Question: Everybody needs a leisure activity. Most of the books I need for mine are downstairs, with none in the bedroom. But as I like to keep an eye on things I have this (unsorted) pile by my bed to remind me.

**What's my hobby?**

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/KfTm8.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/KfTm8.jpg)
**Hint 1**

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>  Did you notice the hint in the question? 
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**Hint 2**

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>  Don't worry too much about the knowledge tag. You don't need any external knowledge at all to work out the answer, and once you have it you should be able to validate it with minimal research. 
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**Hint 3**

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>  No anagrams were used in the making of this puzzle. And it's nothing to do with beds or bedrooms.
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Answer: 
Your hobby is

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>  **birdwatching** (hinted by the word "hobby" and the reference to "keeping an eye on things").
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We have:

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>  The Four **Feathers**  
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>  What is the name of this book? (published by **Pelican**)  
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>  Poems of Matthew **Arnold** -- "Arnold" means something like "strength of the eagle", etymologically.  
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>  The Annotated Snark edited by **Martin** Gardner  
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>  The Testament of Mary by **Colm** Tóibín -- "Colm" means "dove".  
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>  I have Landed by Stephen **Jay** Gould  
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>  Life ... by **Robin** Skynner and John Cleese  
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> **Lore** & Language ... -- "lore", among several other meanings, means a particular portion of a bird's head  
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>  Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by **Bill** Bryson 
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Explanations that I proposed, apparently *aren't* the intended ones, but seem worth recording:

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>  Matthew Arnold: one poem is called **Philomena** (= nightingale), and the introduction in that edition is by Sir Arthur **Quiller**-Couch (quiller = not-fully-fledged young bird).  
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>  Testament of Mary: I wondered whether it was the **Penguin** edition of that play.  
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>  Lore and language...: O**pie** (pie = magpie, near enough), **Peter** (first name of one of the two Opies who wrote the book; it denotes the call of certain birds), and **Iona** (first name of other author), the famous island sharing whose name is strongly associated with St **Columba** (meaning dove).
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I think your hobby might be

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>  [Scramblers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrambler)
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Reasoning

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>  Take the first letter of the first author name, if shown, otherwise take the last letter of the last name. Then rearrage:   
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>  **S** tephen Jay Gould   
>  **C** olm Tóibín   
>  **R** aymond Smullyan   
>  **A** EW Mason   
>  **M** atthew Arnold   
>  **B** ill Bryson   
>  **L** ewis Carroll   
>  **E** - Opi**e**   
>  **R** obin Skynner
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Additional hint

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>  I think there is an additional hint in the first paragraph where the OP says the pile is "unsorted". This suggests taking an anagram of some sort and that the intended word is actually *scrambled*
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