I’d love to compare reference collections with you. I’m curious about what books fill the shelves of other translators, editors and writers. Here’s what’s on my bookshelf (which is organized and labelled— I’m a labeller!—by section):
Shelf 1: Editing books
What’s here:
- Some coursebooks from uOttawa
- Meeting Editorial Standards (Self-Tests + Solutions and Discussion)
- Editing Canadian English
- Developmental Editing
- The Subversive Copy Editor
- Copyediting and Proofreading For Dummies (I love For Dummies books!)
- The Elements of Editing
- Over on the right: Some past projects
Shelf 2: Translation books
What’s here:
- More uOttawa coursebooks
- Le grand Robert & Collins CD
- Comparative Stylistics of French and English
- The Beginning Translator’s Workbook
- Translation and Translating
- The Translator’s Handbook
- Initiation à la traductique
- La traduction raisonnée
- La terminologie : principes et techniques
- Le complexe d’Hermès (this book wins the award for longest time sitting on my bookshelf unread… I keep meaning to read it!)
- Found in Translation
- If This Be Treason
- Over on the right: Application to the Centre français Hamilton + Language Update by the Translation Bureau
Shelf 3: Business books
What’s here:
- The Entrepreneurial Linguist
- Mox and Mox II (not too sure why I put these under “Business,” but there they sit!)
- How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator
- Powerful Teamwork Tips for Employees
- Outliers
- Over on the right: List of agencies applied to (112 this month!) and my business binder (rates, plans, prospects, etc.)
Shelf 4: Education-related books and articles
What’s here:
- A growing collection of education references, such as Ed Speak and various articles
Shelf 5: Books on areas of interest and potential specialization
What’s here:
- Info on sex ed and contraception (e.g. The Scientific American’s Book of Love, Sex, and the Brain)
- Info on Canadian culture (e.g. What is a Canadian?)*
*There are some fantastic sites out there to teach you all about Canadian culture and politics! Check these out: Discover Canada and How Canadians Govern Themselves
Shelf 6: Language reference books
What’s here:
My bursting-at-the-seams (-shelves?) collection of language reference books.
- Le Robert & Collins dictionary
- Le nouveau Petit Robert 2010
- The Canadian Style
- The Concise Canadian Writer’s Handbook
- A Canadian Writer’s Guide
- Oxford Canadian Thesaurus
- The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English
- Oxford Collocations Dictionary
- Canadian Press Stylebook
- Glossary of Misused Words and Phrases
- Grammatically Correct
- Common Errors in English
- A Practical English Grammar
- Rhetorical Grammar
- Practical Grammar
- Caps and Spelling (super out-of-date — 1998 — but very interesting in a blast-from-the-past kind of way)
- Larousse French-English Dictionary
- Bescherelle
And some other books sitting on my desk:
- Canadian Oxford Dictionary
- Guide to Canadian English Usage
- The 5 Minute Linguist
- The Big Enough Company
Alright! So now, what’s on your bookshelf? What’s your top must-have book?
Cibliste 
Woah…you are very organized! That was impressive! I can add a few of my favorites that I didn’t see on your shelves (we have some overlap, but I don’t have any of the ones about Canada 😉 I would like to mention: The International Dictionary of Food and Cooking by Charles Sinclair, Larousse Gastronomique in both English and French, Grevisse’s Le bon usage, Garnier’s Modern American Usage, lots of books on grammar and slang, business and other terminology in both French and English, Chris Durban’s The Prosperous Translator (and Corinne McKay’s and the Jenners’ books too!), and Luke Spear’s new book about pricing is on my Kindle. I have various other resources on my computer and iPad, but I think that is enough for now. Thanks for a fun post!
Eve, your books are so interesting! Do I detect a passion for culinary translation? If so, that must be a lot of challenging fun. Also, if you’ve got the time, I’d love to get the titles of your books on slang. My collection is sorely lacking in slang references!
You’re so right to include The Prosperous Translator. Chris’ book has been on my must-buy list for… wow, over a year now. I keep telling myself, “No! No more books until you finish the ones you’ve got. Bad bookaholic, show some self-control!” But maybe I can make an exception for The Prosperous Translator…
You also make a good point by mentioning the Kindle (I forgot about e-books in this post!). I got a Kobo for Christmas, and I find that I use my Kobo for certain types of books, and my “physical bookshelf” for others. A topic for a future post, perhaps!
Thanks for sharing. I appreciate it. 🙂
I think a lot of us are book-aholics in this industry! The Kindle is great, for certain types of books, as you say, but also provides another venue through which to feed the addiction! I try to make myself not add additional books to it before I finish all those already on it, but it is practically impossible for someone who loves books! (And not to mention, all the physical/”real” books on my shelves already in the “to read” category!) I’d be happy to share slang references with you…shoot you an email? Thanks!
Hi Eve! An email would be great, if/when you get a chance. I’m at cibliste@gmail.com. Can’t wait to find out more. 🙂
What an interesting and fun post, thank you for sharing Sadie 🙂
Thanks Catherine!
How I long for the days when my professional library was this organized… The precious books sat side by side, by language, subject matter and function (reference, dictionary, fun read, thought provoking). Now it is all a jumble, every where I look. Can I move in with you?
Haha! That’s excellent. I could clear off a bookshelf for you. We’d have to come up with a clever label though.
But for the record, I only photographed my “organized” bookshelf. I have another bookshelf… sort of my “ugly duckling” bookshelf… yikes. It’s got potential, of course. But for now, that’s all it’s got going for it. 😉
Thanks for your comment!
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