52% intelligent. 9% modest. More monkey than bear.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

You'll read it in a book tonight...

Hello. Welcome to this edition of "Guess Who The Bookshelf Belongs To"....

Here's how it works: below you will find pictures of 12 bookshelves. Each shelf belongs to a reader of this blog. All you have to do is to match the bookshelf to the blogger and put your answers in the comments box below.

The prize? A SwissToni Mix CD - compiled by my own fair hands once the results are known and with the winner in mind.

There's more!

As if the CD wasn't enough, the winner will also have the honour of providing the title (in the house style) for a future post.....

There's a slight catch: One of the photos has been staged by me. For bonus points, identify the fake.... (well, I've probably given this away elsewhere, but you still have to pick the right pic, right?)

Here's the shortlist:
-> The Num Num
-> Leah
-> Aravis
-> Retro-Boy
-> The Ultimate Olympian
-> The Urban Fox
-> Spinsterwitch
-> CLM from to do #121: insert clever title here
-> RedOne
-> Jenni
-> YokoSpungeon
-> Mike from All Right Here

Ready?

Off you go then. Click on each photo for a closer look.

Bookshelf 1:


Hmmm. Yeats, Cervantes, Irving, Vonnegut... very good.... what's that? Pervy books? Excellent!

Bookshelf 2


Hmmm. This is a bit of a mixed bag, innit? Quite a bit of Evelyn Waugh here, some philosophy, a guitar tutoring book, a bit of politics.... and the Matrix comics, some Philip Pullman and is that a book on A-Ha I can see?

Bookshelf 3


Oooh. CDs. Otherwise, it's another mixed bag. Tom Clancy?

Bookshelf 4


Piers Morgan, Martin Amis, Elvis and David Bowie? Nicely stocked though.

Bookshelf 5


This one's very brainy: Shakespeare, Chaucer, Orwell, Paxman... and lots of reference books and dictionaries.... hmmm.

Bookshelf 6


Lots of books here, but I'm distracted by the iPod....

Bookshelf 7


Lots of music, of course - but someone who has spent some time in Europe? France by the looks of it.

Bookshelf 8


Maupassant, Greene, Roald Dahl, Salinger.... and golf clubs?

Bookshelf 9


"Looking for Mr. Right", "Sex & the City" and "Constitutional Law & Politics"? Someone with insomnia?

Bookshelf 10


I like this bookcase. Lots of big, hard-backed books and it's bathed in a warm glow. Good for browsing, I reckon. Very calming.

Bookshelf 11


Very spartan looking, isn't it? "Tarot For Yourself"? "Truth or Dare"? "Managing Your Mind"?

Bookshelf 12


and finally.... a political traveller, by the looks of things.

----

I feel a bit Loyd Grossman after that, and it's not a pleasant feeling, let me tell you.

Over to you then. One guess each and a reason for each guess would be nice.

Oh - and thanks for sending in the photos! Next week..... toasters!

posted by swisslet @ 19:56  

37 Comments:

  • At 9:52 pm, Blogger Ali said…

    Just a point of rule to ponder;

    Are shelf owners meant to deliberately guess their own incorrectly? Otherwise, the clever clogs need only wait until all other participants have made their guess, and assemble the shortlist of right answers...

    I await your instruction.

     

  • At 9:57 pm, Blogger Ali said…

    Hello Fox.
    Stick with me kid, we'll listen to that CD together and laugh at the world!

    I'll even let you have a bite of my Fry's Chocolate Cream

    :D

     

  • At 9:59 pm, Blogger swisslet said…

    dissemble all you like, kids.

    **I'll** know what you're up to, and I haven't told you what the scoring system is.

    bonus point to Yoko already.

    ST

     

  • At 10:02 pm, Blogger swisslet said…

    I will tell you this though - big points for the best explanation of your choices.

    ST

     

  • At 10:07 pm, Blogger red one said…

    I was just thinking, only one guess each - that's a bit mean. And then I realised you're making up the scoring system as you go along!

