Sunday Shelfie with Sam Baker
Welcome to Sunday Shelfie which, for those of you who don’t know already, takes a sneak peek at the bookshelves of writers we love, asks them to answer a series of probing questions about what they’ve got on them, and is always packed with tons of book recommendations.
You can have a look through the archive of Sunday Shelfie authors here.
But I’m thrilled that this week we are getting a look at
’s bookshelves.
For those who don’t know Sam, she is an author, journalist, broadcaster and podcaster. You can find her brilliant Substack The Shift with Sam Baker here and a strong recommend from me to subscribe if you don’t already:
Sam is also an author of a book of the same name, The Shift, and you can find her podcast, here where she interviews and amplifies the voices of strong female writers who have navigated their 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond.
But what we really want is a snoop around her bookshelves, right? And here they are:
How would you describe your collection of books? Any favourite genres?
Um, varied? A mess? I don’t really think of it is a collection, more an accumulation. Like most people I started gathering books at university (i.e. before I could really afford books, particularly hardbacks) and although most of those books are no longer with me, the staples e.g. Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood remain the foundation of all the rest. They are probably the only authors where I’m obsessively completist.
I don’t really have a favourite genre, although I do have an unassuageable passion for crime. Otherwise I guess I’m what you’d call omnivorous. I really will read almost anything.
How many books do you estimate you have and how are they organised, if at all?
My collection and Jon’s merged a long time ago (we’ve been married over 30 years) so it’s impossible to separate them. I just asked him to guess how many we’ve got and he said “probably not much more than 3,000 but we did get rid of a lot when we moved”. We got rid of more than we kept because we were moving from a big house to a flat. Since we moved in here four years ago it feels like we’ve done nothing but build bookcases.
I’d love to be one of those people with instantly Instagrammable books, photogenic bookcases colour co-ordinated, but no, not a big organiser. There is a loose system though. They are divided between hardbacks and paperbacks, fiction and non-fiction and where we have a lot of one genre they’re separate e.g. crime, memoir. I also have a big Ikea bookcase in my study which is for ‘working’ books.
In percentage terms, how many of the total books on your shelves have you read?
65-70% I guess. I tend to keep read and unread books separate so I’m confident it’s not more than that.
Which three books are top of your TBR (To Be Read) pile at the moment?
This varies from week to week because I read so many for work but right now:
1. I’m currently reading Old Soul, a literary horror/thriller by Susan Barker. I loved her last book, The Incarnations, so I’m excited.
2. The Secret Room by Jane Casey. I love love love love love her Maeve Kerrigan/Josh Derwent series. The last book ended on a really horrible cliffhanger, so I can’t wait to get stuck into this.
3. Story of a Murder by Hallie Rubenhold (out March 27) - Hallie’s study of the women killed by Jack the Ripper, Five, is one of my favourite books of all time. In this she brings the same perspective to the lives impact by Dr Crippen.
Which book on your bookshelf is the most well-thumbed/do you return to the most, and why?