Shelfie by Shelfie // Shelf 2A

Shelfie by Shelfie is a book tag started by Bibliobeth.  You can see her original post here (and her most recent Shelfie here) – and I’ve nabbed her image as well.  :-D  The concept is that you take a picture of a bookshelf, and then answer ten questions about the books on it.  I have about a billion bookshelves, so I thought that I would give it a go!

Well, it’s been several months since I did a Shelfie, as things have been a bit crazy around here!!  But today I have a bit of extra time, so I thought I would look at another shelf!

Today is a VERY EXCITING Shelfie, because we are actually moving on to a completely different bookshelf!  All of my earlier Shelfies the list of posts can be found here) have been from Shelf #1, but today we are actually moving on to Shelf #2!!

Here is the actual entire bookshelf – it’s part of the same original set of shelves that my husband built for me multiple houses ago.  At the time, we had a long, wide hallway that just begged to be filled with bookshelves (and books!).  He built them so they would go around and under the windows in the hallway, and would have plenty of room for books and for knickknacks (which I also have a lot of).  Although we’ve moved multiple times since then, we’ve always found a way to make the shelves work.  In our current house, they run along a wall in our lower room, framing the fireplace and then the big on (Shelf #3) on the other side of a picture window.

As an aside, we were just talking yesterday about expanding our bookshelves, so these are probably going to be built up to the ceiling and over the fireplace at some point this winter… somehow I seem to be running out of bookshelf room again!?

 

Anyway, here is the specific shelf we are looking at today – Shelf 2A!

And the questions!

1 – Is there any reason for this shelf being organized the way it is, or is it purely random?

As usual, these are arranged alphabetically by the last name of the author, as I do with the majority of my fiction books.  It makes it easier to find them!!

2 – Tell us a story about one of the books on this shelf that is special to you; i.e. how you got it, a memory associated with it, etc.

Hidden behind the other books in this picture is a very slim, very battered paperback called The Treasure is the Rose by Julia Cunningham.  This book was originally published in 1973, when my mom was 11, and she fell in love with the story.  I can remember reading this book with her, and was so touched when she gave it to me.  The whole book is kind of falling apart, but I still love it, and have such warm memories of the gentle Ariane who loved her roses and her husband so much.

3 – Which book from this shelf would you ditch if you were forced to and why?

Honestly, this shelf has a lot of books I feel kind of so-so about.  I think the top one to ditch would be the random play about Robert E. Lee that I’ve never even read – why do I even HAVE that book?!  Where did it come from??  My life is full of mystery.

4 – Which book from this shelf would you save in an emergency and why?

I would probably keep Time to Go House by Walter Edmonds (which I reread back in 2013).  I have a lot of memories of reading this with my mom when I was growing up and really love it.  So much so that this actually her copy, which I pilfered at some point (I believe I’ve mentioned that book pilfering is almost a sport in our family! :-D)

5 – Which book has been on this shelf for the longest time?

Oh wow, if it’s not Time to Go House, it’s probably Mandy, which I have owned for so long that I just scrawled “SARAH W” in huge letters inside of it with no date or other information haha  I was completely fascinated with that book as a child – I loved the concept of having a special, secret hideaway – maybe because I’m the oldest of six!!  (And I actually reread this one in 2013 as well, if you’re interested in more details!)

6 – Which book is the newest addition to this shelf?

Actually, I think Senior Year by Anne Emery.  I already owned a couple of the books from this series, so in order to read it properly, I of course needed to purchase more books!!  :-D

7 – Which book on this shelf are you most excited to read (or reread if this is a favorite shelf)?

This shelf is a weird collection of books that I’ve owned for a long time, but haven’t necessarily read lately – or ever!  I’ve been really wanting to reread The Robe for a long time now, but it’s such a big block of a book that I keep kind of putting it off, even though I remember really liking it when I read it back in high school.  It’s a fictional account of the soldier who helped crucify Jesus and ended up winning his robe when the men gambled for it while Jesus was dying on the cross.  The story itself was full of excitement and was very intense, as the early days of the Church weren’t exactly known for their relaxation and luxury!

8 – If there is an object on this shelf apart from books, tell us the story behind it.

