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. We'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 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
02:47by Congressman 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
03:35Seattle, my city, is such an important part of it and she gets everything right, but I don't have
03:41it to show you because it's on my e-reader. Here's another author I really love. I think I've read
03:46everything that she's written. It's Jenny Lawson. She has a blog called The Blog S, but she also
03:51writes books and this is her most recent one. I think it just came out this year, Broken, in the
03:55best possible way. She is so funny. I mean shake the bed funny, but at the same time she's incredibly
04:04moving. There's a section where she writes an open letter to her insurance company about all
04:07the things that they give her grief about. She has a number of chronic conditions, both mental
04:12and physical, and it just really gets you in the heart and I just I think she's so smart and so
04:19wise and I would really like to meet her someday. I love to read romance novels. That goes without
04:26question. I write historical romance. I love historical romance. If you follow me on Facebook,
04:31I actually recommend a historical romance every single Monday, but here are two authors who have
04:35new books out that I just happen to have here that I love. This is Sarah McClain with Bombshell
04:41and she writes books. They're just so fierce and feminist. I love them and then I've also
04:46got a new one by Julianne Long who's one of my favorite authors. She's so underappreciated. I
04:51don't know why everyone isn't reading her. You really should. Now I also read contemporary
04:56romance and one of my favorites is The Hating Game by Sally Thorne and this is going to be a
05:02major motion picture soon so read the book now before you watch the movie. My father was also a
05:07writer and he wrote for middle grade readers and he wrote this wonderful book called Cheesy Mac
05:14which is so smart and so funny and so my dad and this was the first book and this was
05:24I think this was the last and he passed earlier this year and I am so grateful that
05:32kids can still get a taste of the type of person he was through the books that he wrote
05:37and we keep these books on a very special part of my bookshelf here which is just a section where
05:43I've got a lot of people who are important to me. I think that no library would be complete without
05:48The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Careful readers know that this is one of my favorite
05:52books. If you read and romancing Mr. Bridgerton I have a little homage to it in there. Yes,
05:57in Regency Romance I managed to reference The Hitchhiker's Guide. So like every book lover I
06:03know I buy more books than I'm able to read in a timely manner so this is just one stack of books
06:09I purchased in the last month that I have not read yet but I will or at least that's what I'm
06:15telling myself but I have Mom Jeans and Other Mistakes by Alexa Martin. Super excited about
06:19this one. I love her books. This one was recommended to me. I don't know that much
06:24about it except it sounds really cool. Finding the Mother Tree, Discovering the Wisdom of the
06:29Forest. I've also got Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I love the Martians so I'm really excited
06:35to try this one. And then from Daniel James Brown who also wrote The Boys in the Boat,
06:41Facing the Mountain, a true story of Japanese American heroes in World War II and this has a
06:46big Seattle component to it which I'm excited about because I live in Seattle. And then finally
06:53The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel because we all love Alison Bechdel.
06:58So 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 stubs and
07:09bar mitzvah programs. It's set in the early 1940s in Brooklyn and it stars a wisecracking young 12,
07:1813-year-old boy named Joey Margolis and the all-star third baseman for the New York Giants,
07:24Charlie Banks. And they end up becoming friends in this kind of bizarre way and it is funny and
07:31heartbreaking and it's this great example of how you can write a novel in such a different manner
07:39and have it be just perfect. Thanks for watching Shelf Portrait and don't forget
07:43to subscribe to Marie Claire.