Shelf

My favorites

short stories

• ursula k. le guin, “the ones who walk away from omelas”
• edgar allan poe, “the masque of the red death”

books

Ellen Forney, Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice From My Bipolar Life

My holy bible. Awesome tips on how to manage Bipolar Disorder. She has Bipolar I and I have Bipolar II, but her advice are things that help me as well. The whole thing is illustrated, which is so much more fun to read. I can flip to any page, and there’s always good advice. It’s my reference book or troubleshooting book for when I start feeling like I’m losing myself or not doing as well as I think I should be. It reminds me of all the ways I could help myself or get help.

Patrick Süskind, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Currently reading and enjoying.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Admittedly did not read the whole book, but I’ve read passages here that are very important to me.

Jessica Roux, Floriography: An Illustrated Guide to the Victorian Language of Flowers

Nice general quick guide to some flowers and their associated meanings. I used this as one of my guides to pick flowers to symbolize my characters.

art books

The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, Noel Daniel edition

Absolutely gorgeous art. In love. Spotted at the Castello di Amorosa gift shop before the fire happened.

Jose Perez Montero, People of the Bible illustrated

One of the first books (a picture book) kid me ever received. I may not be religious (maybe spiritual), but I have a good feeling this greatly sparked my lifelong interest in art. Absolutely gorgeous illustrations. Even now I look at them fondly. They hold up after all this time. Each are full of life. Beautiful palettes. Dynamic gestures and movement. Engaging perspectives. Evocative facial expressions. Charming shapes. Cozy traditional art textures. Wonderful compositions. I feel like I could walk into the scenes with how natural they feel–instead of feeling like characters are slapped on backgrounds, it feels like they really dwell and belong there. A feeling of peak completion as a testament to masterful cohesion of different art components. It’s really still so amazing to me. The whole book just feels like a warm hug. If I was forced to give away all my books, this would probably be the last I would give away. Even then, I wouldn’t want to.