There is a small decorative box on this shelf that I’ve owned for so long that its origins are lost in the mists of time.  The little stuffed cow came from my mom – I loved cows and have collected stuffed cows for years now.  This one is so tiny and adorable AND it’s brown and white: a Guernsey, my favorite!!

9 – What does this shelf tell us about you as a reader?

That I collect books that I may or may not ever read!  Out of the five Lloyd C. Douglas tomes, I’ve only read one!

– Choose other bloggers to tag or choose a free question you make up yourself.

Everyone should participate in this book tag as it is great fun!!

For a free question:

10 – Which of these books was the most fun to read?

I never got a chance to mention The Wicked Marquis, which is possibly my favorite story on this shelf.  It’s just so lighthearted and fun, with a truly delightful heroine and likable characters all around.

Special thanks to Bibliobeth for coming up with this fun tag!  Next time – Shelf 2B, where we see more of my tendency to collect lots of books by the same authors!  :-D

Shelfie by Shelfie // Shelf 1E

Last fall, Bibliobeth started a new book tag, Shelfie by Shelfie.  You can see her original post here (and her most recent Shelfie here) – and I’ve nabbed her image as well.  :-D  The concept is that you take a picture of a bookshelf, and then answer ten questions about the books on it.  I have about a billion bookshelves, so I thought that I would give it a go!

You guys aren’t going to believe this, but we are actually at the bottom of Shelf 1!

The second thing you won’t believe is that we actually reorganized the lower room, so when I do my next Shelfie, and you finally get to see Shelf 2, there will not be piles of junk surrounding it!  I am very excited about this.

Also, if you are interested in my past Shelfies, you can find the link to all of them here.

Anyway, for today, onto Shelf 1E, which you cannot even see in the picture of Shelf 1 because it is buried in random things that needed a place to live while we built our new storage loft.

And now, onto the questions!

1 – Is there any reason for this shelf being organized the way it is, or is it purely random?

As I have mentioned in the past, I tend to organize fiction in alphabetical order by the last name of the author when possible.  Sometimes I also will put a series of books together if they fit on a shelf particularly well.  So here we have my beautiful hardcover copies of the Chronicles of Narnia in a little spot just the right size, and then books whose authors’ names start with Burnett-Corbett.

2 – Tell us a story about one of the books on this shelf that is special to you; i.e. how you got it, a memory associated with it, etc.

There are actually several good ones on here, but I think that I will have to go with The Secret Garden and The Little Princess which my mother gave to me together.  They are both illustrated beautifully by Tasha Tudor, and when I was a girl we would all read these two books together every year, The Secret Garden in the early spring and The Little Princess in the winter.  I am much fonder of The Secret Garden because The Little Princess always seemed sadder.

3 – Which book from this shelf would you ditch if you were forced to and why?

Probably The Riddle of the Stone Elephant, which is a Bruce Campbell mystery.  I honestly have no idea why I purchased that book or even who Bruce Campbell is, and have never read it and probably never will if I’m quite honest.

4 – Which book from this shelf would you save in an emergency and why?

I feel like it’s a bit of a cheat to say The Secret Garden again, so this time I am going to go with Mr. Piper’s Bus.  This book is absolutely adorable about a bus driver who goes on a long holiday and collects an entire menagerie of pets on the way.  The illustrations are perfect and it’s one of those books that I believe is out of print as I never see it anywhere.

5 – Which book has been on this shelf for the longest time?

This is always a tricky question for me, as I have been collecting books for a very long time!!!  But, as so often happens, my earliest book is a gift from my mom, who definitely helped shape me into the book-hoarder I am today.  She gave me A Little Princess for Christmas in 1994, so I’ve had that book for 24 years!!

6 – Which book is the newest addition to this shelf?

Honestly, these are basically all oldies.  I think the newest one is The Case of the Fugitive Firebug by Scott Corbett.  I read his Inspector Tearle series a while ago (don’t be fooled, the “Inspector” is actually a teenager), and purchased this one secondhand at the time.

7 – Which book on this shelf are you most excited to read (or reread if this is a favorite shelf)?

There honestly aren’t any books that I am yearning to read on this shelf, although I do love them all!  Probably The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  I do love Narnia a great deal!

8 – If there is an object on this shelf apart from books, tell us the story behind it.

This is the bottom shelf, so I don’t have any knickknacks on this one.

9 – What does this shelf tell us about you as a reader?

