The Bare Your Bookshelf Tag

I was tagged by Audra @ Audra’s Book Blabbing to do the “Bare Your Bookshelf” tag! You can read her post here. Thank you Audra!

• A book you own but haven’t read yet: 

I actually don’t have very many of these! Since I use the public libraries around me so frequently (which is a definite perk of working in a library), it’s actually pretty rare for me to spend money on a book if I haven’t already read it and know that I love it. But, there are a few that have snuck in somehow, including The Carols of Christmas by Andrew Gant. I have started to read this a few times, and I really want to get through it, but I never make it very far. I started reading it again recently for A Literary Christmas reading challenge, so maybe I will actually finish this before the year is out! At the moment I’m only on page 30.

• Books your friends love:

This is tricky. I know a lot of my English major friends appreciated the classics just as much as I do, but I don’t know which ones they love. So, I’m just going to vaguely reference “the classics” on my shelves.

• Books by an author you love:

Okay, but, I have so many of these. Isn’t this basically the point of a personal book collection?? I guess I’ll go with Sarah Sundin, as I think I own more of her books than any other contemporary author. You can’t go wrong with any of her books, but of the ones I personally own, Through Waters Deep is my favorite. However, I don’t own any of her Wings of Glory trilogy, and those are my ultimate favorites.

• Books at the bottom of your TBR:

Again, I don’t actually own very many of these. My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead was a rare impulse buy from a library book sale a few years ago, and I still don’t know when I will get around to reading it.

• Books with color in the title:

I had to go sit in front of my shelves and stare for a while to figure this one out. Here’s what I came up with: And the Bride Wore White by Dannah Gresh, Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery, and Under the Lilacs by Louisa May Alcott. Honorable Mention: Saffy’s Angel by Hilary McKay, because Saffy’s full name is Saffron.

• Books set somewhere you would like to visit:

Hmm…I have a handful of sci-fi books set in space, and I’ve always had a casual interest in space. Nothing in this says it has to be realistic, so I’m going to go with The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury because I would like to visit Mars.

• Most collected author

Either Louisa May Alcott or Gene Stratton-Porter. My GSP books are mostly put away in a box, so I can’t count them right now, so Louisa May Alcott is my most collected and displayed author. Here’s a picture of those:

• Mismatched Series

I don’t have any that are significantly mismatched, but technically my Selection series is mismatched. The first two are paperback, the third hardback. I don’t have either of the latter two, just the original trilogy.

• Books you love, but don’t remember well:

Again, most of the above Louisa May Alcott books. I have vague memories of most of them, but I only remember the whole story of a few. I know I loved each when I read it, though.

• How many books do you have?:

This is not a realistic request for most readers 🤣 I have no idea how many books I actually own, and I am not going to go through all of the boxes I have to count them. I have approximately 100 on my quick-access shelves, plus at least two boxes put away, and a handful scattered around the house. Okay, maybe more than a handful. And another box of music books, if you want to count those too.

• Is your shelf everything you want it to be?

I’m not entirely sure what this question is getting at. I mean, of course there are more and prettier or more unique editions of books that I would like to have on my shelves, but reading isn’t about collecting the physical shell of paper and ink; it’s about discovering new locations, collecting adventures, and sharing what you learn with those around you. I am totally okay with the way my shelf is now, but I am also excited to see how it will continue to change over time.

That’s all of the questions! I tag anyone reading this who hasn’t been tagged by someone but wants to do it!

Until the next chapter,

Jana