Thursday, April 4, 2013

the minimalist approach to books.

My family is in the midst of moving, so yesterday me and my mom were discussing minimalism. You know, get rid of all your belongings, one fork one plate one bowl sort of thing. And we were talking about what we could get rid of if we needed to -- could you get rid of your knickknacks? Your piles of notebooks? Old toys? Books? Gadgets? Basically: how much do we love this stuff? Because we shouldn't love any of it so much that we couldn't get rid of it if we needed to.

And I have a lot of books. They're all books I love, or at least really really like, and I'm glad I'm not in a position where I have to get rid of all of them, but I know that if I had to I'd be okay. My books are not the most important thing in my life.

But. Something else I think about sometimes: not getting rid of all my books, but the hypothetical situation of what if I could only keep a few? Five? Or ten? What if I had to fit my life into a suitcase or a couple of boxes? Which books would make the cut? Obviously there'd be my Bible, and a notebook. But I'm talking novels, memoirs, etc. You know.

So as of now, here's my list:


  1. Jellicoe Road, by Melina Marchetta - because it's such, such a personal story for me.
  2. Sweethearts, by Sara Zarr - again, so personal, and one i tend to reread fairly often.
  3. Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins - this one has plenty of my own notes in it and it's a sweet book that would obviously make whatever situation i'm in where i can only have ten books more bearable.
  4. serafina67, by Susie Day - favorite ever ya novel. i need my fictional personality doppleganger with me.
  5. The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss - just so incredibly beautiful.
  6. Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell - my favorite book.
  7. Bloomability, by Sharon Creech - another personal pick, and one that brings me back to my childhood.
  8. Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech - another brilliant book.
  9. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee - i just love this one.


Alright, excellent counters will notice that there are only ten books on that list. My last spot is open. And honestly, making that list was harder than I thought. Not because I wanted to keep all of them, but because there were very few where I felt like oh, I need this book. And even though I've often been known to refer to my books as "my friends," and I do love having shelves full of my favorite books, I think it's a good thing I didn't have too hard of a time imagining getting rid of most of them.

But now I ask you -- ten books only: which ones would you keep? And would you be able to do it?

3 comments:

  1. Ahh only 10?? This is painful!

    My list would probably be...

    1. How to Be Bad by Lauren Myracle, Sarah Mlynowski, and E. Lockhart

    2. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

    3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

    4. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

    5. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

    6. Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

    7. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

    8. The Diary of Anne Frank

    9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

    10. Twelve by Lauren Myracle

    That was so hard, and I guarantee that if I really had to pick my choices would be different, but for now I think that would be my list.

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  2. I love how we both have Jellicoe Road and Anna and the French Kiss on our lists. :)

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  3. I'm too tired to try making this list now but a) welcome back to blogging (yay!) and b) HOW IS SARAH OCKLER NOT ON HERE? I totally thought Bittersweet would have claimed the tenth spot! (I still haven't read it although b/c of you it's on my must read list)

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