That I have a great fondness for children’s books.

 – Choose other bloggers to tag or choose a free question you make up yourself.

I highly encourage everyone to give this lil Q&A a whirl, as it is great fun!

For a free question,

10 – In what order should the Chronicles of Narnia be read?

As you can see, my hardcover editions were published after it was mysteriously dictated that people should read Narnia in chronological order.  I think that that’s a bunch of hogwash.  These books flow together the best when read in published order, which is how I keep them shelved, because I’m passive-aggressive that way.  In general, I like to read series in published order first, and then later reread them in chronological order if it seems like it would be interesting.  There’s something very engaging about reading the ideas in the order that they were released from the author’s brain!

As always, thanks to Bibliobeth for coming up with this fun book tag.  And tune in next time to see Shelf 2!

Shelfie by Shelfie // Shelf 1D

Last fall, Bibliobeth started a new book tag, Shelfie by Shelfie.  You can see her original post here (and her most recent Shelfie here) – and I’ve nabbed her image as well.  :-D  The concept is that you take a picture of a bookshelf, and then answer ten questions about the books on it.  I have about a billion bookshelves, so I thought that I would give it a go!

So right now all of the books that are in the to-be-reviewed pile are parts of series that I’m still in the midst of reading.  I’ve discovered that it’s easier for me, as a general rule, to review series all in one go at the end, so I’m stalling on reviews right now – which means it’s the perfect time for another shelfie!

Shelf 1, surrounded by piles of stuff thanks to never-ending remodeling projects.

I’m still working my way down Shelf 1 – a list of all the shelfies I’ve done so far can be found here.

Here’s today’s shelf – Shelf 1D!

And here are the questions!

1 – Is there any reason for this shelf being organized the way it is, or is it purely random?

This shelf follows my regular pattern of shelving my fiction by the last name of the author.  This shelf all B’s, except as I’m looking at it, I’m noticing that somewhere along the line two C books got left behind!

2 – Tell us a story about one of the books on this shelf that is special to you; i.e. how you got it, a memory associated with it, etc.

My edition isn’t this cool.

Emerson Bennett’s “Tale of the Ohio Frontier,” titled Forest Rose, is a book that you’ve probably only heard of if you’re from my home local of Fairfield County, Ohio.  Written in 1848, my copy (which, honestly, I stole from my mom a long time ago… our family has a long and noble history of book snitching from one another) is a reprint from 1976, undertaken privately by the Business and Professional Women’s Club of Lancaster, Ohio.  While some of the bits of the book are true – there actually was a battle between settlers and Indians on a large hill located in what is now Lancaster – Bennett took a great deal of poetic license to write his dramatic tale wherein a beautiful young woman is kidnapped by the Indians and then rescued by her young beau, with the assistance of a colorful backwoodsman.  While the story is, at times, ridiculous, and is full of language/concepts that may be somewhat offensive to our more cultured sensibilities, it’s still a rollicking good tale that I haven’t read in many a year but hope to reread soon.

Rose Forester, aka Forest Rose, the heroine of the tale, is a popular name for everything from schools to streets around here.  The two hills, Flat Rocks and Standing Stone (now Mount Pleasant) are both city parks (half of Flat Rocks is also the Forest Rose Cemetery, and a beautifully haunting place to walk).  The book itself is so fun to read if you are from the area, to recognize landmarks and names that still carry on even 150 years after the book was originally published.

3 – Which book from this shelf would you ditch if you were forced to and why?

Probably one of the Patricia Beatty books.  While I do like her books, I don’t LOVE any of them.

4 – Which book from this shelf would you save in an emergency and why?

Possibly Family Grandstand by Carol Ryrie Brink.  That’s such a fun copy of a super happy little book.

5 – Which book has been on this shelf for the longest time?

A lot of these are books I have had for a long, long time.  This question made curious as to which one really had been around the longest!  While not ALL of them have dates in them, most of them do – and I seem to have acquired the majority of these books in 1998??  Not sure what happened twenty years ago to trigger extra book purchasing, but go past-me!

Anyway, the actual winner of the longest-owned book goes to one that you can’t even see in the picture because it is on the very far right and hidden behind the Thornton W. Burgess books – Racketty-Packetty House by France Hodgson Burnet (who wrote The Secret Garden and A Little Princess).  This is just a small picture book about dolls living in a dollhouse.  The notation says that Mom gave it to me in 1993, when I was but a mere child of 11.

