Victoria Schwab’s Book Picks!

Today I have the amazing Victoria Schwab here to tell you about her favorite books!

I'm a fan of saying that I like a lot of books, but love very few. The result of this is that when I do love a book, I am very vocal about it! As in, hunt you down in the bookstore and put it in your waiting-and-perhaps-already-full-hands vocal. 

A handful of the books I might force on you if we were to cross paths in a bookstore are: 

THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS by John Connolly 

Fairy tales gone dark. This book is equal parts haunting, gripping, gross, and beautiful.  

STOLEN by Lucy Christopher 

This one is wow. Gripping, psychological. I make people read it so we can talk when they're done. 

DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE by Laini Taylor

I've been a Laini Taylor fan for awhile now, and this book was DELECTABLE. Taylor, like Gaiman, is a true wordsmith/worldsmith.

NEVERWHERE by Neil Gaiman

I am a huge Gaiman fan, the way his worlds are tilted and his words are spun. All beauty and a touch of grunge. This is my favorite. Also, if you can, get it on AUDIO. He reads it. 

BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY by Ruta Sepetys

This is my most recent BUYITNOW book. NOT my normal fare, and yet I'm so, so glad I read it. Powerful, harrowing, stunning. 

ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS by Stephanie Perkins

The perfect lighter read, Perkins' characters are amazing, her stories totally devourable. 

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So those are the books I would force on you, but as I said, I read and like a lot! If you were to enter my room, you'd find a spectrum. I should start by saying my "library" consists of three bookcases, each broken down into several meandering attempts at sections that only make sense to me. It looks something like this:

1. The Red Bookcase –– 4 shelves - one for journals (I made a vow five years ago to journal every night, and haven't broken it), one for classics, one for favorites, and the top one for to-read. 

2. The Divider Bookcase –– this runs between my bedroom and the little office that stems off of it, and has cubbies for books I've read, but the Eiffel Tower bookends on top contain another to-read shelf. The books on that shelf tend to be bigger, ones I take bites of now and then.

3. The Black Bookcase –– this is a very mismatch set of shelves, with books on art, old french paperbacks, school books, etc. It sits in my little office nook. 

4. The Bedside Table –– this is my on-deck space, or my currently-reading space. Generally 3-7 books sitting here, including a go-to in case I can't sleep. As I write this post, the books on my bedside table are: Beauty Queens, Beat the Reaper, Legend, Shatter Me, A Reliable Wife, and Lola and the Boy Next Door.