Hi, everyone. We all have books that we decide not to post and keep for rereading, you know the ones that we force everyone we know to read and then spend countless time trying to get back??  What are yours?  What are yours?

Some of mine are:

The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett (best, funniest christmas book ever!)

The Kite runner  (great, although I may never make myself read it again, far too hard on me emotionally)

A Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill (great horror book)

I love trading here, but I am sad that most of my books are - to me - irreplaceable. It could be that everytime someone gives me a book, I ask them to inscribe it to me, on the inside cover.

Thus all of my books have a great amount of sentimental value :)

Most of the books on my keeper shelf are books I've bought new myself, but I have gotten a few for my collections here--though I do trade back about 95% of what I get here.

My keepers, all series, most of them in Hardcover: LOTR trilogy, Harry Potter, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, Pratchett's Discworld, Ellis Peter's Brother Cadfael mysteries (those in paperback only), Candace Robb's Owen Archer series, Alan Gordon's Feste the Fool series, several of Bernard Cornwell's historical fiction trilogies...can't think of others right now, I'm at work, not at home. I also have a large reference shelf with many different pagan books, history books, etc.

Cheryl

The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman

Time and Chance by Sharon Kay Penman

hmm. off the top of my head they're The Life of Pi, Water for Elephants, East of Eden, The Thornbirds, Phillipa Gregory's books, Harry Potter h/cs, Bill Bryson's books, the Isabel Allende books  h/cs I'm trying to collect....

I have way too many keepers, according to my family.  But some of my older books are like friends to me.  Some I had when I was a kid, like A Wrinkle in Time, or as a teenager, like the Chronicles of Narnia series.  Some were instant "friends" when I was a young adult, like the Zenna Henderson books.  I read the whole series of Laura Engels Wilder books to my daughters when they were young and I'm deciding whether I can post those or if I need to keep them.  (What if I have granddaughter(s) some day?  Do I just buy new ones?)  I can't part with some of my other Madeleine L'Engle books just because Iove them so much.  And my mutiple copies of Gift From the Sea and Screwtape Letters are lent out to others so I hate to part with any of them.  I have gotten brave and parted with my whole series of Anne of Green Gables books recently and I posted a few books that I may "unpost" if someone doesn't snatch them up soon, just because I miss them on the shelves.  There are more recent books that I can't post until both of my daughters have had a chance to read them, like Mountains Beyond Mountains, and High Tides in Tuscon.

I love this topic!  It's made me think about which books I love and why.  I can't wait to get home from work to look at the bookcase in my room and see which favorites I missed.  Thanks for the idea!

Cindy

Glad you like it Cindy, it was really a shamefull attempt on my part to borrow some sure to be keepers from others keepers list for myself! (and to see if anyone elses keepers look as wierdly random as mine!)

My favorite books that I come back to again and again and keep recommending to everyone I know:

Ken Follett - PIllars of the Earth

Susan Kay - Phantom

Anita Diamant - The Red Tent

Judith McNaught - Once and Always

Jude Deveraux - Sweet Liar

Sidney Sheldon - If Tomorrow Comes -- the only Sheldon novel that doesn't end tragically *laughs*

Jack Whyte - Camulod Chronicles series (The Skystone, The Singing Sword, The Eagles' Brood, The Saxon Shore, The Fort at River's Bend, Metamorphosis,The Lance Thrower, The Eagle, and Uther)

Elizabeth Lowell's Mackenzie/Blackthorn Western series (Fire And Rain , Outlaw, Granite Man, Warrior)

Elizabeth Lowell's "Only" series (Only His, Only Mine, Only You, Only Love)

Julie Garwood's "Crown's Spies" series (The Lion's Lady, Guardian Angel, The Gift, and Castles) -- they're a great laugh on a rainy day!

Hi everyone,

Like all bibliophiles, I love to collect, read and share books.  I tend to keep classics, esp. Hemingway, Steinbeck, Flannery O'Connor,  J.D. Salinger.  Then there are poetry books - I keep those.  You can always pick up a book of poetry and read one poem and have much to ponder... e.g."The Journey" - Mary Oliver or "Thoughts While Driving Home" John Updike or the very sad "Promissory Note" - Galway Kinnell.  Then keepers include self help books -"The Road Less Travelled"  -M. Scott Peck.

Reading "The End of Faith" Sam Harris and just read "Childhood's End" by Arthur C. Clarke (quite good)

What a terrific thread!