6 – Which book is the newest addition to this shelf?

White Cat and Black Heart by Holly Black.  I read these books (along with the middle book, Red Glove, recently and really liked them.  There are a couple places I purchase books from on eBay, where if I buy four books, I get a 15% discount, so when I had another book I really “needed” a little bit ago, I threw these in, too, which means I actually saved money, right??

7 – Which book on this shelf are you most excited to read (or reread if this is a favorite shelf)?

Oooo this is tough, because looking through the books on this shelf made me realize that I actually want to reread several of these!!  I LOVE Carol Ryrie Brink and am always up for reading one of her books again.  Two of the other books are ones that I’ve read within the last year or so and liked so well that I purchased them, and would love to reread them again as well.  They’re kind of completely opposite books, but both totally recommended – A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond and Daisy in Chains by Sharon Bolton.

8 – If there is an object on this shelf apart from books, tell us the story behind it.

Actually, while I do usually have knickknacks around, this shelf is just books.  Although if you look closely at the top of the picture you’ll see the bottoms of some snow globes that are on the shelf above it – they’re on of our favorite souvenirs to collect!

9 – What does this shelf tell us about you as a reader?

That I hang on to books FOREVER.

10 – Choose other bloggers to tag or choose a free question you make up yourself.

I highly encourage everyone to give this lil Q&A a whirl, as it is great fun!

For a free question,

Do you have some shout-outs for any of the other books on this shelf?

This shelf is so full of gems that I feel like I have to at least mention a few of the other books that didn’t come up in other answers!!

The Pink Motel by Carol Ryrie Brink is really one of my favorites.  It’s such a funny and adorable story about a family that inherits a small motel in Florida, and the adventures that ensue.  I think this book may be on of the reasons that I’ve always dreamed of owning my own little motel!

Thornton W. Burgess’s books are also childhood favorites.  His stories, which he illustrated himself, are all about a neighborhood of woodland creatures and are just fantastic.

Finally, out of all of these books, I’ve probably read Magic in the Alley the most number of times.  A girl and her friend discover a magic box in an antique shop, and this leads to an entire summer of finding something magical in every new alley they explore.  I’ve always loved alleys – it’s my favorite way to really get a flavor of a neighborhood – and this book is a perfect blend of adventure and magic.

*****

That’s all for this edition!  Next time, Shelf 1E – the last of the shelves on Shelf 1!!

Shelfie by Shelfie // Shelf 1C

Last fall, Bibliobeth started a new book tag, Shelfie by Shelfie.  You can see her original post here (and her most recent Shelfie here) – and I’ve nabbed her image as well.  :-D  The concept is that you take a picture of a bookshelf, and then answer ten questions about the books on it.  I have about a billion bookshelves, so I thought that I would give it a go!

Well, it’s been quite a while since I have posted a shelfie – I went through a pretty long spell of having the blogging blues and have been struggling just to somewhat stay on top of book reviews!  But I am mostly caught up now and thought I would take a minute to present the latest Shelfie installment!!

Shelf 1 – excuse the piles of random stuff… remodeling never ends in this house! :-D

Currently, I am posting about Shelf #1, and have already looked at the top to shelves – 1A and 1B.  Today we’re on to Shelf 1C!!

1 – Is there any reason for this shelf being organized the way it is, or is it purely random?

My fiction is somewhat organized by author’s last name, but as you can see, these aren’t really linear shelves – my husband custom-built these shelves for me (marry a man who builds shelves, ladies!), purposely creating little cubbies and odd-shaped shelves so that they could hold both books and knickknacks.  So sometimes instead of going in strict author-order, I put in the books that fit… and that’s what’s happening here.  These are taller books, mostly by Marguerite Henry… because the shelf the rest of her books are on is a lot shorter!!!

2 – Tell us a story about one of the books on this shelf that is special to you; i.e. how you got it, a memory associated with it, etc.

