Bookshelf Tag || 2025
12 questions about my bookshelf
: 🌕 : SPOILER ALERT : 🌕 :
Over the years, I have amassed a small library. Nothing that is necessarily gargantuan, daunting, or immense; rather, my collection holds such deep meaning that it fills large spaces in my home. Although I have not had the chance to keep every book I’ve ever read & loved close with me, as I’ve aged, I have found the intentional collection of stories worthy of all the memories woven into their binding.
Reading Creature is a space where I put the effort of my thoughts into words, & where I remain shadowed by their ink. This is intentional. I prefer to remain a faceless writer whose posts, alone, offer insight into their person. The purpose, after all, is the reviews. Yet, every now & then I am inclined to peer through the tombstone, leaving something of myself behind. Perhaps for a future eye who might as yet have found this space; perhaps for mine own eyes who, as the colour shifts to welcome a final dawn, might find this eclipse of my person a particularly classic reunion.
Throughout my writing, the reader—whether myself, my dear friends, those staunch supporters, or the stranger—may have glimpsed through the obsidian. I leave you here with another opportunity to do so, which, in part thanks to her having done so herself, I collected from Kristin Kraves Books. With 12 questions that resound the metallic frame of the carrier of my collection, a few new titles & unsuspecting chosen favourites will see the blue light of day. Let’s begin.
(1) A LIBRARY BOOK
I have always been a staunch supporter of libraries. With that comes respect for the institutions themselves, meaning that I have never huddled a borrowed book to keep it. Therefore, I do not have a library book in my collection.
(2) A BOOK YOU RECEIVED AS A GIFT
I fear some of my answers might veer into redundancy, for my voracity of the written word was something given to me, rather, something that rose like the dawn where a river awaited its greeting. So many of the books I own have been gifted to me & even those that I have found later in life, through cataloging my childhood memories, were once gifts too. Among these, I include Ainslie Hogarth’s “Motherthing” (2022), which includes a very lovely signature & kind message from the author herself.
(3) A BOOK FROM YOUR CHILDHOOD
I am rather curious about publishing trends that saw their day when I was only just learning to walk. I look back at my life & find that the sheer magnitude of the books I had at my disposal can hardly be replicated. Some of the books I adored above all others are now out of print. With a bit of grease on the wheel of my efforts, I was reunited with Ann Herbert Scott’s “On Mother’s Lap” (1972).
(4) A MAGICAL BOOK
I am humbled to admit that I have few books, if any, that I feel accurately fit into this prompt. This has left me thinking. Have I ever read a book about magic spells, potions, & wishes? I cannot call to mind any book that has been cradled by my hands that explored the phenomenon of magic in its purest form. Perhaps you think my answer a little silly, for indeed, the prompt could mean anything. I cannot rightly claim one book over the others that has been a magical experience, but I can include Emme Lund’s “The Boy with a Bird in His Chest” (2022), as the story is woven through a lens of magical realism.
(5) A ROMANTIC BOOK
This prompt gave me pause. I’ve surely read novels that feature romantic love; I’ve read novels that feature love as a broad theme, but choosing just one seems strange. Indeed, when I analyze my shelves, I note that Natalie Jenner’s “Bloomsbury Girls” (2022) is a relevant inclusion, but so too might Nellie Hermann’s “The Season of Migration” (2015) appear to be a justified choice. I rest easy knowing that I have more diversity on my shelves than I might have otherwise thought.
(6) A STEAMY BOOK
I have certainly made clear my inability to read erotic books. However, back when the romance genre was somewhat of a mystery to me, I held a small flame of hope that there would be a book that proved the pessimistically judgmental critics wrong. During my quest, one that has yet to know success, mind you, I found myself reading Samantha Young’s book, “Much Ado About You” (2021). Although we were not the perfect match, Young’s book was the first steamy-style romance that I read that did not make me want to toss the book into the trash. For this reason, it remains on my shelf, all these years later.
(7) AN OLD BOOK
I am very grateful to my mom for the literary prowess she fostered in me growing up. The bookshelves in my childhood home were filled with a variety of fiction & philosophical works, each leaving me with a feeling of appreciation for the reader who kept them safe. I have always considered myself immensely lucky to have been born into a home where literature was valued & within which reading was something a person appreciated. Through my young eyes, I viewed the thick books my grandfather kept beside his glass of Scotch as tender companions, knowing as I did how much time he spent in their company. This regard for the investment one puts forth in books has left me particularly tenderhearted towards them. On my shelves today, I have some of the books I admired so much on my mother’s shelves, among them, the Reader’s Digest special edition of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ “The Yearling” (1938).
(8) A BOOK THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY
I do not necessarily read books that other readers would classify as “happy” stories. That is to say, the books that line my shelves & those I add to my pile of desired reads would not be recommended reading for a person who wanted a boost to their spirit or was looking for material that would soften their impression of the world. I do, however, own books that have left me glad to have read them. One might ask what distinguishes a good book from one that leaves me happy to have read it. Indeed, I struggle to make clear what those factors might be. I suppose that these books, those that result in a happiness to have read them, often leave me somewhat changed. An example of this would be Christopher Isherwood’s “A Single Man” (1964), & Jacqueline Harpman’s “I Who Have Never Known Men” (1995).
(9) A BOOK THAT MAKES YOU EMOTIONAL
Finally, a question whose answer I had at the ready. When I first met Enger on the page, I knew I had chanced upon something special. With all the patience I could muster, I paced my reading of his books. Not long ago, I finally allowed myself to read another book & during my time with the printed pages, I began to lose touch with the world around me. Every day, my thoughts wandered back to the characters, to the snowmounds in their backyard, to the King James Bible, & the sound of the wood creaking as the story moved through it. Leif Enger’s “Peace Like a River” (2001) brought me to a place of reflection, I felt involved & invested in the story as I have seldom been before.
(10) A BOOK WHOSE ENDING YOU DISLIKE
Although, as I am writing this post few weeks have passed since this book was added to my library shelves, it suits the question too well to ignore. I readily admit that Jones’ work has not been for me. I have at times felt that his stories are intriguing or spooky, but only ever from afar. As I near the page, a quirkiness shines through & I find it to be deeply off-putting. In early 2025, he published a horror that focused on the Massacre of the Marias River & the intricate & long-standing effects of genocide, while including a vengeful vampire. Throughout much of the body of the text, I admired the flow & appreciated what the author was trying to do, but come the end, this same author tossed everything out a window into a woodchipper of corny, chronically online immaturity. I felt immeasurably disappointed by the end of Stephen Graham Jones’ “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” (2025).
(11) A BOOK YOU WISH HAD ILLUSTRATIONS
Truthfully, I have never read a book that I wish had illustrations. I cannot think of a single instance in which a story was not acceptable to me as it was. Indeed, I can admit that there are times when I feel a story might do well in a visual format, such as presented in film or television, but I cannot recall an instance in which I felt an illustration would heighten the quality of the book.
(12) A BOOK OR GENRE YOU LOVE READING WHEN IT’S RAINING
There is certainly no end to the books I want to read. I do not necessarily prefer reading a specific genre during certain days, seasons, or when the weather presents itself in a certain way. I find that rain or shine, my mind always longs for the wickedly well-thought-out horror of the world. When the rain visits me next, I hope to revisit John Langan’s “The Fisherman” (2016) or Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus” (1818). That is to say, my mind longs for a horror, a Lovecraftian malevolence, or a gothic morbidly penned into the shape of a story.
Until next time,
C. x