About The Next Shelf

The Next Shelf is a dedication to my overflowing bookshelf, whose inhabitants haunt me as much as they bring me joy.

Within my bookshelf is a whole world of wonder, yet still only a sliver of the multiverse that encapsulates the whole of human creativity. Nothing brings on existential dread quite like a book waiting – and waiting – to be read.

Books have always held an essential place in my life, as they do for so many people. The Next Shelf is my one-way book club, a space for book worship (and perhaps occasionally for book flagellation).

These are not book reviews in the normal, structured sense, but are intended more to just catalogue my thoughts, my reactions, my feelings about what I’m reading. I discuss my own thoughts on a book, how it affected me, how I think about the ideas contained within it and relate it to other books and events in the world.

After all, a book does not exist in isolation, with one fixed meaning or purpose; it exists in relationship to the reader, culture, history and current events. A book is a different thing to each reader and at different points in time: a work of genius in one decade or century may be outdated or irrelevant in another.

In these posts, I imagine I’m talking to a friend about the book in an impassioned monologue that is kindly indulged.

This blog is a way for me to monologue about books without boring my friends. It’s a way to practise my writing and think more deeply about what, and how, I’m reading.

I don’t expect anyone to read this, which makes it freeing to write. It’s a personal project I’m undertaking purely for my own pleasure, and for anyone who wishes they had more time to talk about books with friends and would like to join my lonely book club.

Thank you for your indulgence.