As a girl, I loved horses and dogs and cows (although not a lot of cow books out there), and C.W. Anderson was one of my heroes.  (Actually, I named my cat after him – Clarence.)  I checked Twenty Gallant Horses out of the library ALL THE TIME.  I was completely enraptured by the stories of these thoroughbreds, and read them time and again.  Years later, I was at the library book sale… and the EXACT copy I had read as a child was in the discard pile!  I snatched it up for a quarter!  Honestly, it was somewhat bittersweet.  While I was pretty thrilled to get a childhood favorite for my permanent collection, it’s sad to me that this book isn’t in the library for some other young girl to love!

3 – Which book from this shelf would you ditch if you were forced to and why?

Oh gee, I guess Black Gold.  While I do love that book – especially the illustrations – it’s such a sad story!!

4 – Which book from this shelf would you save in an emergency and why?

Hmm.  I’m not really sure any of these are necessarily emergency worthy, but I think I would choose Misty of Chincoteague.  I reread it recently and was surprised that I enjoyed it even more as an adult than I did as a child.

5 – Which book has been on this shelf for the longest time?

Probably either Misty or Justin Morgan Had a Horse.  Both of those I’ve owned since I was probably around 10 – long enough ago that it was before I started writing my name and the date on the flyleaf!  I collected horse books for a long time, and these were some of my earliest library additions.

6 – Which book is the newest addition to this shelf?

These are honestly all kind of oldies.  Wagging Tails is probably the most recent purchase, though – I bought it a few years ago at an antique shop.

7 – Which book on this shelf are you most excited to read (or reread if this is a favorite shelf)?

These are all old favorites, but Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley is actually on my #20BooksofSummer list, so hopefully I’ll be getting to that one before September!!

8 – If there is an object on this shelf apart from books, tell us the story behind it.

I probably should have turned around the frisbee-catching cow before taking the picture so you could see her better.  :-D  This is one of my favorite knickknacks – my dad gave it to me a long time ago.  The title of the piece is “Daisy’s Dream” and it makes me grin every time I look at it.

9 – What does this shelf tell us about you as a reader?

That I had a definitely addiction to horse books as a child!!

10 – Choose other bloggers to tag or choose a free question you make up yourself.

I highly encourage everyone to give this lil Q&A a whirl, as it is great fun!

For a free question,

Tell more about the illustrators of the books on this shelf.

I just really feel like I need to at least mention the amazing artwork of Wesley Dennis, who illustrated the majority of the Marguerite Henry books, and C.W. Anderson, who did his own artwork for his books.  I love both of them so much, and still snap up any book I find that they’ve illustrated, regardless of whether or not I’m actually interested in the book.  Both artists do so much with simple line drawings, although Dennis also did many full-color illustrations as well.

I poured over their artwork as a child and yearned to be able to draw even half as well as either of these artists.  I still can only draw stick figures, but at least I have the joy of being able to study their illustrations whenever I want.

Wesley Dennis

Wesley Dennis

C.W. Anderson

C.W. Anderson – from the Billy & Blaze books, more childhood faves!

Shelfie by Shelfie // Shelf 1B

Last fall, Bibliobeth started a new book tag, Shelfie by Shelfie.  You can see her original post here – and I’ve nabbed her image as well.  :-D  The concept is that you take a picture of a bookshelf, and then answer ten questions about the books on it.  I have about a billion bookshelves, so I thought that I would give it a go!

Welcome to another edition of Shelfie by Shelfie! As I mentioned in my first post, I have roughly a million shelves.  I’ve started with what I consider to by Shelf #1, because it’s where my shelved-alphabetically fiction begins.  Last time I did the top shelf, and today we are onto the second!

This is Shelf 1 (we’re remodeling, so there is kind of stuff everywhere)

In case you missed the last Shelfie post, basically I’ll post the picture of the shelf, and then answer some questions about it.

Shelf 1B

1 – Is there any reason for this shelf being organized the way it is, or is it purely random?

For the most part, I keep my fiction shelved alphabetically by the last name of the author, in traditional library fashion.  There are, of course, exceptions, but this particular shelf is pretty true to method.

2 – Tell us a story about one of the books on this shelf that is special to you; i.e. how you got it, a memory associated with it, etc.

Oh wow, this is a tough one on this shelf, as there are some definite favorites here.  I love the Chronicles of Prydain so much, and C.W. Anderson was a childhood hero – I found those books at a library discard sale and was SO excited.  But I think I’m going to have to focus on Mr. Popper’s Penguins, which is honestly just a ridiculous story that I loved so much as a kid.  I very clearly remember Dad reading this one out loud to us kids and just how overwhelmingly silly the story was, but in a really fun way.  The illustrations by Robert Lawson also tell so much of the story.