    Honestly, Swiss.

    How are we expected to cope?

    And some people have stood too far away from their bookshelves for me to read the book titles, even when I've clicked to enlarge like a good little blogger.

    red

     

  • At 10:19 pm, Blogger swisslet said…

    it gets better Red --- in a fit of internet identity protection paranoia, one entrant has deliberately obscured the titles of the books before submitting their photo. Who knows what The Man might make of your bookshelf, eh?

    Why's only giving you one guess mean? Otherwise you could all have **quick spot of mental arithmetic** 144 goes.

    Unlikely I know, but you could.

    ST <--- not exactly anticipating a record haul of comments, and wondering if we should have discussed emoticons instead

     

  • At 11:12 pm, Blogger Damo said…

    12 factorial, not 12 squared!

     

  • At 11:15 pm, Blogger swisslet said…

    damo - ha! I've always been useless at maths. That's more comments then, yeah?

    ST

     

  • At 11:26 pm, Blogger Ali said…

    OK, well I don't mind going first, because I have quickly realised this is a task too far for my psychic powers.

    My method of deduction was thus:

    a) Does it look like a man's house or a woman's house?
    b) Are there props, or indeed, a distinct and therefore suspicious absence of props?
    c) Do I think this person is a bit like me, and if yes, which shelves do I feel the most affinity for?

    I will be as interested as anyone to see the results. If I even get one right I will be astonished.

    Bookshelf 1 Staged by Swissty
    Bookshelf 2 RedOne
    Bookshelf 3 Aravis
    Bookshelf 4 The num num
    Bookshelf 5 The Urban Fox
    Bookshelf 6 The Ultimate Olympian
    Bookshelf 7 Retro Boy
    Bookshelf 8 Mike from all right here
    Bookshelf 9 Leah
    Bookshelf 10 CLM from to do #121
    Bookshelf 11 Jenni
    Bookshelf 12 Spinsterwitch

     

  • At 11:55 pm, Blogger John McClure said…

    Schoolboy error with the staged one, mate - I would recognise C's dad's handiwork a mile off. I think it was number three - the one with the RATM CD and Tom Clancy book, whichever number that was.

    Is number eight someone trying to pretend to be me by putting golf clubs in the picture? It's shameless the lengths some people will go to.

     

  • At 2:21 am, Blogger HistoryGeek said…

    Here we go with my choices. I've been a bit deliberate about this, and was able to actually identify one correctly because of some web research I've done. The rest, I'm winging on intuition. The real question is, does the Spinster identify her own correctly or is she bluffing to throw off the pack?

    Bookcase #1: Yoko Spungeon - she tried to be crafty and throw us off in her comment, but I believe this is her's.

    Bookcase #2: RedOne - I gotta admit, there is a lot of overlap in my mind between you and Fox that I really debated which was which, and I really tossed a coin on this one.

    Bookcase #3: Urban Fox - what tipped the scales slightly was the Peasants Revolt of 1381, although I don't pick you as a Tom Clancy sort...I'm probably totally off, but see the above for my primary methodology.

    Bookcase #4: The NumNum - here I get into unknown territory...this holds true for 4-6. I'm really just guessing here.

    Bookcase #5: Mike - I'm going on the idea that he's teaching English!

    Bookcase #6: The Ultimate Olympian - who better needs a charged Ipod than a man who is training with such dedication!

    Bookcase #7: CLM - you see there was this centipede that was trapped beneath a pot...

    Bookcase #8: Retro-Boy - really, it was James and the Giant Peach that got me on this one...the juxtaposition of that with Fight Club seems perfect.

    Bookcase #9: Jenni - Constitutional Law & Politics...who but a law student would subject themselves to this.

    Bookcase #10: Aravis - I knew it from the moment I saw it and it had nothing to do with anything but the feeling of warmth in the picture.

