My Bookshelf, part one

Image taken from here

Considering I am a reader, this blog topic was surprisingly difficult for me. Partly because, due to limited space, I really don't even HAVE a "bookshelf" right now, just a box in the closet where I keep a select few books that I just couldn't bear to part with. I am the kind of reader who doesn't usually read a book more than once, and I continue picking up new books, searching for another adventure. Still, I fall in love-with the characters, the places, the ideas within a book, and cannot see it go. I also dream that someday my daughters will read the books I have saved, or I will read the books aloud to them. I realize this may be a bit unrealistic. So, in an ideal world, my bookshelf really could  look like this image on the right:

I have started a board on Pinterest to collect images of titles I wish I owned. Perhaps I haven't saved them because I currently do not have the space for them, or maybe I borrowed the book from the library (or my own personal library-Mom), or maybe I read it on my kindle, but want to own a hard copy (because those are always better). Whatever the reason, this board is still currently hugely lacking in titles. There are just way too many books I have loved to remember all the titles and collect them there. Usually it's a long process of re-discovering the book somewhere and then remembering to come back and pin it.

Anyways, I am a reader of a wide variety of books and genres, but ones that play with my emotions capture my heart the most, as I think you can tell by taking a look at the books I have saved for the future. My current box of books includes these titles:

I do own all the books in the Harry Potter Series, by J.K. Rowling, but just chose the first two to represent them here. If you have yet to read Harry Potter-do it. Do it now. I don't care if it is one of those books that are just too "common" for you, or if you think you don't like fantasy books, or if you're afraid of wizards. Whatever the reason, I promise you, it will be worth your time. Situated in post civil war America The Help , by Kathryn Stockett, is written in the viewpoint of two black women and one white woman. Both of the black women are maids working for their white "masters" (no longer being owners) as citizens of the "lower class", dealing with the confusing and often conflicting worlds of those who work in such intimate settings. The white woman, Skeeter, is a new college graduate with a degree in journalism who has just returned home and cannot seem to fit within the social guidelines her mother and her friends expect from her. Seemingly on very different paths, the three women band together on a project that will risk their very lives and open the eyes of many around them. The Last Valentine, by James Michael Pratt, is a love story like no other. A woman says goodbye to her Navy pilot husband and then proceeds to wait for him to return home for the next 50 years-until the day she receives the last valentine he ever sent her. Sounds very blase based on my description, but just read it. ;) The very best book Jodi Picoult has written in the history of ever (IMHO): My Sisters Keeper. A tear jerking story with a surprising twist at the end. It is about a little girl who was conceived specifically to save her dying older sister from cancer and her fight for the rights to her own body. Sounds creepy, I know, but you'll just have to trust me on this one. Seriously. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hesseini. It's been so long since I've read this book I cannot clearly remember what it was about. Two little boys, one the son of a servant, the other the son of the rich man and their friendship, betrayal, and redemption....or something like that. A story any high schooler could identify with, and especially anyone who has ever been ostracized, singled out, picked on, teased, bullied would be Please Stop Laughing at Me, by Jodi Blanco. I read it in 11th or 12th grade and cried and cried.... tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom is one of those uplifting books that will seriously change your life. It is one of the few books I have chosen to read more than once. A struggling young man visits his old {favorite} college professor on his death bed and learns more lessons from this sweet, wise old man than anyone could ever imagine. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins- read the first book, then stop. I promise you you will enjoy the series much better this way. This book shocked me and tore at my heart. It is a book about sisterhood, love, loss, and humanity. Somebody Else's Kid by Torey Hayden is here to represent all Torey Hayden books. Torey Hayden is a real teacher working in a real classroom full of troubled students. She is the teacher to the children who are unteachable-the last ditch effort, you could say. Someplace for the children everyone else has given up on- and she shares their stories with a heart so big, and a will so powerful, you cannot help but be amazed. From Christmas to Christmas. A collection of short stories centered around a Christmas theme and taking place within the Laestadian Lutheran religion (which I am a part of). The Louis L'amour book is actually technically part of my husbands bookshelf, unlike me he reads the same books over and over until they are memorized, and then reads them again-Louis' are his favorite. He also keeps Vince Flynns and books in the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. I wanted to have them represented here because sometimes they are exactly the kind of light read I need to get through in one night without really thinking at all. :) And, The Nice Girl Syndrome by Beverly Engel. A self-help book that, though I haven't completed it and read it in starts and stops (which is why I still have it),  has really helped me grow into a stronger, more confident person. Of course, no bookshelf is really complete without including the books on the nightstand-I don't have room on mine to hold all of the books I have collected to "read later", but it does always hold one I am reading or waiting to read-currently we are in the waiting stage, but it comes highly recommended by my mom, and she is my favorite go-to place for recommendations, and so I anticipate adding it to my "must own someday" books. The top two books are the ones on my nightstand: 

What book are you into right now?

**I apologize to Sofia B. if she was hoping for a recommendation for a new book to read, I doubt she will find one here. :)

Challenge Post Topic: The Books On Your Bookshelf. Challenged by Sofia.