3 – Which book from this shelf would you ditch if you were forced to and why?

Probably Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander, mainly because I’ve owned it for years and never gotten around to reading it.

4 – Which book from this shelf would you save in an emergency and why?

I’m not hardcore attached to any specific edition of a book on this shelf, but probably one of the hardcover C.W. Anderson books, as they are the actual ones I used to check out of the library as a little girl!

5 – Which book has been on this shelf for the longest time?

I think the book I’ve owned the longest is The Mysterious Schoolmaster by Karen Anckarsvard.  You can’t see very well in the picture, but there are several books by her.  Set (and written) in Sweden, four of the books take place in the same town and involve some of the same characters, starting with Schoolmaster, which focuses on an unlikely duo of two children who end up helping to catch a spy.  This book is just so fun and happy and full of warm family moments.

6 – Which book is the newest addition to this shelf?

The bright book towards the far right is actually a soft, leather-bound edition of Persuasion that I purchased with my birthday money last year (but of course haven’t gotten around to reading yet…)

7 – Which book on this shelf are you most excited to read (or reread if this is a favorite shelf)?

It’s been a pretty long time since I’ve read any of these books, so I would be happy to pick up any of them.  Talking about The Mysterious Schoolmaster makes me want to read those books again, though!

8 – If there is an object on this shelf apart from books, tell us the story behind it.

Since these tend to be knickknack shelves as well as bookshelves, there always seem to be other objects!

The dragon picture is fancy-pants artwork created by my very own sister, who drew the dragon, and our cousin, who created the background.  I love that lil two-headed dragon!  The collie is a childhood companion who has traveled with me through the years – I’ve always had a soft spot for collies and border collies!  The rock in front of the collie is actually from England – a friend brought it back for me (I’ll get there myself someday!).  The teacup is my very own from girlhood – Mom used to have fancy tea parties with us (brothers included) and everyone had their own cup and saucer and we sipped hot chocolate and ate Little Debbies that had been cut into small pieces and felt very grown up.  The other photos are from our honeymoon in the Keys.

9 – What does this shelf tell us about you as a reader?

Um I guess that I like to keep things organized, and also that I hang onto to random little things that have happy memories associated with them.

10 – Choose other bloggers to tag or choose a free question you make up yourself.

Of course hopefully everyone will join in, as this is a super fun way to see everyone’s book collections!!  For a free question –

What is a quote that you love from one of these books?

I really love Alexander’s Prydain Chronicles, and Taran Wanderer may be my favorite of the five.  As Taran wanders through the country, meeting people and trying to understand life, he comes across many different philosophies.  One of the reminders that I love best is –

If I fret over tomorrow, I’ll have little joy today.

Shelfie by Shelfie // Shelf 1A

Last fall, Bibliobeth started a new book tag, Shelfie by Shelfie.  You can see her original post here – and I’ve nabbed her image as well.  :-D  The concept is that you take a picture of a bookshelf, and then answer ten questions about the books on it.  I have about a billion bookshelves, so I thought that I would give it a go!

Luckily, my husband is pretty awesome at building shelves, and about three houses ago we had a really long, wide hallway that seemed perfect for bookshelves – and it was.  Except we were renters, which meant we were moving pretty much annually at the time.  The shelves have come with me for every move since then (and since we own this house, here’s to hoping they stay where they are for many years to come!), but haven’t always fit together in the same order as they did in that original hallway.  Still, they are pretty awesome, designed for both books and knickknacks.  So I’ll post a picture of the overall bookshelf, and then focus on just one of those shelves – hence the 1A.  ;-)

You’ll have to excuse the clutter – we’re still doing renovating (neverending) and this room is the current catch-all.  I’m sure taking these pictures will also inspire me to organize the clutter a bit, right??  (ha!)

Okay, here is today’s shelf – on to the questions!

 1 – Is there any reason for this shelf being organized the way it is, or is it purely random?

