Project Bookshelf: Maggie Diedrich

A book was my first friend, this I know even from my earliest memories. While I may not have as many physical copies as I would like, the virtual library is easier to maintain— less cleaning, that’s for sure. In my mind, I envision it like a real library with each row of shelves containing something different. The largest section by far is fantasy, closely followed by mythology, and then rounded out with fiction.

Image of Maggie Diedrich’s bookshelf and a small portion of her vinyl collection

First up in fantasy I have the staples: Tolkien, Martin, Paolini— he was the first to inspire my fascination with the genre. Each time I reread the Eragon series I long for the feeling I had when I opened the book for the very first time. Martin’s A Game of Thrones series came to my attention when I was in middle school and even though I could not check them out, the internet was an easy tool at my disposal. Tolkien was a love ever since I was a child, but even now I notice new things each time I read it and as I get older I’ve found that the book changes. In more recent years I’ve read a few other authors in the fantasy genre, but overall my reading and rereading has been dominated by Sarah J. Maas. Her standout series to me is Throne of Glass. Even though it is longer and less popular, as a reader you can really see her skills and world building grow. Aelin’s journey to reclaim her identity, while not new by any means, was especially inspiring to me as I was reading at a particularly vulnerable time.

Moving on to mythology, I have an entire physical shelf dedicated to the various books I’ve collected over the years. I started out in the place most do: fairy tales and Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief Series. It was inevitable that I would end up minoring in classics, but what was unexpected was the fascination I would develop in African mythology. Norse was interesting to be sure, but the creation myth of the Yoruba people just scratched my brain like it never had been before. Grimm’s Fairytales is another favorite alongside The Tasha Tudor Book of Fairytales.

A lot of the fiction I do have has been due to enrolling in courses where they require the physical books and I think myself better for having read them. Morrison, Walker, and Hurston are the dominating authors of this section. Most recently I reread The Color Purple in preparation to see the upcoming movie. I hadn’t read it in five years and it showed. Some of the themes and truths of the novel rang more true now than they had when I was eighteen. I am positive the same will happen each time I read it. Their Eyes Were Watching God was a relatively recent read for me, but one I enjoyed no less. To talk about Morrison’s excellence would take far longer time than I have available, but in one word: extraordinary. An honorable mention is Nella Larsen’s Passing as I enjoy the ambiguous (but unambiguous) ending.

A trend that I have noticed as I have grown older is the tendency to gravitate toward female authors. For one reason or another it feels more familiar when I read words written by a woman. I have a lot of life to live, but I know that a massive part of how I will handle the challenges comes from the books I have been lucky enough to read.

Maggie Diedrich is a senior at the University of Tennessee Knoxville and will graduate with her Bachelor’s in English Rhetoric and Writing. She is a contributor at The Daily Beacon and enjoys tattoos, reading, and music.