Right, so we’re not starting on the first level of my bookshelf because a.) It’s a mess and b.) I think a lot of my major collections are on this level.

1. Is a unicorn keychain my sister brought back from Singapore? or Japan? Unsure. But it was cute and my bookshelf needed a guardian so there she hangs.

2. An old children’s storybook Bible given to me by a not-very-nice old lady. The concept is cute though, with little animals guiding and narrating through some pretty heavy and not PG-13 theological stuff.

3. The Babysitter’s Club – first three books of the series in one volume. It begins with Kristy setting up the club, Claudia failing math, and Stacy letting people know she has diabetes.

4. Two volumes of Jughead’s Daily Digest which are always fun to read.

5. A Php 10 copy of Sweet Valley University, bought during a Christmas fair at school. I was a young fool, because I thought it would be a lot like the old SVH stuff but it’s more soap opera to be honest.

6. A mooncake box made by my cousin for a hotel, but as of today I’m using it as a trinket box.

7. BBC Sherlock Casebook – I had a BBC Sherlock phase and that is all you need to know.

8. The Scorpio Races is a great read! Once, I was reading it on the steps of my parish and a kindly older priest passed by. Because of its red spine, he thought it was a Bible and commended me for reading my Bible. He walked away before I could correct him.

9. Nick Joaquin’s Cave & Shadows for freshman merit English class (I didn’t like it but I had such a hard time finding a copy so I can’t bear to throw it away – sunk cost fallacy, I know.), above it is a research material on climate change printed here, and the Filipino translation of a novel called The Mango Bride… which I bought mistakenly because… I didn’t read the label :—)

10. My journal and a Communication Law and Ethics handout

11. A travel guide to London bought at a book sale, and a paper on Jane Austen, Feminism, and Fiction which connects those very three topics.

12. Two favorite novels: Cruel Beauty and Journey to the River Sea. I more or less took the latter from my cousin who had the copy but never read it. (Me taking books from people not reading them is a lifelong habit which you will see later on.)

13. Books 3 – 7 of the Harry Potter series. The first two in original cover are hard to find. I have begged people for Book 6 for years, and I THINK I bought it eventually from a Book Sale but I forgot about it, because when it resurfaced out of the shelf recently, I was very surprised I had it.

14. The Hunger Games boxed set I searched the earth for when I was thirteen, plus a book of essays about the trilogy as a birthday from the friend who introduced me to the series in the first place. I’m really excited about the prequel novel which was announced recently.

15. My boxed set of John Green novels from when I was fifteen, which I ordered from Amazon. It was probably one of the first few parcels I ever had my dad pick up from the post office.

16. Copies of Anna & The French Kiss, Lola & The Boy Next Door, and Isla & The Happy Ever After. I lined up for ten hours to have Anna and Lola signed by author Stephanie Perkins, and it was really amazing.

17. A Court of Thorns and Roses, A Court of Mist and Fury, and A Court of Wings and Ruin – probably one of the most devastating book series that occupied a huge chunk of my time in college – I spent WEEKS obsessing over Mist and Fury after I read it. It was the best in the trilogy, and the novella and coloring book of the series is stocked on a different shelf.

18. Small writing pads and writing prompt notes, medals from college.

19. A French translation book, and two Princess Diaries How-To guides. The pink one is on how to be a princess, which is very on brand for me to buy. The blue one is about princesses in history and in fiction, which was owned by a friend who never cared for the Princess Diaries as much as me, so I more or less got it from her.

20. The Kane Chronicles trilogy by Rick Riordan – another friend was moving out and into her med school dorm, so she was giving away old books and I couldn’t let those babies go to some stranger.

21. Pocket guide to the Kane Chronicles universe, which I bought for myself during a Christmas book haul many moons ago.