The majority of my fiction books are shelves in alphabetical order by author’s last name, with some exceptions here and there.  I look at amazing pictures of people shelving books by size or color or other aesthetically-pleasing methods and I’m jealous, both of their creativity and the fact that if I did that I would never be able to find a book again because there are just TOO MANY.  :-D  So yes, alphabetical – and this shelf takes us from Adjordan to Alexander.

However, there are some exceptions to my alphabetical rule, and the three books under the moose are an example – those are three of the four Bayern books by Shannon Hale (the first one seems to have wandered off to introduce someone else to the magic of this series).  Sometimes books just fit in certain spots in the shelves!

2 – Tell us a story about one of the books on this shelf that is special to you; i.e. how you got it, a memory associated with it, etc.

I think I’m going with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (by Joan Aiken) for this one.  I have so many memories of reading this with my Mom!  We used to read it together every winter, and even when I was too young to really ‘get’ the story, I still loved the feelings it invoked.  This is the first book I can remember reading that really had an ‘atmosphere’ – just reading it made me feel cold and made the room seem a little darker!

It’s a tough question, though, because I also have a deep attachment to all of the Louisa May Alcott books, especially Eight Cousins and its sequel, Rose in Bloom.

3 – Which book from this shelf would you ditch if you were forced to and why?

Well, it seems like the logical answer would be “one of my many copies of Little Women,” especially since the two copies on that shelf are not actually the only copies of that book that I own.  But that’s not the answer at all, because every copy of Little Women that I own has its own story and its own special place in my heart!  :-D  I suppose I would ditch one of the two Ginny Aiken books, mainly because I haven’t actually read them yet – picked them up at booksales somewhere along the line – so I don’t have an emotional attachment to them (yet).

4 – Which book from this shelf would you save in an emergency and why?

Probably Rose in Bloom, which teaches me something new every time I read it.  That particular copy, as you can see from its rather battered condition, has been with me many a year.

5 – Which book has been on this shelf for the longest time?

I’m going to interpret that as “Which book have I owned the longest?” since they’ve all been there since I moved here.  I’ve had most of these books a long time, but the red copy of Little Women (illustrated by Jesse Wilcox Smith – gorgeous) – I received from my mom for my 13th birthday, so it’s been with me for over 20 years!

6 – Which book is the newest addition to this shelf?

It’s actually the skinny blue book to the left of Jane Fairfax.  The blue book is a sequel to The Cat-Sitter Mystery (which I’ve owned forever, maybe even longer than Little Women), The Copy-Cat Mystery, which I just recently purchased when I was rereading The Cat-Sitter Mystery – I didn’t even know there was a sequel until this year!

7 – Which book on this shelf are you most excited to read (or reread if this is a favorite shelf)?

Wow, this shelf actually has a lot of favorites, as I really love Louisa May Alcott’s works, and the Bayern books are fantastic – Dominion was also a gripping read, of course Wolves of Willoughby Chase is always perfect, and the last book on the shelf is actually the third book in Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain, which I also dearly love!  But if I really, really had to choose, probably Little Women as it has actually been quite a while since I’ve read it, and it’s a book that means a great deal to me.

8 – If there is an object on this shelf apart from books, tell us the story behind it.

These actually do tend to be knickknacky shelves as well, so there are indeed non-book objects…  the jar contains rose petals from various momentous events in my life; the stuffed bunny was a childhood favorite; the white dish has a cow on it because I collect cows; I also collect giraffes; the glass jars seem to have just appeared from nowhere as I honestly have no recollection as to where they came from or why I have them (apparently I just like dusting things); the framed motto was a gift from my mom; and the moose (which is incredibly soft!) was purchased on our trip to Colorado in 2015, when Tom and I saw our first wild moose!

9 – What does this shelf tell us about you as a reader?

Umm…  well, probably that I like things to be somewhat orderly, I have a love for Louisa May Alcott, and I don’t mind owning more than one copy of the same book.  :-D

10 – Choose other bloggers to tag or choose a free question you make up yourself.

Hopefully many of you will choose to participate in this fun book tag – and make sure you tag Bibliobeth (and me!) when you do!

For a free question – Which of these books do you think everyone should read?

I think I am going to go with An Old-Fashioned Girl for this one.  Polly’s adventures have gotten me through a lot of my life, and especially gave me encouragement and challenged me when I was single.  I love how she is independent and industrious, but still so kind and womanly.  And of course Polly ends up with a Tom as well.  :-D