Friday, March 16, 2012

A Fun Experiment for Friday

Click to Enlarge

I thought we would do something fun today. This is one shelf on my bookshelf in my bedroom at home. I have another much larger bookshelf, that is in my daughter's room, where the majority of our books our stored, but this shelf is mine alone, and contains some of my coolest books.

I've blurred the author and the title on some of these books that you guys might recognize. I want to see how many of you can guess at least one of these books, from the look of the spine alone. If you know me, you can probably guess half of them.

I'll put the original photo up this afternoon.

In somewhat sadder (but also hopeful) news, several of my blogging friends are posting about bullying today. Please read their posts:

Candyland
Talli Roland
LM Preston
Donna Martin
Sheri Larsen
Jonathan Arntson
Nicole Zoltack
Jessica Bell
Dawn Ius
PH Hrezo

This kind of thing must be stopped.

36 comments:

Laura Pauling said...

The Marbury Lens. But it helped that I know you like Andrew and his writing. And I loved that book too. :)

Anonymous said...

Ghost Medicine, The Marbury Lens, Stick, Rotters, and A Monster Calls. I recognize another spine, but I've not read it so I do not know the title.

Rusty Carl said...

Well, I could make out the non blurred ones okay. That probably isn't what you meant though.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

The Help is easy to spot.

Emily White said...

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children! Oh man, I love that book

Unknown said...

10th from the left: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children? Love the pictures in that one.

Unknown said...

Man..someone said it as I was typing! LOL.

Old Kitty said...

Not fair!! I'm old and need new glasses!
:-)

Take care
x

Briane said...

I didn't get any of them, but, then, I read on a Kindle. As for people who liked 'Ms Peregrine', I found it rather typical and thought the pictures, while interesting, detracted from the story because the author tried so hard to cram them into the story. Also, he broke his own rules at the end of he story, throwing aside the logic of his world for the convenience of storytelling.

But that's not why I stopped by. I usually wait 'til Saturday to somewhat randomly rip on other people's reading choices.

I stopped by because I saw your comment on the Star Wars Blogathon

Http://www.troublewithroy.com

And wanted to say that with 80+ Questions left, plus all the ways you can earn points plus the Sunday weekly drawing for prizes (every comment an entry!) Plus the Biweekly Blogfest For Writers... it's still wide open. Hope you'll drop by again and maybe get your book (if you have one) to be one of the prizes.

And just mentioning the Blogathon in a post gets you started with 5 points, so...

Marta Szemik said...

Ahh! Can't recognize them! But looking forward to the pic this afternoon when you take the blur off:)

Unknown said...

I've not got a clue with any of them, but I love the idea. It's similar to the spine experiment I did back in September (http://www.mithrilwisdom.com/2011/01/great-spine-experiment.html).

It'd be interesting to see how popular a book became without an author or a title on the spine, just a design.

Andrew Smith said...

Nice to know you've got space for me on your shelf, Matthew. You might have to add another level soon.

Stina said...

I only guessed The Help because you didn't blur the title, so I'm guessing that's not part of the game. :(

bel said...

You didn't blur the ones I know!

Bookshelf space is at a premium at our house. I guess it's a good thing that only 3 out of 4 of us like to read.

B.E. Sanderson said...

The only one I think I recognize is the spine for Across the Universe by Beth Revis. Over there next to The Help. Am I right?

Bish Denham said...

I noticed you have several that are also on my bookshelf... The Silmarillion, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, A Brief History of Time...But of the ones that are blurred... haven't a clue.

Dawn Ius said...

Fun! I think I see Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children...it's on my TBR list and I've picked it up 100 times. Damn...clearly I don't know you well enough, yet :-)

Anonymous said...

Hey, I don;t see my books in there. Must be proudly displayed on your fireplace mantle, right? And I'm going to check out all the blogs. I despise bullies. Looking forward to reading them.

Liza said...

Hmmm, I don't recognize any...except I'm wondering if there is a Harry Potter in there?

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Sorry, I can't figure out any of the blurry ones.

Pat Hatt said...

I spotted The Help, yes I made need such a thing for the rest..haha. DVDs I can guess, books not so much. And yeah bullying needs to stop indeed.

Nicole Zoltack said...

I think one is Across the Universe, the one to the left of The Help. Still need to read both of those books.

Carolyn Abiad said...

Ah! People already guessed the ones I knew. Across the Universe, Marbury Lens, Rotters, Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

Fun game. :)

Michael G-G said...

Okay, when I first looked at the photo, without having read your explanation about what you were doing, I thought I was going blind. Or having a stroke. Thank god, it's just a guess-the-spine game. Which I can't do. Full face covers, perhaps. Spines? I'm just spineless.

PK HREZO said...

Was that Kite Runner there?

I'm sure The Hobbit and LOTR is up there too, although I noticed a different Tolkien book.

Thanks for spreading the word today!

Julie Daines said...

I only recognized the non-blurred books. But I love this game and I'm going to have to try it on my blog one of these days.

Julie Dao said...

I just wrote a comment but it disappeared! Anyway, I just said that I didn't recognize any of the books but that I need to try reading Gaiman's American Gods because so many people have recommended it!

Ted Cross said...

I have bad eyes, but I can still see the Silmarillion there, yay!

Briane said...

FYI: Because you seemed to be referred by Rusty, I've given you 50 points (and him 50, too) for the Star Wars Blogathon -- you get 50 points for referring someone to it, so you're in a solid 4th place now with plenty of room to advance!

Jenny S. Morris said...

Everyone guessed the ones I can get. This was fun.

Steve MC said...

I knew Shogun was the red one even before I enlarged it. :-)

I see Marbury Lens and Ship Breaker, and I think I see Across the Universe.

Just looked up The Graffiti Kings and dang - wish that were a novel.

Johanna Garth said...

I thought the red one was something by Tolstoy until I read the rest of the comments.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Matthew - recognised a few immediately .. and I'm pleased to see you've a Stephen Hawking .. just guest posted over at Stephen Tremp's blog on him .. amazing man. Love your mixed bag selection of books ..

I look forward to seeing the unfuzzy shelf sometime soon .. cheers Hilary

Donna K. Weaver said...

I so recognized The Help at a glance. =D

Suzie F. said...

What a fun idea! I recognized The Help, American Gods, and The Road. And for the record, I looked at the covers *without* my glasses on...they were ALL blurry, lol.

Have a great weekend!

Marsha Sigman said...

This is fun but harder than I thought! I recognized The Marbury Lens.

And someone said Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children?

Starting that one tonight,whew hew! Happy Friday, Matt.