Special Post - The 30-Book Library

Robinson, Chris. "If I Could Only Have 30 Books" Medium, January 17, 2019. medium.com/@CRMusicWriter/if-i-could-only-have-30-books-6ec859b8ada4. May 10, 2019.

First Sentences:

[Marie] Kondo suggests that “ideally,” people should only keep 30 books. For me and a whole lot of people I know, that goes against every fiber in our being. 

 

Description:

The other day I read the interesting article If I Could Only Have 30 Books by Chris Robinson about reducing "one's library to only 30 books." Author Robinson was commenting on the current hype from Marie Condo to cut down and simplify one's possessions. Looking at his precious bookshelves, Robinson wondered what if, just maybe, he had to weed his own collection down to a handful of titles. What thirty titles would he hold onto? 

These keepers would be books that one could (and would) re-read many times with pleasure. They are titles that summarize who you are, how your mind works, and what you find valuable. This collection would be the very definition of who you are.

It got me to thinking about my own collection and which ones I judge would be the most indispensable of books. Here are my thirty titles, with some alternatives in case ... well, just because I couldn't really leave them off. Believe me, it was really tough to whittle down my collection to its essentials.  At least now, when people ask for recommendations, I can give them a list of my own "Best of the Best."

Go ahead, try it for yourself. Then add your favorite thirty to the Comments section at the bottom of this screen. I look forward to seeing your own must-have collections.

Happy reading. 

Fred

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About The First Sentence Reader blog

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Thirty Essential  Books - The First Sentence Reader

(** = Books I have reviewed - the other books are great, too!)

 

About Books

**Book Lust - Nancy Pearl 

**Dear Farenheit 451 - Annie Spence

One for the Books - Joe Queenan

Fiction

**Carter Beats the Devil - Glen David Gold 

**Cowboys Are My Weakness - Pam Houston  

**The Great American Novel - Philip Roth 

**I Am Pilgrim - Terry Hayes 

Moment in Peking  - Lin Yutang 

**Q & A - Vikas Swarup 

**To Serve Them All My Days - R.F. Delderfield

Humor

**Food: A Love Story - Jim Gaffigan 

**Never Cry Wolf - Farley Mowat 

**The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion 

**Wodehouse on Golf - P.G. Wodehouse

Non-Fiction

The New Ocean - William E. Burrows 

The Stars: A New Way to See Them - H.A. Rey 

**Stone by Stone - Robert Thorson

Personal Histories

**We Took To the Woods - Louise Dickenson Rich 

**The Piano Shop on the Left Bank - Thad Carhart

Philosophy

The First and Last Freedom - Jiddu Krishnamurti 

The Importance of Living  - Lin Yutang 

**Manners from Heaven - Quentin Crisp

Reference

**Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare - Isaac Asimov 

The Norton Anthology of Poetry - Margaret Ferguson (ed) 

Science Fiction / Fantasy

**The Collected Short Stories of Arthur C. Clarke - Arthur C. Clarke 

**Enders Shadow - Orson Scott Card 

**The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien 

**Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien 

**The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury 

**Seveneves - Neal Stephenson

 

**Extras** (too good to leave off any list)

**Enders Game - Orson Scott Card 

**A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles 

**In a Sunburned Country - Bill Bryson 

**Housekeeping - Marylynne Robinson

**The Immortalists - Chloe Benjamin

**The Lantern of Lost Memories -  Sanaka Hiiragi

**The Martian - Andy Weir 

**Moondust - Andrew Smith 

**Plainsong - Kemnt Haruf

**The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio - Terry Ryan 

**Soul of an Octopus - Sy Montgomery 

**The Talented Mr. Ripley - Patricia Highsmith

**Three-Year Swim Club - Julie Checkoway

**The Twyford Code -  Janice Hallett

**The Whistling Season - Ivan Doig