    Bookcase #11: Spinsterwitch - "Managing Your Mind," really? Gods, I better get reading!

    Bookcase #12: Leah - Hmmmm...Australia...

    Okay, I've spent far more time on this than I anticipated, but it sure was a lot of fun.

    I seem to have wandered into a parallel universe where Swiss is the omniscient Architect and we are all his blindfolded minions, desperately trying to cling on to a concept of reality as the laws of physics twist and turn all around us.

    Really, foxy, did you ever believe otherwise?

     

  • At 2:33 am, Blogger HistoryGeek said…

    And damn, I missed the idea of a faked one...I was just so excited about the thing. Well, I'm not taking any of them back. Too much work...

    By the way ST, you've blown past 25,000 on your site counter.

     

  • At 6:53 am, Blogger Turners in the Country said…

    Having been a reader for only a short while, I didn't feel I could make educated or informed decisions. So, I called up my powers of telepathy, otherwise known as good old-fashioned guessing. I visited each site to try and get a feel for the blogger, and then quickly scanned the pictures to see which first seemed to fit that person. Let's see if I have a future in psychic counseling...

    1- The Ultimate Olympian
    2- Aravis
    3- Staged by ST
    4- The Num Num
    5- The Urban Fox
    6- Retro-boy
    7- Mike from All right here
    8- RedOne
    9- Leah
    10- Yokospungeon
    11- Jenni
    12- Spinsterwitch

     

  • At 7:56 am, Blogger Aravis said…

    This was difficult, wasn't it? Here's my almost completely random guess. I'll make up reasons where I hadn't one:

    1. Swiss, I think this is your staged one. The spotlight is on it and it's awaiting its cue. Or not.

    2. Fox, I believe this belongs to you. Eclectic reading for a mind that's always open to different thoughts and experiences. Besides, the Fox will devour just about anything it can get. ;0)

    3. Red, this is mostly due to the subliminal message in the book's title.

    4. numnum, because everyone else said this was yours, and I am a sheep. Baa.

    5. Mike, because Spin says so. See my sheep reference above.

    6. Yoko, because I had to start being original again.

    7. clm, because upon research I believe I recognized something. Of course, I could be wrong or I could be lying so that other sheep don't copy my answers.

    8. Retro Boy, this just struck me as you. But then I've hit my head quite often in my life, so being struck by something doesn't necessarily make it significant or true.

    9. Jenni, if ST's hint wasn't enough there were the photos. I love the candle, btw!

    10. Me and my shadows, or so I'm told.

    11. Spin, I actually am not convinced of this one at all. Your love of books makes me think you would fill this space. But the moon is in the 7th house, so I hazarded a guess anyway. Whatever that means.

    12. Leah, because the Friends collection told me so. And the Australian book. And the little green men who talk to me when I wear a collander on my right foot.

    There now. I may not be right, but I had fun creating reasons.

     

  • At 2:27 pm, Blogger red one said…

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

     

  • At 2:32 pm, Blogger red one said…

    Sorry, the weirdness of word verification distracted me.

    What I meant to say was, what if we like someone else's books better...? Can we just put in a claim, get allocated points for careful reasoning and be awarded the shelves in question as a prize?

    Where is the Fry's chocolate cream anyway? I think I am hampered by viewing on a laptop.

    red

     

  • At 5:59 pm, Blogger Mark said…

    6,7,8, all apparently me? oh well. Let us think of it.

    1. Don't know. Could be me. Lots of books on London and old, classicist titles.

    2. Red One. Chomsky, and tips on Vintage Style. What more do you need for a perfect life? A-Ha. Gives it all away.

    3. Swiss. The CD's laid out like that and Bill Hicks. Trying for the cool vote with all the good names to drop. But TOM CLANCY?

