00:00 This was from a dressing gown worn by Nicola Copland, aka Penelope Featherington.
00:04 But what makes this really special is that it is signed from both Phoebe Denevore and Regé-Jean Page.
00:12 Hi, I'm Julia Quinn and I'm inviting you in to see my personal library.
00:17 This is Shelf Portrait for Marie Claire.
00:19 One of the most exciting things for me about being an author is seeing my books translated
00:26 into so many different languages and so I keep a lot of them on the bookshelf here and it's
00:31 just so much fun for me. This is Danish. These are some new collections in French.
00:36 Back here, well actually this is Dutch. This is a box set for Brazilian Portuguese.
00:42 I've got some Spanish here and then these are just some very special English editions that I have
00:47 and we've got Thai and Korean and Japanese. So I'm going to share with you one of my most
00:53 prized possessions. This, yes, it's The Duke and I which I wrote but this is a very special copy
01:00 because for one, my bookmark is a scrap of fabric from the actual show. This was from a dressing
01:07 gown worn by Nicola Copland, aka Penelope Featherington. But what makes this really special
01:12 is that it is signed from both Phoebe Denevore and Regé-Jean Page.
01:18 So sometimes you buy a book just because you see it in the bookstore and it totally cracks you up
01:23 and that is why I have purchased Crap Taxidermy. This book is so funny. I could open to any page
01:30 and it will just make you die laughing. It's just the world's worst taxidermy.
01:35 My entire family adores it. My mom just cleaned out her basement and we found one of my favorite
01:41 books from when I was growing up. It is Louisa Alcott, Girl of Old Boston. It is a biography of
01:48 Louisa May Alcott and it is so much fun to look through because you can see my old address I wrote
01:53 in. That's my handwriting from when I was a little kid. And it's just it's so beautifully illustrated.
01:58 I have to find one for you. All in these great silhouettes. I read this book so many times as a
02:06 child, far more times than I actually read anything that Louisa May Alcott wrote herself. I love graphic
02:12 novels and graphic memoirs and one book that I have purchased so many times recently because I've
02:17 given it as a gift to just maybe not dozens of people but a lot of people is they call this The
02:23 Enemy by George Takei. It is a memoir of his time in an internment camp during World War II and it
02:32 is just so moving and told in such an accessible manner. Everybody should read this book. This is
02:39 one of my most treasured possessions. It is an autographed set of March which is a three-part
02:46 graphic memoir by Congressman John Lewis and I met him at the American Library Association
02:53 conference a few years ago and he signed this for me. I think everybody should have some comics in
02:57 their collection. Certainly we all need a little Kevin and Hobbes but one that I really like is
03:02 by Grant Snyder, I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf. It's a collection of comics about books and reading
03:09 and they're just so much fun. I often share these on social media and so when I saw that he was
03:14 having a collection I knew I had to buy it. I actually read books both paper and electronic
03:21 and it's actually kind of funny because there were some books I wanted to recommend and I
03:25 searched my whole house to find a copy and then I realized it was on my e-reader. So for example
03:30 Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple. I love that book so much especially because Seattle,
03:36 my city, is such an important part of it and she gets everything right but I don't have it to show
03:41 you because it's on my e-reader. Here's another author I really love. I think I've read everything
03:46 that she's written. It's Jenny Lawson. She has a blog called The Blog S but she also writes books
03:52 and this is her most recent one. I think it just came out this year, Broken, in the best possible
03:56 way. She is so funny. I mean shake the bed funny but at the same time she's incredibly moving.
04:04 There's a section where she writes an open letter to her insurance company about all the things that
04:08 they give her grief about and she has a number of chronic conditions both mental and physical
04:13 and it just really gets you in the heart and I just I think she's so smart and so wise
04:20 and I would really like to meet her someday. I love to read romance novels. That goes without
04:26 question. I write historical romance. I love historical romance. If you follow me on Facebook
04:31 I actually recommend a historical romance every single Monday but here are two authors who have
04:35 new books out that I just happen to have here that I love. This is Sarah McClain with Bombshell
04:41 and she writes books. They're just so fierce and feminist. I love them and then I've also
04:46 gotten one by Julianne Long who's one of my favorite authors. She's so underappreciated.
04:51 I don't know why everyone isn't reading her. You really should. Now I also read contemporary
04:56 romance and one of my favorites is The Hating Game by Sally Thorne and this is going to be a
05:02 major motion picture soon so read the book now before you watch the movie. My father was also a
05:07 writer and he wrote for middle grade readers and he wrote this wonderful book called Cheesy Mac
05:14 which is so smart and so funny and so my dad and this was the first book and this was
05:23 I think this was the last and he passed earlier this year and I am so grateful that
05:32 kids can still get a taste of the type of person he was through the books that he wrote
05:37 and we keep these books on a very special part of my bookshelf here which is just a section where
05:43 I've got a lot of people who are important to me. I think that no library would be complete without
05:48 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Careful readers know that this is one of my favorite
05:52 books. If you read and romancing Mr. Bridgerton I have a little homage to it in there. Yes,
05:57 in Regency Romance I managed to reference The Hitchhiker's Guide. So like every book lover I
06:03 know I buy more books than I'm able to read in a timely manner so this is just one stack of books
06:09 I purchased in the last month that I have not read yet but I will or at least that's what I'm
06:15 telling myself but I have Mom Jeans and Other Mistakes by Alexa Martin. Super excited about
06:19 this one. I love her books. This one was recommended to me. I don't know that much
06:24 about it except it sounds really cool. Finding the Mother Tree. Discovering the Wisdom of the
06:29 Forest. I've also got Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I love the Martians so I'm really excited
06:34 to try this one. And then from Daniel James Brown who also wrote The Boys in the Boat.
06:41 Facing the Mountain. A true story of Japanese American heroes in World War II and this has a
06:46 big Seattle component to it which I'm excited about because I live in Seattle. And then finally
06:53 The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel because we all love Alison Bechdel.
06:58 So this is one of my favorite books of all time. The Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger. It's an
07:04 epistolary novel which means it's written in letters and telegrams and ticket stubs and
07:09 bar mitzvah programs. It's set in the early 1940s in Brooklyn and it stars a wisecracking young 12-13
07:18 year old boy named Joey Margolis and the all-star third baseman for the New York Giants, Charlie
07:24 Banks. And they end up becoming friends in this kind of bizarre way and it is funny and heartbreaking
07:32 and it's this this great example of how you can write a novel in such a different manner and have
07:39 it be just perfect. Thanks for watching Shelf Portrait and don't forget to subscribe to Marie Claire.
07:50 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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