When we moved to Alaska, we got rid of pretty much everything that didn’t fit in our pickup or the travel trailer behind it. Including almost all of our books. Since then, we’ve accumulated a lot of stuff. Including LOTS of books.
I’ve wondered occasionally, if we were to undertake a big move like that again – or evacuate for a natural disaster – or for some other reason need to ditch most of our library, what I would keep? Say I could take ten printed books, or fill a medium-sized box? (Obviously, I’d take my Kindle if I could, but what if there was an EMP or a long-term power outage? I need paper books to read!)
That was the idea that spawned this month’s giveaway, in which I asked readers if they could keep only one book in addition to their Bible, what would it be? My dear readers’ answers were interesting and insightful. I might write another blog entry all about that.
But for now, I’ll let you in on which books I might keep if I had to leave most of my beloved (physical, printed) books.
- The Bible. Has everything I truly need!
- Carla Emery’s “Encyclopedia of Country Living.” Charming and full of knowledge from her decades of raising children, gardens and livestock. Reminds me of my grandma.
- SAS Survival Handbook. How to stay alive.
- A good first aid or ditch medicine book. (Okay, I haven’t narrowed down which one, exactly, but I’d grab one in this category.)
- A foraging book for my local area.
- My mom’s Betty Crocker cookbook.
- A novel that my dad owned.
- A very old book of poetry that belonged to my grandma.
- A book of hymns or worship songs.
- A fiction favorite. Either Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress” or Peretti’s “The Oath.”
Wow, that leaves out a lot of favorites, like “Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Wilderness Survival” and a stack of devotional favorites, a slew of novels, all my books on writing, books on Alaska (I’m a bit of a fan), gardening books, “PDR for Herbal Medicines,” a stack of books by David Wilkerson, and John Price’s “The End of America.”
Obviously, I’d have to pack two boxes. One just won’t do it!
How about you? If you had to reduce your library to a single box, what would you include in it?