I’m single and still haven’t had child, but I love reading and I hope my daughter will someday find comfort and travel between the pages of books.

So, don’t burst my bubble like my friend Grace by asking, “what if you have a son?”

Well, let’s work with a dream? But, one thing is certain, if she’s a girl she’ll have to take up the name Aurora, and if he’s a boy then I’m going with Raphael.

So, given my expectations, here are the books I hope my daughter would read.

I’ll introduce her to The Shadow of the Wind where she’ll walk into The Cemetery of Forgotten Books with Daniel. Get her on a Night Train to Lisbon and walk her through every room in The Glass Palace.

There will be plenty more time to go back in time in Valerio Massimo Manfredi’s books who was born on the same date and month as me. Cool right?

And she’ll shake her head or roll her eyes, “not cool mom.”

If she develops a taste for mystery and solving crimes I’ll give her a serving of Arthur Conan Doyle’s works and then gift her with my collection of Michael Conelly’s books.

If she develops sense of beauty and understanding for fellow humans and finds herself caught between her thoughts and pleasing her friends I’ll bring in the Brit, Alan Hollinghurst and have her read Julia Alvarez for courage and conviction.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself like I always do.

What if she doesn’t like to read? Or what if she loves to dance or sketch or sleep or watch movies, what then? Well, I have a collection of books from my favorite African authors through to ebooks on Kindle. I do not know what my child would enjoy reading, but from the time he/she speaks and learns to write there’s always time to discover-no pressure.

I’ll just have to remember the “no pressure” part.

All in all, my collection awaits.