Here’s my contribution to ‘Shelf Awareness’, a great new blog series created by my friend and fellow writer Maureen Eppen. If you happen to be a compulsive checker-of-other-people’s-bookshelves (which makes you one of my tribe), take a look at posts by Norman Jorgensen, Jane Rawson, Jennifer Ryan and Natasha Lester (as well as Maureen’s own), and sign up for the many more to come…
The first time I read the opening lines of Amanda Curtin’s novel Elemental I was utterly captivated by its protagonist, Meggie Tulloch. The wee Scottish ‘herring girl’ has rich red hair, which makes her a target of suspicious fishermen in the village where she lives, at the turn of the 20th Century. By the time I’d finished this poignant, sometimes harrowing but exquisitely crafted story, I knew this book deserved a place among my all-time favourites. I am now also utterly captivated by the gracious, soft-spoken and incredibly talented woman who created the tale. Amanda Curtin is a freelance book editor, occasional workshop presenter and an author of immense talent. Her other books include The Sinkings, a novel inspired by a mysterious death in the campsite of the same name, near Albany, Western Australia, in 1882, and Inherited, a collection of finely wrought short stories, as well as other…
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looking up/looking down 
Yes, I am a great admirer or other people’s bookshelves! There is so much to talk about when knowing that the other person loves the same books / genres as you do. It really enriches a conversation. Thanks, Amanda.
Thanks, Rose. I love seeing well-stocked, and obviously well-loved, bookshelves in someone’s house or office 🙂