Progress with the second part of my playthrough of Hand of Fate is currently a bit slow because of other things requiring my attention. Still, I thought it would be appropriate to make a post today, because this is the 20th anniversary of the discovery of second-hand FF books that got me back into gamebooks (covered in a little more detail here).
To mark the occasion, here's a photo of my gamebook shelves.
It's not the best picture I've ever taken, but it gives some indication of where that casual browse has led me. And I'm sure that some of my readers would be able to identify a significant number of the books shown even from a shot with such poor definition.
The lower two shelves are double-banked, though around 80% of the back row of the bottom shelf is taken up with non-gamebook-related books. Then again, my copies of Warlock, Proteus and other magazines with gamebook content are elsewhere (most of them on a bookcase below and to the right of these shelves), so that balances things out.
Any questions?
Which book(s) are you missing that you would love to get your hands on someday?
ReplyDeleteIs there a "holy grail" that you are eternally searching for?
The answer to this question would have been longer if asked at the start of the year, but since then I've acquired copies of the seventh The Way of the Tiger book and the one Plotbusters title I was missing.
DeleteOut of the gamebooks I don't have, Tracey Turner's Lost in the Crater of Fear is the gamebook I'd most like to acquire.
The ninth and last of the Combat Command books is the gamebook that's been on my want list for longest. Mind you, given the quality of most of the other books in the series, I might not be missing much.
Considering the number of annoyances caused by many of the Mongoose Books Lone Wolf reissues I do own (plus the fact that, on the rare occasions when any of the ones I lack do turn up on eBay, they're usually at prices in excess of my monthly income), I doubt that I'll ever get the ones I don't already have, but the leap from 13 to 17 on the numbered spines will continue to bug me. The later books that I don't have don't bother me as much (though 19 and 20 would give the collection that bit more closure, as they're the last ones in which you play as Lone Wolf himself).
Talking of Lone Wolf, if I ever come across a reasonably priced Sparrow Books edition of The Chasm of Doom, I'm buying it. Just look at that salmon-coloured spine amidst the black ones on the middle of the top shelf!
Do you have a large collection of non-gamebook books? Are you a big reader generally?
ReplyDeleteLet's see, my home contains 9 bookcases, all of them pretty full. Plus another set of wall-mounted shelves (other than the one in the photo) which also holds books, and two free-standing shelf units that are partially used for book storage.
DeleteI have a database to keep track of my books. It lists just under 4600 titles, and I've read more than 3800 of them.
Less than 500 of the books I own are gamebooks, and more than a hundred of the books classified as 'unread' are gamebooks that I have played but not won.
By most people's standards, I think that qualifies as a 'yes' to both questions.
Fantastic! I doubt I have more than 500-600 books, or thereabouts. What a good idea to keep a database.
ReplyDeleteI have a seven month old daughter who already loves books, so hoping that she will grow up to enjoy literature.