    4. Um. Er. I dunno. Tons of old Beat titles though.

    5. Urban Fox.

    6. The Ultimate Olympian. His iPod iGave iIt iAway. iPossibly.

    7. Mike from All Right Here. It just looks like a Mike. Clean, unhurried, spartan. Steel lines.

    8. Don't Know. It's the golf clubs.

    9. Jenni. Politics, Aliens, and Sex In The City? Sounds a perfect match to me.

    10. Don't Know. Me, perhaps?

    11. Spinsterwitch. It looks the way I imagine her bookshelf might do. Not sure about the titles, mind you.

    12. Leah. Australia.

     

  • At 6:02 pm, Blogger Mark said…

    1. could be me, after all, I still haven't "Dorian", and who was it who met Drummond & Manning the other day?

     

  • At 4:18 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Mr. S

    I was hoping to have an edge over the others here on accounts of the fact that I'd probably thumbed through that copy of RSS (great read despite comments suggesting otherwise) and having definitely vegged out listening to your copy of RATM. The big boring book of history is also a bit of a giveway too.

    But it turns out your readers actually know you quite well.

    ..although Red Dwarf in #8 is quite tempting..and the golf clubs do seem a bit staged to put us off the trail.....

    still...# 3 it is

    If this turns out not to be your shelf....i think you should start getting very scared (a la single white (fe)male)

    i didnt send my shelf for this comp (as 1) i couldnt be arsed, and 2) its starwars/comics/manu slant wouldve been more transparent than grandmas underwear). I send you a piccie of it anyway when i get round to it

    Des

     

  • At 12:15 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Can we do something other than toasters next week? I haven't replaced mine yet.

     

  • At 12:47 pm, Blogger Ali said…

    johnmcclure, can't you just substitute a photo of the toaster you would buy...your fantasy league toaster?

     

  • At 2:28 pm, Blogger swisslet said…

    well foxy - it doesn't have to be toasters. Why don't you pick next week's household appliance? Have you got an especially nice juicer, or perhaps a coffee machine?

    As for competition closing. Hm. Dunno. Sunday night maybe? You thinking of putting in a last minute entry and running off with the prizes?

    ST

     

  • At 2:29 pm, Blogger swisslet said…

    (....and what marvellous prizes they are. I'm mentally compiling your CD now. B&S, certainly. Some Black Crowes, I think.....)

    ST

     

  • At 2:33 pm, Blogger Ali said…

    >The Toaster Of Your Dreams

    OMG Fox, that could be the next incarnation of The Generation Game.

    SwissBrucey!

    Maybe you could just use any appliance, although you run the risk of turning your blog into a car boot sale.

     

  • At 3:03 pm, Blogger Statue John said…

    Speaking on beahlf of those of us that do not own toasters, i'd say you are favouring those who own said appliances, you toasterist.

    I'd like to nominate carpets next time please.

    Would have to agree with Des in that bookshelf numero 3 is the fake, and that the Ultimate Olympian's shelf is numero 8.

     

  • At 3:49 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    It took the man who has been beaten by them the most to recognise them *duck*

    I had a better idea than toasters (but if you don't like it, I'm putting in an early entry for my dream toaster with this bad boy).

    How about handwriting? You give us a sentence or paragraph to write out longhand, we do so and then photograph what we've written and send it to you!

     

  • At 4:15 pm, Blogger Ali said…

    >I had a better idea than toasters

    John, that's not a toaster, that's a crematorium.

    I like the handwriting idea. Very revealing...

    Perhaps we should all write out the lyrics to one of this week's ear worms?

     

  • At 4:33 pm, Blogger The Num Num said…

    Dont judge it yet, I'm going to have a go at this tonight when I get home. Still arsing around at work, but I guess knowing one of the bookcases intimately, I have a percentage advantage that I will work on quickly eroding.

    Excellent idea, I've got appliances galore to show, what fun!

    PS - some of those bookshelves give me bookshelf envy if such a thing exists.

