The Ideal Bookshelf

I stumbled across this website the other day. Jane Mount is an artist that paints people's bookshelves, their ideal ones anyway. If you think about it, your favorite books show who you really are. And seeing them all lined up together is "an intimate portrait," as Jane says.

This got me thinking, what would my ideal bookshelf look like?



Luckily, I'm home for Christmas and have access to all my family's books. I created my own "ideal bookshelf." It's a little heavy on the children's books, but whatever.

In no particular order:
1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Schaffer (I read this in one day on the beach this summer. A great, easy read.)
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (I wouldn't be Linda Connor's daughter if Jane Austen didn't make the list)
3. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
4. Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
5. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (Duh)
6. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
7. The Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace (Classics...even if they are from 1914)
8. A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz (Read it. I'm serious.)
9. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (The book AND movie are Connor family classics. Maybe it's the all girls thing or his abiding crush on Wynona Rider, but even my dad counts it as one of his faves)
10. Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski
11. Because of Winn-Dixie by  Kate DiCamillo ("...thank you for warm summer nights and candlelight and good food. But thank you most of all for friends. We appreciate the complicated and wonderful gifts you give us in each other. And we appreciate the task you put down before us, of loving each other the best we can..." A weeper, if you will.)
12. Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park ("My name is Junie B. Jones. The B stands for Beatrice. Except I don't like Beatrice. I just like B and that's all. These books cracked me up when I was little)
13. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
14. Meet Felicity by Valerie Tripp (Had to give a little shoutout to the American Girls)
15. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
16. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (My favorite book. Hands down. I've read it at least 10 times)
17. Anne of Green Gables books by L.M. Montgomery (My mom made me read these books, and I secretly loved them)
18. The Secret of Platform 13 by Sue Porter
19. Ballet Shoes by Noel Stretfield (Another old classic)


What would be on your ideal bookshelf?

Angelia Ballerina would be on my ideal bookshelf but they didn't fit on the actual bookshelf so they're just here