I’ve been absent from this blog for months, not because I have nothing to say but rather because I vowed to leave the blog alone until I finished my long-unfinished novel.

Yeah, so that was an empty promise. In other words, I’m baaaaack. Oh, and the novel isn’t finished. Yet. (I’m getting closer and closer, though, and 2010 will be the year of finishing it.)

I’m sure I’ll be recounting a few stories of animal high jinx, and certainly the growing season is nearly upon so there will be gardening information to relate. Yet, today my thoughts turn to the past, specifically reading I’ve done over the years.

On this fine snow day, Jesse and I finally got around to moving the six-foot wobbling book shelf that houses my all-time favorite books to a safer, less wobbly location. (The shelf threatened to kill me and a poodle recently, so relocating it was very important.) Moving these books has made me realize that every reader must have, as I do, four or five shelves of “wow, I really need to read/finish/crack open” books and perhaps one or two shelves of beloved, adored can’t-live-without volumes.

Or as avid reader Jennifer H. wrote, as we debated the pros and cons of e-book readers:

I do still buy hard copies of the “keepers”. For example, for “Three Cups of Tea” I own it in hardback, paperback (for sharing), the Kindle version, and I just got the younger readers paperback version to read with Conner for school.

As I pondered the books that have earned a permanent home on my book shelves, I came up with three criteria that set these apart from their discarded/sold/given away brethren. Some books have only one point of connection, but others have multiple points of connection. The “keepers” have the following in common:

1. I have an intellectual connection to the book. The ideas contained between the covers are important. Maybe the book speaks to larger issues. Maybe it was groundbreaking scholarship in its day. Maybe it’s still groundbreaking on some level. Maybe it opened my mind to new ideas in some important way. Or, most likely, it has some combination of these qualities.
2. I have an emotional connection to the book. Maybe I read it at an important time in my life. Maybe I had an emotional epiphany when I read it. Maybe someone I adore(d) gave it to me. In any case, when I pick up the book I have instant feelings about its worth. Even if you told me the book wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on, I would hang onto it.
3. I have a personal connection to the book. In most cases, it was written by someone I admire or personally know. I probably got the book for that reason, but once I read it, the book’s innate qualities earned it the right to stay in my home. Or to put it another way: books in this category may be written by friends and heroes, but they also offer an excellent reading experience.

I thought it might be useful to share the books that have earned their place on my favorite shelf. As I embark on this journey, I invite you to share the books that have shaped your life and that have earned the right to stay in your home.

Why are they important to you? When did you read them? What lesson(s) did you take away from them? Why do you hang on to them? And, of course, if you’ve read a book I’m featuring, please let me know if the book was as important to you or if you hated it.

Coming next: “Birds of America” by Lorrie Moore

This entry was posted on Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 3:10 pm and is filed under damned good books, projects & work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.