speaking of books

Some books make the read again (and again and again) list. Some of these are novels:
Life Without Water by Nancy Peacock,

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson -- I kept a notebook of quotes from this book -- such lovely things she had to say.

Books like Homecoming by Cynthia Voight and The Ghosts of Stoney Clove by Eileen Charbonne, and My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George and Travels with Charley and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. And Heidi -- I have a collection of Heidi books, and not only the original written by Johanni Spyri, but also Heidi Grows Up and Heidi's Children by Charles Tritton, who, like me, loved the book so much, he didn't want it to end, who wanted to live in the Alps with Goats forever.

Good Morning Young Lady by Ardyth Kennally. I keep this book whether or not I'll ever invest that much time in reading it again. I loved that book for years. Once, a friend, head of the Christian Club loaned me her favorite book (which was about a missionary who dyed her skin with walnut shells so she'd fit in better with the people she was trying to "win" to the Lord).

As an afterthought, my friend picked up another book from her shelf and said, "You might like this one, too."

I returned both books and kept going on about how much I liked "that" book.

Her eyes glowed. "I know! How she'd always prayed for blue eyes when she was a child and then how she realized if God had answered that prayer, she couldn't have passed for a native. How she realized that if God doesn't answer a prayer, there's a reason."

But I'd meant the other book. The one where Dorney always dreamed of meeting Butch Cassidy, but had him pictured as this dark-haired fellow come riding in on a fast horse. Of course, Butch looked nothing like that. But the fellow she eventually came to marry did. I sort of skimmed the missionary book.

All the Tom Brown, Jr. books -- which were very nearly novels.

Where the River Flows North by Howard Frank Mosher, which later became a movie with Rip Torn and Tantoo Cardinal. "Look out, trouts, here she comes!"

The Enduring Hills by Janice Holt Giles.

I'm sure there's more and I'm sure I'll think of them (or see them in my shelves), but that's enough of a list. And besides, I've forgotten my orignial purpose for saying all that.

I've been able to glean a boxful of books from the "collectible" shelf, books that made the shelf because they were good-ish. Some, because they were "of a kind" and I had other books by the same author or on the same theme.

Once again, I have books to trade -- which means I'm ready for Asheville's Downtown Books and News -- whenever the occasion arises to go there. It's like pruning a good plant, now my other books, the necessary ones, have room and don't have to lie about on chairs and tabletops. I may even have room for another book or two -- of the "read again (and again and again)" variety.