Welcome my dear friends and readers to another Bookending Spring day! For the next 4 days our host is going to be Sam from Fictionally Sam. The posts were originally created by AJ @ For The Love of Diversity in Books, and if you saw the announcement on the BESpring official Twitter account, you know that Sam has taken over as host for the next four days. The first prompt today is a really interesting one, guys. I'm so excited to share with you
30 Books I’d Keep If I Were Marie Kondo
Now, you probably know who Marie Kondo is, and if you don't, basically she is a genius in the art of organizing living spaces. I swear, her laundry folding method saved my life and made my closet look Instagram-worthy if I were to be a life-style blogger and instagrammer! Her method is simple: keep anything that brings you joy, throw out the rest that is just clutter and meaningless.
I like this idea, and if I were brave enough to do it, I'd do so with my books as well. But I'm not, so today's post is going to be an exercise in imagination. I'm also going to be looking only and exclusively at my physical book collection. Let's get started!
1. The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom - One of the very first books I read during my 2nd year in University, many years ago, this has been a book that has changed my life. You'll hear me say that a lot over the course of today's post, but it's true. This book forced me to change the way I think about certain aspects of my life, and it's still in my heart today, after more than 10 years.
2. I can't have a list of books without including Marc Levy, and while I love all of his books, Seven Days For An Eternity is still my go-to book from his. A close second is My Friends, My Loves, which I also adore.
3. And since Marc Levy can't miss, Sophie Kinsella also can't be forgotten. Her book Can You Keep A Secret is still one of my favorites, and I am very excited to see the movie adaptation.
4. The Shakespeare Secret, or Interred With Their Bones, by Jennifer Lee Carrell, is one of my favorite mysteries ever. I think I'm going to re-read it soon, and in case you're wondering it would be my 4th reread of this book.
5. Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (3 books) is going to forever be a part of my shelves. I probably need to buy new copies, just because mine are really battered. They're over 15 years old, and they've went through 3 moves, and 2 rereads so they've seen some action. But I still remember the day I went to the bookstore and bought them with my allowance money, and no matter how frail they get, I won't ever be able to part with those editions.
6. I have a collection of books from all of the countries I visited so far, and I'm never going to part with them. For this reason, and because I truly loved the story, I'm going to be keeping Caraval by Stephanie Garber forever.
7. A book that's always brought a smile to my face even just by looking at it is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. The copy I read back when I was an itty bitty tween is at my grandmother's house, but the copy I have in my house is super special. It has my favorite Mr. Darcy on the cover. That's right, ladies and gents, Colin Firth himself. I'd have to be insane to give it up!
8. Next in the "I'm keeping this" list is Beautiful Creatures by Kamy Garcia and Margaret Stohl (4 books). I'd probably buy the matching first book in the series though, because right now my edition is the movie tie-in mass market paperback and while I love mass market paperbacks, it's too small and it doesn't fit the aesthetic of the series as a whole.
9. Also not going away is my entire Demonica series by Larissa Ione. I not only can't part with it, I can see myself doing a full reread in a few months, just because I love that series so, so much. That's 11 books, right there, and I am not giving up any of them.
10. Moving away from urban fantasy for a little bit, Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman will also stay on my shelf. I really loved this story more than I can say.
11. Belle de Jour: Diary of an Unlikely Call Girl by Belle de Jour is probably one of my favorite memoirs/diaries ever and I'll keep it forever and ever. Actually there's a lot of stuff I took from that book that I apply in my daily life, and I'm not talking about sex guys, get your minds out of the gutter. But the wardrobe thing for example. Belle mentions how she used to have separate clothes for work and her private life, even down to underwear, and I try to do that in my life, and I've found it helps get me in the "worker bee" mindset that I would have a hard time accessing in regular clothes.
12. I can't not mention one of my very first book crushes, The Hunchback by Paul Feval. The copy I read is in my grandma's book shelves, but I honestly would never part with that copy. EVER.
13. I need to get back to the realm of urban fantasy a little bit, and mention Styxx by Sherrilyn Kenyon. The entire Dark Hunter series is fantastic and I love it, but since I can only keep one book and not the entire series (*winks at Clo*) I'm picking Styxx.
14. Haunted by Kelley Armstrong is also staying. Ahtough I love the entire Women of the Otherworld series, Eve's book is the one that has stuck with me for a long time after I read it.
15. The last book I get to keep is The Last Watchman of Old Cairo by Michael David Lukas. This book is fantastic and I loved it so, so much. This is a book about family, history, family legacy, and I am very happy I got to read it.
So this are my 30 books I want to keep forever and ever. What about you guys, which books would you keep?