     

  • At 7:16 pm, Blogger Crucifer said…

    "i didnt send my shelf for this comp (as 1) i couldnt be arsed, and 2) its starwars/comics/manu slant wouldve been more transparent than grandmas underwear). I send you a piccie of it anyway when i get round to it"

    As a lurker of this here blog, I was tempted to send in my bookshelves as well but thought that I would be a dead give away with my 10 book set of Wheel of Time and the multitude of computer games scattered everywhere. And erm... the World of Warcraft boxed set sitting there on plain sight.

    And judging from the entries, I would have been right.

     

  • At 7:48 pm, Blogger swisslet said…

    crucifer - man, you have nothing to worry about. You know this lot just cleared a shelf, found the most highbrow books they could lay their hands on (from their mum and dad, the library, car boot sales etc.) and staged the whole thing?

    All bookshelves welcome here. I know for a fact that Des probably has the most interesting bookcases of all. Star Wars and Comics? Who could resist?

    Care to make any guesses?

    ST

     

  • At 9:16 pm, Blogger Jenni said…

    oooh, handwriting sounds fun. Then we can find out who else is an underliner like Lord B.

     

  • At 4:21 am, Blogger -L said…

    All right, here are my random guesses. :)

    1.Red - a classic collection for a knowledgable chica
    2. Retro Boy - the books seem boyish. Hopefully no one will be terribly insulted with my faulty logic when this is finished. :)
    3.Mike - because you are in Thailand and those are the books you've read so far?
    4. CLM - the last one I have left after playing this fun game for 40 rockin' minutes!
    5.Fox - because this guy blogs like a brainiac :) In an awesome way, of course!
    6. Olympian - an Olympian of reading perhaps?! Impressive shelves indeed.
    7. Num Num -
    8. Leah - because I work at a golf course
    9. Jenni - Sex and the City and a law book...a goddess-like combo, for sure. Heh.
    10. Aravis - somehow this reminded me of the photos of your home your recently posted on your blog. But maybe I'm just on crack!
    11. Spinsterwitch - fun reading, I reckon
    12.Yokospungeon - because I say so

    Damn, ST, this was pretty hard! But cheers for an excellent game!!! You should be a creator of Icebreakers...

     

  • At 4:25 am, Blogger -L said…

    Crapola! I forgot my reasoning for Num Num. This is it - selection looks diverse...um...i'm really scratching now...

     

  • At 8:44 pm, Blogger LB said…

    Right. I am confused, though. There are 12 pictures, 12 people on the list AND one of these is staged. That doesn't add up....

    I've not looked at any of the comments before attempting this:

    1. Spinsterwitch
    2. Urban Fox
    3. is the staged one I reckon
    4. Mark
    5. Red One
    6. Num Num
    7. Mike
    8. the Olympian
    9. Leah
    10. Aravis
    11. Yoko Spungeon
    12. Jenni

    which means CLM doesn't have one? sigh. I give up.

     

  • At 8:47 pm, Blogger LB said…

    the staged one isnt number 8 I don't think as ST has my golf clubs and (as far as I remember) they're not Titleist.

    deduction, eh?

     

  • At 9:26 am, Blogger Me said…

    Not easy. I was in the middle of working out a complex mathematical formula to get the answer right, but then I read that today is the last day. Like LB, I'm confused by the fact that there are 12 bookcases and 13 people if you count the staged one. Anyway, here goes:

    1 - Fox
    2 - Aravis
    3 - The Ultimate Olympian
    4 - Yoko
    5 - Retro
    6 - The staged one
    7 - Red
    8 - CLM
    9 - Spinsterwitch
    10 - Leah
    11 - Jenni
    12 - The Num Num.

    All of which means, I didn't send a photo in at all... or did I?

    There has to be an easier way of winning a ST compilation CD...

     

  • At 5:05 pm, Blogger swisslet said…

    LMP - I nearly faked yours actually. As a Medieval Historian, I have the books for it (starting with Montaillou, I thought), but in the end opted not to....

    ST

     

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