Julia Quinn | Shelf Portrait | Marie Claire
Prepare to fall in love with Julia Quinn's book collection. The romance novelist gave Marie Claire a look at her bookshelves, stuffed with memorabilia from the Bridgerton set and several of her favorite authors including Jenny Lawson and George Takei.
Quinn's book narrated by Lady Whistledown, The Wit and Wisdom of Bridgerton.
Quinn's book narrated by Lady Whistledown, The Wit and Wisdom of Bridgerton.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00This was from a dressing gown worn by Nicola Copland aka Penelope Featherington,
00:05but what makes this really special is that it is signed from both Phoebe Denevore and Regé-Jean Page.
00:12Hi, I'm Julia Quinn and I'm inviting you in to see my personal library.
00:17This is Shelf Portrait for Marie Claire.
00:22One of the most exciting things for me about being an author is seeing my books translated
00:26into so many different languages and so I keep a lot of them on the bookshelf here and it's just
00:31so much fun for me. This is Danish. These are some new collections in French. Back here,
00:37actually this is Dutch. This is a box set for Brazilian Portuguese. I've got some Spanish here
00:44and then these are just some very special English editions that I have and we've got
00:48Thai and Korean and Japanese. So I'm going to share with you one of my most prized possessions.
00:55This, yes, it's The Duke and I which I wrote but this is a very special copy because
01:01for one, my bookmark is a scrap of fabric from the actual show. This was from a dressing gown worn by
01:08Nicola Copland aka Penelope Featherington, but what makes this really special is that it is signed
01:15from both Phoebe Denevore and Regé-Jean Page. So sometimes you buy a book just because you see it
01:21in the bookstore and it totally cracks you up and that is why I have purchased Crap Taxidermy.
01:26This book is so funny. I could open to any page and it will just make you die laughing. It's just
01:33the world's worst taxidermy. My entire family adores it. My mom just cleaned out her basement
01:40and we found one of my favorite books from when I was growing up. It is Louisa Alcott,
01:44Girl of Old Boston. It is a biography of Louisa May Alcott and it is so much fun to look through
01:51because you can see my old address and I wrote in that's my handwriting from when I was a little kid
01:56and it's just it's so beautifully illustrated. I have to find one for you. All in these great
02:02silhouettes. I read this book so many times as a child. Far more times than I actually read
02:09anything that Louisa May Alcott wrote herself. I love graphic novels and graphic memoirs and
02:14one book that I have purchased so many times recently because I've given it as a gift to
02:19just maybe not dozens of people but a lot of people is they call this The Enemy by George
02:24Takei. It is a memoir of his time in an internment camp during World War II and it is just so moving
02:36and told in such an accessible manner. Everybody should read this book. This is one of my most
02:40treasured possessions. It is an autographed set of March which is a three-part graphic memoir by
02:48Congressman John Lewis and I met him at the American Library Association conference a few
02:53years ago and he signed this for me. I think everybody should have some comics in their
02:57collection. Certainly we all need a little Kevin and Hobbes but one that I really like is by Grant
03:03Snyder. I will judge you by your bookshelf. It's a collection of comics about books and reading
03:09and they're just so much fun. I often share these on social media and so when I saw that he was
03:14having a collection I knew I had to buy it. I actually read books both paper and electronic
03:21and it's actually kind of funny because there were some books I wanted to recommend and I
03:25searched my whole house to find a copy and then I realized it was on my e-reader. So for example
03:30Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple. I love that book so much especially because Seattle, my
03:36city, is such an important part of it and she gets everything right but I don't have it to show you
03:41because it's on my e-reader. Here's another author I really love. I think I've read everything that
03:46she's written. It's Jenny Lawson. She has a blog called The Blog S but she also writes books and
03:52this is her most recent one. I think it just came out this year, Broken, in the best possible way.
03:57She is so funny. I mean shake the bed funny but at the same time she's incredibly moving. There's
04:04a section where she writes an open letter to her insurance company about all the things that they
04:08give her grief about and she has a number of chronic conditions both mental and physical
04:14and it just really gets you in the heart and I just I think she's so smart and so wise and I
04:21would really like to meet her someday. I love to read romance novels. That goes without question.
04:27I write historical romance. I love historical romance. If you follow me on Facebook I actually
04:32recommend a historical romance every single Monday but here are two authors who have new
04:36books out that I just happen to have here that I love. This is Sarah McClain with Bombshell and
04:42she writes books. They're just so fierce and feminist. I love them and then I've also got a
04:46new one by Julianne Long who's one of my favorite authors. She's so underappreciated. I don't know
04:52why everyone isn't reading her. You really should. Now I also read contemporary romance and one of my
04:57favorites is The Hating Game by Sally Thorne and this is going to be a major motion picture soon
05:03so read the book now before you watch the movie. My father was also a writer and he wrote for
05:10middle grade readers and he wrote this wonderful book called Cheesy Mac which is so smart and so
05:18funny and so my dad and this was the first book and this was I think this was the last and
05:27he passed earlier this year and I am so grateful that kids can still get a taste of the type of
05:35person he was through the books that he wrote and we keep these books on a very special part
05:39of my bookshelf here which is just a section where I've got a lot of people who are important to me.
05:45I think that no library would be complete without The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Careful
05:50readers know that this is one of my favorite books. If you read Romancing Mr. Bridgerton
05:55I have a little homage to it in there. Yes in Regency Romance I managed to reference
06:00The Hitchhiker's Guide. So like every book lover I know I buy more books than I'm able to read
06:06in a timely manner so this is just one stack of books I purchased in the last month that I have
06:11not read yet but I will or at least that's what I'm telling myself but I have Mom Jeans and Other
06:17Mistakes by Alexa Martin. Super excited about this one. I love her books. This one was recommended to
06:23me. I don't know that much about it except it sounds really cool. Finding the Mother Tree,
06:27Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest. I've also got Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I love the
06:33Martians so I'm really excited to try this one. And then from Daniel James Brown who also wrote
06:40The Boys in the Boat, Facing the Mountain, a true story of Japanese American heroes in World War II
06:45and this has a big Seattle component to it which I'm excited about because I live in Seattle.
06:51And then finally The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel because we all love Alison
06:58Bechdel. So this is one of my favorite books of all time. The Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger.
07:04It's an epistolary novel which means it's written in letters and telegrams and ticket
07:09stubs and bar mitzvah programs. It's set in the early 1940s in Brooklyn and it stars a wise
07:16cracking young 12-13 year old boy named Joey Margolis and the all-star third baseman for the
07:23New York Giants, Charlie Banks. And they end up becoming friends in this kind of bizarre way
07:29and it is funny and heartbreaking and it's this great example of how you can write a novel
07:36in such a different manner and have it be just perfect. Thanks for watching Shelf Portrait
07:43and don't forget to subscribe to Marie Claire.