Books Through Time
My bookshelf, aka my favorite piece of furniture in my house, has been through a lot the past few months. Between repairs, cleaning, and a new organizational process that my roommate swears no one will understand but me, I have noticed some things haven’t changed. There are some books that have been there since I was around 16. Some have stayed for sentimental purposes, others because of the emotions and the characters that I can’t bear to say goodbye to.
One example of this is The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen. Now, I must confess that my original copy with its green duct tape covering the spine holding it together disappeared to a cousin a few years ago, but I immediately bought another one because this book will always belong on my shelf. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I don’t read books that are sad, but this one always stands the test of time. It’s not sad in the sense of John Green, but more so about how we process grief. When I first read this book as a teen, I fell in love with Macy and her new crew of friends. I could understand her grief of losing her father and discovering that being perfect doesn’t make things okay. To this day this book still takes my breath away with its warmth, emotions, and friendship.
While I was in my junior year of college, I discovered Rainbow Rowell and she has stayed on my shelf no matter the format. It started with Fangirl. I had never read a book where I identified with a character so quickly. Everything Cath experienced with being a fan of a series that had such a major impact on your life and its ending, I can relate to. I’m experiencing it now and it is not fun. It was also the first book I read that talked about the experience of fanfiction and its readers and writers. It was nice to finally get the acknowledgement that we exist!
The last book I can never let go is North of Beautiful by Justina Chen. This book helped me so much with my self-confidence when I was in high school. The main character has a “flaw” on her face and it is all people can notice when they look at her. Reading about her journey to understanding what others see as something bad to appreciating what makes you unique still gets to me. The author wrote this in a beautiful way that is still a quick but meaningful read.
This is one of the reasons I buy my favorite books. It’s nice to revisit old friends and to learn new things about their journey. In a few years, I’m probably gonna have to buy another bookshelf. But that’s okay, just means more books!
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