My Ideal Bookshelf

As a reader’s advisory specialist I am constantly asked “what are you reading and recommend”.  To me these are loaded questions. 

See, I love books.  Thus My Ideal Bookshelf is overflowing to the point of establishing its own library; build upon my own literary tastes obviously.  As an avid reader, I have been question on the amount of books I own and how I found time to read them all, why I need to keep them after I've finished them and where I plan on putting any new books I acquire.  I have also been accused of reading too much.  Which I find silly, and often reply that reading is much like a stay-cation to me, you get to virevisit it without the aggravation of packing.

Why do I love being a Reader’s Advisory Specialist?  I've loved books for as long as I can remember.  My affection for books began when I was a small, inquisitive and curious little girl.  Of course loving book didn't necessarily make me into a great reader and I wasn't that sort of reader who had her nose in a book every second of every day, although there have been times here and there.  I was more of a book aficionado.  I loved the feel of a book; the knowing that a great tale lived between its hard, protective covers.  I enjoyed the heft of a book and walking among them at a bookstore or when I visited the library.  The enjoyment I get from books grew as I did and as I read.  At first I treasured being read too; the words so easily opening a portal to faraway lands.  Then I valued knowing I could venture off on my own and loved the stories that took me to both real and fictionalized places that introduced me to characters both well-known and new.

There are hundreds of books on My Ideal Bookshelf and I cannot promise I'll be able to narrow it down to just a handful of favorites.  I’m not too sure it is possible to list just a few of the titles which have shaped, inspired and opened my eyes.  Different books at different points in my life have taught me lessons and have reminded me of old ones.  Picking favorites, whittling them down to a few bests of the best may be a lost cause and not for lack of trying on my part.

So here it goes my attempt at My Ideal Bookshelf, in no particular order of favoritism and just in case anyone is asking…

...And here are a few other's I'd like to add (I just couldn't find spine images to include them above).

Shutterbabe: Adventures in Love and War by Deborah Copaken Kogan

Apron Anxiety: My Messy Affairs in and Out of the Kitchen by Alyssa Shelasky

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

The Yellow Wall Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Like Life by Lorrie Moore

Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil by Deborah Rodriguez

Sold by Patricia McCormick

Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson (I enjoy everything by this author)

The Overnight Socialite by Bridie Clark

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi