out of print to limited editions and so on so forth. until now i was not aware of the history or current condition about the books.it is so reviving to get all the information (even though it is hard to remember all the personalities and books from the book) and all the research done by the fellow country man Pradeep on books.
as i took the leap deep in to the book i met Salinger and i am quite fascinated by him,not to forget other authors and their works(which i cannot remember now).if you need to know anything more its hard for me to explain and i suggest it is better for you read the book yourself.
apart from that this book is like a treasure house of every thing about books.being a slow reader few years ago when i bought the book out of curiosity started reading and left it due to slowness.again a month ago i had somewhat interest in this book and started reading it again (from the beginning).i am now so great full to have read it.
the author takes you from various authors to bibliophiles to bibliomania,from out of print to limited editions and so on so forth. until now i was not aware of the history or current condition about the books.it is so reviving to get all the information (even though it is hard to remember all the personalities and books from the book) and all the research done by the fellow country man Pradeep on books.
as i took the leap deep in to the book i met Salinger and i am quite fascinated by him,not to forget other authors and their works(which i cannot remember now).if you need to know anything more its hard for me to explain and i suggest it is better for you read the book yourself.
May 22, 2013
When passion for something is as great as this, reading about it can truly be a wonder. And this is the first time I read a book, on books as a way if life. Bibliomania can consume you, or enlighten you, or be a combination of both. But reading about it surely made me wonder at the world that bibliomaniacs and bibliophiles inhabit.
October 19, 2014
Detailed Review at http://www.anureviews.com/the-groanin...
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews