There are books we enjoy, books we admire, and then there are the ones that settle into us — quietly, permanently — becoming part of the way we read, imagine, and move through the world.
These are mine.
Five stories that shaped my tastes, my bookish identity, and the kind of narratives I return to again and again.

🗝️ The Starless Sea — Erin Morgenstern

There is no book that captures the wonder of storytelling quite like The Starless Sea.
It’s a labyrinth of tales within tales, a whispered library beneath the world, a love letter to readers who believe that stories breathe.

I fell in love with its lyrical prose and the way nothing is linear — everything loops and folds like ribbon. The writing feels like honey poured over myth; soft, decadent, dreamlike.
And it reminds me why I love reading in the first place : to wander, to wonder, to be swept away.

🪐 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet — Becky Chambers

This book feels like being welcomed into a warm spaceship kitchen at the end of a long day.
It’s gentle sci-fi, built not on spectacle but on kindness, open-mindedness, and the beauty of found family.

Becky Chambers writes humanity — and non-humanity — with so much compassion it almost aches.
It taught me that comfort can be epic, that softness can be adventurous, and that sometimes the bravest thing we can do is offer understanding.

🗡️ The Lord of the Rings — J.R.R. Tolkien

My ultimate comfort epic.
Whenever I reread it, I feel like I’m returning home: to mossy forests, hearthfire warmth, and a quest that is as much about courage as it is about companionship.

It is the blueprint of the fantasy I love — sprawling yet intimate, full of quiet bravery, full of heart.
The perfect blend of “great adventure” and “small comforts,” which is perhaps why it never leaves me.

🍂 The Name of the Wind — Patrick Rothfuss

This story is slow, deep, and woven with an almost musical sense of language.
Rothfuss writes with a vividness that sits somewhere between poetry and memory — imagery so rich it feels carved into the air.

It’s a book that lingers.
A character study, a myth-making journey, a narrative that asks you to sit with it, breathe with it, and trust its pace.
Every reread feels like stepping into a story told around a fire.

🎮 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow — Gabrielle Zevin

A book about friendship, creativity, love, gaming, and the messiness of growing up — all layered together with extraordinary tenderness.
It draws a parallel between the world of gaming and real life: how we build things, fail, restart, and keep going.

I love it for its portrayal of friendship: imperfect, complicated, life-defining.
And for its quiet romance that refuses to follow the usual arcs, choosing instead something more human, more fragile, more true.

Each of these stories carries at least one of the things I seek and love to return to over and over :
• beautiful, immersive writing
• stories within stories
• found family and friendships that leave marks
• epic journeys and quiet courage
• deep emotional resonance

Together, they form a map of the narrative landscapes I love most — lyrical, heartfelt, atmospheric, and rich with meaning.

These are the books I carry with me, what are yours ?

Love, Celine.