Project Bookshelf: Brianna Eaton

I have what I like to call a “traveling bookshelf.” I go back and forth between my home and school quite often, and when I am not busy, which is rare, I try to travel as much as I can. Because of this, I have found myself losing track of my books, gaining new ones with no space to store them, and “lending” them out to people with no desire of getting them back. 

So, I have accumulated my “traveling bookshelf.” A collection of 5 previously read books and an empty space for 4  new and un-read books that sit on my bedside table regardless of if I am at home, school, or on vacation. 

You might be wondering, based on the picture I have attached with this blog, which ones are my 5 keeps and which ones are my 4 newbies. To start, Moments of Being, A Room Of One’s Own, To The Lighthouse, and How Should One Read a Book by Virginia Woolf. I know, I don’t have a favorite author at all. I keep these in my collection for varying reasons. Moments of Being is a classic to me. It is a collection, with stories of various lengths, themes, and characters, perfect for a pick me up or a phone break. Some of them I’ve read 10 times, some of them one. Next, A Room of One’s Own, my little secret diary of sorts, with annotations spanning back to junior year of high school. To The Lighthouse is my difficult child; I took on this reading challenge with a friend a few years back, understood it the best I could, and am hyping myself up for the challenge again. Last in Brianna Eaton’s Virginia Woolf fanclub is How Should One Read a Book, a quick reminder when I am stressed on why I love what I do and why it is important that I continue doing it. And finally, my baby, my claim to niche fame, is Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson. A classic in my heart, and an example of what I hope my writing can someday resemble. 

Now, my 4 newbies for this new semester, fresh off the print (probably not) are Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Rebecca by Daphne De Maurier, Mansfield Park by Jane Austen and Paper Girl by Beth Macy. Fitzgerald and Austen are repeat offenders in my book prison. I haven’t finished a book by either of them since high school. Maybe it’s academic fatigue or maybe having read their best books when I am in high school will create unrealistic expectations on what the rest of their books would look like, but I have struggled to get through these authors the past few years. Rebecca, and more specifically Daphne De Maurier is completely new to my eyes. Paper Girl by Beth Macy was a christmas gift and the sales pitch my friend gave me for it was enough to get me hooked before I even tried it. 

Of course, this traveling bookshelf will change as frequently as my interests do (which is a lot). I’m sure I will randomly become obsessed with one, and then beg one of my friends to read it. After which I will ultimately deny them giving it back to me, so they may too create their own traveling bookshelf in which they collect and prioritize books of their own. And maybe after this, you, reader, will as well. 

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Brianna “Bree” Eaton (she/her) is sophomore studying English with a concentration in Publishing and Creative Writing at the University of Tennessee, where she also serves on the Phoenix Magazine Staff. Born and raised in East Tennessee, she enjoys all things neo-applachian, cryptic, and feminist. When she isn’t doing school work, editing, writing, or running circles around campus, she can be found reading, re-watching episodes of the X-Files, or planning last minute trips to new (or familiar) cities.