What’s on my bookshelf?

One thing I have been asked by people in the past is, “What books got you to read when you were younger?” or “Can you recommend any books for teenagers/young girls/middle school boys for book reports/etc.” As I publish young adult novels currently, those are mostly what I get asked about. I also get the “What are you reading currently?” and “What attracts you to certain books?”

So, I am going to put it here, on my blog. I am starting a new weekly series: “What’s on my bookshelf?” Looking at both my physical and digital bookshelves, I’ll talk about what I am planning on reading in coming weeks. I’ll discuss already-read books and what I liked about them. I’ll also tell you about the books that I read and liked growing up (though, I have to admit, some of these books are currently in a couple large boxes, since I don’t have enough room for shelves in my apartment).

So … let’s get started.

I’ll start with my Kindle app on my iPad this week. (I have the first generation iPad, and I’m not giving it up anytime soon, just so you know.)

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

My younger brother has already read this book, and he said that, while we both liked the movie, I needed to read the book.

While zombies are about the only “monster” movies that can scare the crap out of me, this idea was different. It was written in the 1950s, and inspired films like “Night of the Living Dead.” Granted, the bad guys in this book are more like vampires than zombies, but they are at least similar monsters in nature.

Also, Richard Matheson contributed to Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone,” writing at least 15 scripts.

Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

I actually have read one book in Kim Harrison’s The Hollows series – A Fistful of Charms. It was an audiobook that a friend lent me a while ago. I thought it was interesting, and I wanted to go back and read the series from the beginning.

I enjoy stories dealing with witches, vampires, werewolves, etc. (I’ll deal with the topic of the Twilight novels another day.) Harrison deals with them all, and I think it’s interesting how her world plays out.

Amazon / Barnes and Noble

The Blood Upon the Rose by Tim Vicary

I have always loved reading about Irish history. My grandfather’s family came over from Ireland back in the day. The book is set in Ireland in the early 1900s, which was not a peaceful time in the country.

I began following this author on Twitter, found this book and decided it looked like it might be a good read. I’m also interested to see how it goes because the main character (at least from the description on Amazon) is female and the author is male. Not saying that men can’t write women characters well and vice versa, but I like to read them and study how things are written, and then maybe compare it to how an author of a different sex would write it.

About Brittany Westerberg

I'm a lover of writing and books. I graduated from South Dakota State with a master's degree in communications in 2011, the same year I was first published. I'm a wife and mom, and I work in content and digital marketing in South Dakota.