My Ideal Bookshelf

I’ve been reading/flipping through My Ideal Bookshelf (edited by Thessaly La Force) over the past few days, and it has made me wonder what my ideal bookshelf would look like.

My Ideal Bookshelf surveyed more than one hundred different creative people (artists, authors, chefs, designers, architects, dancers, filmmakers, etc.) and asked them to “select a small shelf of books that represent you–the books that have changed your life, that have made you who you are today, your favorite favorites”.

With that in mind, here’s Current Me*’s Ideal Bookshelf (in (mostly) alphabetical order by author’s last name):

• Turn Right at Machu Picchu – Mark Adams
• Barb Wire – John Arcudi
• Naughts and Crosses – Malorie Blackman
• Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
• The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Brida – Paulo Coehlo
• So You Want To Be A Wizard – Diane Duane
• Term Limits – Vince Flynn
• My Side of the Mountain – Jean Craighead George
• Devil on My Back – Monica Hughes
• The Geek Feminist Revolution – Kameron Hurley
• Casta Painting – Ilona Katzew
• The Jungle Book – Rudyard Kipling
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis
• Embassytown – China Mieville
• The Woman Who Rides Like A Man – Tamora Pierce
• Thief of Time – Terry Pratchett
• The Golden Compass – Philip Pullman
• The Westing Game – Ellen Raskin
• The Flight: Confessions of an Argentine Dirty Warrior – Horacio Verbitsky
• Star Wars: The Last Command – Timothy Zahn
• Giant Book of Questions and Answers
• The Good Housekeeping Cookbook

and, because conceptualizing, co-editing, designing, and publishing it taught me a lot about myself,

• Catalysts, Explorers & Secret Keepers: Women of Science Fiction

What would your ideal bookshelf look like?

* I’m not sure whether Past Me would or Future Me will concur exactly with this list.