    My keepers are my Harry Potter h/c's, Anne Bishop Black Jewels, Kate Forsythe's Witches of Eileanan, and Elizabeth Hayden's Rhapsody Saga.  I'm also an avid collector of Dean Koontz.  I have almost all of his books, with the exception of the last few that I was not a big fan of.    I also collect Star Wars novels, and I have over 100 of  those on my keeper shelves.

  Those don't include my Gone With The Wind, or any of the very many books I had as a child and just cannot part with. (Way too many to list!)

The only fiction book on my keeper shelf is The Witch Of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Spear. My Gifted teacher gave it to me he year our house burned down because she knew it was my favorite book. Its still my fave. I might actually read it again one day. I normally never re read books. Everything else on my keeper shelf is reference.

Wow, Chris, I just picked up The Witch of Blackbird Pond this week at a UBS!  I'd been looking for it for ages and was so excited to find one.  It was one of my  favorites as a kid, and I read it so many times that my copy fell apart!

My Keepers are the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, Chronicles of Narnia, Time Quartet by L'Engle, The Red Tent...I'm sure that there are many more, but I don't have them in front of me.  I love my books so much that I wish I could keep them all, but there are so many that I know that I will never re-read, and like being able to pass them on.

I have also started collecting some of the books that I remember loving as a kid.  I have Bridge to Terebithia, Tuck Everlasting and a couple others.  Witch of Blackbird Pond is one that I still need to get.  So is the Holocaust one, that is a young adult book...I think the authors first name is Lois...can't remember the title right now though.

I've got some weird stuff on my keeper shelves that I need to sit and weed out one day, but the ones I always keep are books by Elizabeth Berg.  I love her books.  And Gail Tsukiyama(Dreaming Water, etc).  Most of my other keepers change as the years do, but these two authors have not changed for me.  Definitely keepers.

Right now my only keeper is Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser.  I'm sure there will be more in the future. 

Princessloonetoons?  What is this book about?  The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett (best, funniest christmas book ever!)

I thought he wrote science fiction......never read any of his books but I love Christmas theme books.......might have to check this one out.

Melissa,

I think you're thinking of Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.  This was one of my all time favorite books when I was growing up and just recently snagged a new copy to put on my shelf to share with my own children some day.  It is such an awesome book!

Emily

Lynn-   Pratchett does do Sci fi/Fantasy....but Hogfather is a funny parable about christmas within his fantasy world. The Hogfather (the character) is this world's version of Saint Nick with the same sort of holiday surrounding him. The whole theme of the book is things existing because of faith and/or  belief not necesarily the kind faith or belief the belongs to religion. It is much more intersting than it sounds!  It is also an adventure book too.

Kim The Witch of Blackbird Pond is a classic IMO I love it. Its one of the few books I have ever read twice.

In addition to my childhood and teen favorites, my keepers include the most rereadable:

To Kill A Mockingbird

The Power of One, Brice

A Cristmas Memory, Capote

The series I reread:

Rex Stout                          

Georgette Heyer

Anne Tyler (after 40 years, The Clock Winder is still my favorite!)

Dick Francis

Thomas Perry

Rosamunde Pilcher

Nevada Barr

Maeve Binchy

John Grisham

Lee Child

Hi everyone.  I'm new to PBS, but I couldn't resist commenting on this topic.  It is a great thread. 

Over the last few days I have posted about 100 books, but probably have as many or more that I just can't give up.  My keepers include:

Haven Kimmel's A Girl Named Zippy -- very much identified with this girl 

Dan Simmon's Summer of Night -- great horror/coming-of-age story--highly recommend

Call me weird, but I love TEOTWAWKI books -- Lucifer's Hammer, Swan Song, The Stand, Dust by Charles Pellegrino (additional recommendations welcome :D )

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime -- bittersweet and enlightening

Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart -- hillarious faux-Chinese fable

Julian May's entire Pliocene and Intervention series-- wonderful sf series (I always wished the future would really be like this)

Stephen King's Insomnia -- Most of his are good reads, but I kept this one because it made me feel more optimistic about growing old

LOTR and Anne McCaffery's Dragonriders of Pern series -- loved these as a young girl

Tad Williams' Otherland & Dragonbone series and Peter Hamilton's Reality Disfunction series -- good SF&F

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers -- good fantasy/sf story with alot of humor thrown in

I just read The Wisdom of Shepherds intending to trade it in, but it was just too good!

Amy Tan's Hundred Secret Senses -- love her stories, particularly the paranormal plotline of this one

Some YA and children's books I will never get rid of like Tasha Tudor's and Laura Ingalls Wilder.

...and too many others to list.

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Little House on the Prairie Series

Gone with the Wind

Twilight - New Moon - Eclipse

All Animals Great and Small Series

Oh, and

Little Women