'A home without books is like a snail without a shell.' - Grahame Beattie. Photo / Sarah Ivey

'A home without books is like a snail without a shell.' - Graham Beattie. Photo / Sarah Ivey

GRAHAM BEATTIE
Former publisher at Penguin and Scholastic, book reviewer, blogger and judge

"I not only like to read books and use them but I love to hold them and admire them. They make the best artwork, too.
"When I was in form two at Gisborne Intermediate School, our teacher, Miss Fisher, introduced me to Arthur Ransome's Swallows And Amazons series.
"I've been hooked on books ever since, buying them when I could afford it and borrowing them when I couldn't.
"My home library is very important to me and my home, with one main room that doubles as a library and my office, and houses most of the books. But piles of books are to be found in every room in the house. My library was designed and purpose-built five years ago when we had our home remodelled. My only regret is that I cannot make it any larger, as it long ago reached its capacity.
"I have quite a number of treasured volumes but two that are very special are Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy, one of the longest novels in English ever published.

"This book deeply affected me when I first read it in 1993 and I am thrilled to have a copy signed by the author during one of his two visits to New Zealand. The other is a limited edition, #106 of an edition of 500, of Peter Mayle's A Year In Provence. This is an illustrated, slip-case edition with paintings and drawings by Paul Hogarth and it is signed by both the author and the illustrator.
"Occasionally I have to have a cull, usually of books I have reviewed. It hurts but there is a limit to the number I can house".
Greg Dixon's full story at The New Zealand Herald.