Guest Post: The Library of Alison Littlewood

Hello! And a big thank you to Priya for asking me to have a wander around my bookshelves and take some shelfies for a guest post. Let’s face it, all our opportunities for wanderings and witterings are limited these days, so it was a lovely thing to be asked to do. Here we go…

Here are some of the anthologies I’ve gathered over the years, kept in check by zombie bookends and watched over by Brian the zombie – wearing one of those knitted hats you find on Innocent bottles, ’cos even zombies need to keep warm.

Here’s the resident librarian, along with a real mix of books, including some of the earliest I still possess: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and Lewis Carroll from when I was a kid. Just out of view is the beloved copy of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales my mum bought me when I was five, which I relocated after Vesper-dog tried to eat it when she was a puppy. The horror! I found the little black clay pot in Mexico. It always makes me think it should be inhabited by a genie, though I suppose it would have escaped through the little cut-out stars by now.

Ego shelves. Well, we all needs ’em, preciousss… I’ve been lucky to be in some terrific anthologies over the years, and I keep various editions of the novels on the second shelf. There’s also a framed picture that my mum and dad bought me to celebrate The Unquiet House coming out.

 

This is a small corner of my short story collections collection. I rearranged my books recently to make room for more of these, because I’m lucky enough to know some very talented people who will no doubt keep filling this shelf! The framed picture is an illustration from one of my stories by another uber-talented friend, Daniele Serra. Also, top left – PRIYA’S BOOK! Honestly, you need this in your life.

Here’s a slightly older photo, just to show that Vesper is rather better behaved these days. See, everyone loves books! And, in these locked-down times, thank goodness for them. I’ve been immersed in some amazing reads recently – Jess Kidd’s Himself, Georgina Bruce’s Honeybones and Pine by Francine Toon were some of the latest to keep me company.

And yes, the sharp-eyed might spot that this last pic was pre-shelf-rearranging! Either that or Brian is in two places at once. But then, I wouldn’t put it past him.

Thanks for dropping by and sharing a little bit of my library. And stay safe out there… Xx

Alison Littlewood

Alison Littlewood is a British horror author, Shirley Jackson Award winner and multiple August Derleth Award nominee. Mistletoe is her latest novel from Jo Fletcher Books.

http://www.alisonlittlewood.co.uk/