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David T. Burkam

Goodreads Author

Member Since

June 2009

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I love being a Goodreads librarian, keeping those virtual bookshelves organized, and making sure obscure and long-dead authors get their books and bios back into the light.

By day I am a faculty member at the Residential College within the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, teaching writing, statistics, quantitative research methods, social science thinking, sociology of education, a course on poverty, a course on the millennial & gen-z generations, an LGBT history course, a course on love, and a course on the Tarot.

After work, I retreat into a world of candlelight and Arts & Letters. An unashamed bibliophile, my passion and collection spill over into every room of my home: old books with personal histories, bumped corners, mysterious inscr I love being a Goodreads librarian, keeping those virtual bookshelves organized, and making sure obscure and long-dead authors get their books and bios back into the light.

By day I am a faculty member at the Residential College within the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, teaching writing, statistics, quantitative research methods, social science thinking, sociology of education, a course on poverty, a course on the millennial & gen-z generations, an LGBT history course, a course on love, and a course on the Tarot.

After work, I retreat into a world of candlelight and Arts & Letters. An unashamed bibliophile, my passion and collection spill over into every room of my home: old books with personal histories, bumped corners, mysterious inscriptions, and curious bookplates. And when I'm lucky, tucked between the pages: a faded flower, a calling card, or a scrap of ribbon.

Anyone who knows me, knows that my bibliophilia sometimes turns into bibliomania! Every room in my house is a library, sometimes with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.

My complete book collection wanders through many literary by-ways. Some of my favorite sub-collections include volumes from the Roycroft and Mosher Presses (two early 20th-century American "Arts & Crafts" presses), books on mediums & Spiritualism, a wide collection of Pre-Raphaelite-related books, and 19th- & 20-century letter-writing books. Favorite long-forgotten and now obscure writers (and one well-known writer) whose works fill many of my shelves include William De Morgan, Richard Le Gallienne, Hamilton Wright Mabie, Fiona Macleod [the pseudonym of William Sharp] ... and Thomas Hardy (my biggest passion).

And then there are the "special titles" that I greedily hoard (the mania part). I have nearly 20 copies of Mitchell's Reveries of a Bachelor (first published in 1850), more than 20 copies of Olive Schreiner's Dreams (first published in 1891), and over 30 copies of Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses (including the copy my parents gave me for Christmas when I was two years old).

My pleasure reading is a wide mix of 19th and early 20th century fiction (and poetry), fantasy, sci-fi, mysteries, biographies, art and cultural history, and literary analysis. Some favorite authors:

Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, Fiona Macleod, Richard Le Gallienne, Hamilton Wright Mabie, Lord Dunsany, Hermann Hesse, Sinclair Lewis, Somerset Maugham, Mary Renault, Richard Armour, A.S. Byatt, Jasper Fforde, Agatha Christie, Julie Kaewert, John Malcolm, John Dunning, John Connolly, Philip Pullman, Thomas Burnett Swann, Rumi, James Branch Cabell, Italo Calvino, Annie Dillard, Loren Eiseley, and Shirley Jackson.

I also collect book ends, tarot decks, and Victorian ephemera. ...more

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David T. Burkam’s books

Average rating: 3.75 · 12 ratings · 1 review · 1 distinct work

Inequality at the Starting Gate
by

Valerie E. Lee,

David T. Burkam (Goodreads Author)

3.75 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 2002

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David is Currently Reading

David Burkam is currently reading

The Rose Field (The Book of Dust, #3)

by Philip Pullman

bookshelves: currently-reading, fantasy-horror, trilogies, trilogies-plus

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Jul 23, 2026 08:45AM

David Burkam is currently reading

David Balfour (David Balfour, #2)

by Robert Louis Stevenson

bookshelves: literary-classics, currently-reading

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Jun 13, 2026 10:30PM

David Burkam is currently reading

Biography of the Gods

by A. Eustace Haydon

bookshelves: religion-mysticism, currently-reading

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Jan 25, 2026 08:21PM

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David Burkam wants to read The Master of Mysteries by Gelett Burgess	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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David’s Quotes

“If it was occasionally ludicrous, it was always sublime. [Estelle Jussim on the 19th century Cult of the Beautiful.] ”
― Estelle Jussim, SLAVE TO BEAUTY: THE ECCENTRIC LIFE AND CONTROVERSIAL CAREER OF F. HOLLAND DAY, PHOTOGRAPHER, PUBLISHER, AESTHETE.

1 likes

“All English stories get bogged down in whether or not the furniture is socially and aesthetically acceptable.”
― A.S. Byatt, The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye: Five Fairy Stories

13 likes

“... if the Englishman does not disclose his soul, he readily opens his home. A Frenchman may reveal his life secrets after half an hour's aquaintance. But he does not ask one home.”
― Gustaaf Johannes Renier, The English: Are They Human?

1 likes

“However tortured the rationalizations we prefer, the thirst of one human being for another can be so--humbling--but I preferred to think of it as fate. And then mad desire. Anything but a fortress built on the back of a whim...How much easier to say there is no coincidence, and certainly no mistakes, and carry on to our destruction in defense of...how shall I put it? My idea of myself. One will sacrifice anything for that.”
― Laura Dietz, In the Tenth House

5 likes

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message 1: by David (last edited Aug 25, 2025 05:00PM)

Mar 09, 2012 09:11AM

I love being a Goodreads librarian, keeping those virtual bookshelves organized, and making sure obscure and long-dead authors get their books and bios back into the light.

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David T. Burkam’s Followers (21)

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