What on earth is a catalogue raisonné you ask? (And very reasonably so.)
A catalogue raisonné is a systematic, annotated catalog. Put another way, it’s a critical bibliography.
Or, put most simply, it’s my guide to little reading projects on a topic.
Want to know about Victorian Murder? South American exploration? Ancient Greece? So do I. I’m insatiably curious. This is why I like to read both fiction and non-fiction on any given subject. You can read more about my non-fiction fetish here or why I struggle to find good enough fiction that makes the cut for one of these lists.
THE FIRSST SIGNS OF THE DISEASE
Over the years, what started in college as a head-over-heels love affair with reading every book on the syllabus turned into a truly integrated fiction and non-fiction exploration of any given subject.
What’s even worse (yes, worse), is that I love, love, love talking about these lists. I love talking about books and writing in general, but more than that, I love pointing out the connections between books, their approaches, and their conclusions.
This makes small talk extremely difficult for me. Someone asks me about the weather, and I end up telling them about the evolution of the differentiation between astrology and astronomy in the 16th century German university scene.
I can’t help it. It just spews out of my mouth. Ask Kristen Lamb. She once asked me an innocent question about the equivalent of a 19th century bra, and I gave her the entire history of bustle era underpinnings, from the truth about corsets, to the fact that underpants and pantaloons hadn’t become commonplace until the Regency era.
So, what has all this led to?
incurable and incorrigible
This leads to me having to buy more bookshelves. But, aside from that, it also means I arrange my bookshelves. By time period and topic.
Quite properly, fiction is on its own shelf, arranged by time period and genre. *shifty eyes*
It also means that my Amazon wishlist is obscenely long. (My goodness, how did I get to 35 pages of books?)
It ALSO means that YOU get to enjoy the fruits of my labor.
THE CAIT REYNOLDS CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ
You won’t have to go digging through my posts to find a catalogue raisonné. I’ve collected the all here on one page for your easy access. I even put a little link in the site menu.
Yes, it’s awesome. I’m awesome. I look forward to bringing you even MORE of obsessive reading! (Because that’s how I’m justifying all the books. Really, that’s basically it.)
Do you want to see a catalogue raisonné from me on a particular topic? Leave me a comment and let me know!
(Chances are, I own books about it, LOL.)
I love the very idea of a catalogue raisonné!
I tend to get sudden urges to read everything the library has on a particular subject: tea, it might be, or the Home Front or… anyway, I go through the library catalogue like a dose of salts and once I’ve glutted myself on all the books, I develop a sudden urge to know all about something else. Or I have a fictional interlude.
Happily for me, the local library has free reserves on books across a network of regional libraries. There are still some empty areas, though: Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, Princess Alice of Battenberg, Talleyrand… Fascinating people all.
Hi Deborah! Isn’t the rabbit hole of research a wonderful thing? I have SO many catalogues raisonnes to put together 😀 I’ve got a super awesome one planned for November! Thank you so much for reading!
Cait