My Bookshelf

Last summer, I bought a new, six foot tall bookshelf. I am really proud of my bookshelf, as it is not secondhand, or old, or cheap, and is super nice. I thought it would take me ages to fill it. I was wrong.

There are six shelves. The bottom shelf is half full of DVDs (CSI Vegas, Miami, New York, should have Gilmore Girls, but it disappeared) and the other half is full of hardcover books. The shelf above is filled with DVDs (Friends, How I Met Your Mother, Bones, Office, Pushing Dasies, Veronica Mars, Modern Family, Glee, Chuck, and assorted movies). The shelf above that one is full of hardcover or full sized paperback novels, and the two above that one are filled with pocket sized paperbacks. The top shelf has a few picture albums in it, but if it gets too full, the cat will flick everything off of it.

When I first got my bookshelf, I collected all my books from the nooks and crannies of my house, got very creative, and managed to fit everything in. Since then, I have had to get increasingly more creative. In the last couple months since I last reorganized the bookshelf, I have probably bought an extra thirty or so books that are not going to fit on the bookshelf.

I am quite unapologetic about liking romance novels- I am guaranteed my happy ending, and most of the authors I like are guaranteed to get me to laugh. Some recommendations from my bookshelf:

Lisa Kleypas: I own her entire backlist. She writes funny stories and her female characters have minds of their own. Most of her novels are set in Regency England, though her contemperary series is super good and each book explores a different issue (Sugar Daddy, Blue Eyed Devil, and Smooth Talking Stranger). Her Wallflower Series is excellent (all four titles have seasons in the titles), followed by the Hathoway series, which I think is better than the Wallflower series, but to have the timeline in order, read the Wallflower series first. The Hathoway series titles all have times of day in the title. Dreaming of You is also excellent.

Julia Quinn: I also own her entire backlist. She also writes funny stories set in the Regency timeperiod with strong female characters- the Bridgerton series is excellent. When I read her books, I am often laughing out loud.

JK Rowling- Who doesn't love Harry Potter? (And here you thought it would all be romances.) I love the detailed world and funny side characters and journey that Harry takes through the books.

Robyn Carr- The Virgin River series, while perhaps needing some editing to cut out some excess detail, is enjoyable, and always an autobuy for me. This is a series about a small northern California town and the romances often have the townspeople being side characters.

Kristin Hannah- While she is a midlist author and it is hard to find any of her books that aren't recently out, I enjoy her contemperary stories, usually set in a small town with characters that are deeply attached to their (often dysfunctional) families.

Diana Gabaldon- LOVE LOVE LOVE her stories. It requires a certain amount of committment to read- it usually takes me a few days to get through one when most take me a few hours, but the main characters are so likeable, and the historical details so detailed, and the supporting characters just as likeable, and a story that doesn't shirk from the unhappy side of life. Not recommended for people who don't like long stories or people who don't like reading about bad things happening to good people. Recommended to everyone else.

Nora Roberts- I don't have her whole backlist. However, her stories are always enjoyable, and but I especially love her Bride series (easily recognized by the bridal themed covers) about a group of friends who own a wedding planning company together.

Candace Camp- Another funny Regency era author with strong female characters (sense a theme yet?) Definately an auto-buy for me.

Sabrina Jeffries- Very well written characters and well developed plots, and also an autobuy for me. Her School for Hieresses series is very good, I am in the middle of collecting that one now.

I also have a bunch of Linda Lael Miller and Susan Mallory books. I have also just been introduced to Anne Gracie and Celeste Bradley who I am enjoying very much. Laura collects Karen Kingsbury novels and I want to get Dee Henderson's O'Malley series.

See why we lack the space? Most of these authors we buy every book for and have their entire backlist. Next time I arrange the bookshelf I will have to get super creative.