I was looking for my Birds Of The World book and found it high up on a bookcase above my bed. I hooked it with the end of my walking stick and managed to bring it down. It fell in a cloud of dust--I'm embarrassed to say I don't remember how long it's been since I dusted up there.

Along with my Birds book, other books tumbled down with it. After vacuuming and coughing and sneezing and wiping everything down, I found a trove of good books that had been stashed up there. Nabokov's Lolita, Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago, Melville's Moby Dick, a collection of Chekov's short stories, the complete works of Shakespeare, bound and tied with a ribbon--it had been a gift. I pulled down Dante's Inferno, a collection of Dickens; and The Canterbury Tales.

Lots of good reading there. Instead of going to the Book Rack today looking for something to read, I'm going to re-read some of these treasured books. The latest John Grisham is gonna just have to wait awhile.

Susil

Comments:

Wow you did find quiet a treasure trove..

comment by elfie33 on May 21, 2008 10:28 AM ()

Hi Tennessee; once I read a book I like, I can't
bear to part with it, so I've got books I've lugged around
every place I've lived. I like paperbacks, so I can read
in bed. Hard backs are hard to read lying down.

reply by susil on May 21, 2008 12:39 PM ()

What a treasure trove. No one dusts upper shelves. My lower shelves need help, too. In our New York loft, Jay built floor-to ceiling shelves (11 ft. ceilings) along one wall -- about 15 feet of them. I always wanted a library ladder but never got around to it.

comment by tealstar on May 19, 2008 5:06 PM ()

Hi teal; I'm poor, have nothing much of material
value; but I can't live without books. I have to have
books around, ones I've read and hope to read, and NO
romance- bodice ripper- books--a waste of eyesight.
What a pleasure it would be to have a
library like Jay built! Imagine the pleasure of being
surrounded floor to ceiling with books! I get orgasmic
thinking about it.

reply by susil on May 21, 2008 12:34 PM ()

comment by troutbend on May 19, 2008 4:49 PM ()

I like Dickens too--I once read almost everything he ever wrote;
he had such a talent for character and language. Then I started on
John Steinbeck and read all his stuff. (Love Steinbeck!)
It's been so long I can re-read everything and enjoy it again.

reply by susil on May 21, 2008 12:27 PM ()

John's book is very good!

comment by strider333 on May 17, 2008 3:06 PM ()

Hi strider; I go to the Book Rack and buy used paperbacks--rarely
buy new books--the cost, you know. But I'm sure Jon's is a good 'un!

reply by susil on May 19, 2008 8:15 AM ()

Sounds like fun. Enjoy!

comment by jerms on May 17, 2008 9:10 AM ()

jerms I started with Lolita--and it is risque even by today's standards,
and understand why it was banned from libraries and castigated when it came out in 1955.

reply by susil on May 19, 2008 8:12 AM ()