Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Top Ten Books I'd Save If My Home Was On Fire


I don't have any rare books. I don't have any valuable books.
I don't have any books that I could not easily replace.

In the past year, I've emptied six floor-to-ceiling bookshelves of books.
Gone. Hundreds of books.

It's not the physical book I prize; it's the words,
thoughts, and ideas inside the book. And the best of these
can't be destroyed by fire; I have these in my heart.

How about you? 
What books would you grab if your home was on fire?






Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

17 comments:

  1. I agree with your sentiment, but I would want to take an eReader with tons of books on it if I could - I would want to keep myself entertained sometimes - to keep my mind off the impeding doom.

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  2. Great answer! It's true, though there are favourite books and books I love, they are all replaceable. Though my hubby does have a couple of rare finds.

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  3. I love reading your answers for these because you really touch on what's important when it comes to the books, Deb. :) You have to admit though, it would be nice to have a bag like Mary Poppins to fit as many as possible in without worry in leaving some behind.

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  4. The question should be rephrased so you'd have to answer it. Put yourself in the dystopian future of Fahrenheit 541, Ray Bradbury's bookless future where the only way to preserve a book is for a person to memorize it and pass it along to their child from generation to generation. Which book would you save then?

    I'd save Middlemarch by George Elliot or Midnight's Children or maybe The Great Gatsby.

    As far as real books go, just a few of my old photo albums and my grandgather's copy of the New Testament.

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  5. WOW! I have cleared out many books and swapped more away... but there are those 'friends' on the book case that I like knowing are just sitting there, ready to be picked up again to be re-read!

    @ Tanya - yay for ignorant bliss through reading as impending doom approaches!

    Hopping by... hope you stop by my Ten Saves.

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  6. Even though I know what you say it true...it would be hard and has been hard for me to let books go! If I get to take 10 books with me..I'd be trying to sneak more.

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  7. One book I would choose would be "Wise Child" by Monica Furlong. Another would be "Dandelion Wine" by Ray Bradbury. There are more but those two were the first to enter my mind. Thanks for the post.

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  8. good answer. I would take my kindle and any library books oh and perhaps a couple of books thrown in a bag, or two bag full

    "just one more book..."

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  9. To be honest, I think you're brave for being able to purge your books because I know that I cannot. I have a lot of books and I love every one of them, even the ones that aren't mine (husband's political bios etc) and the idea of rehoming them just...doesn't compute! I love seeing our collection growing!

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  10. If I knew my house were going to be invaded and I had time I'd still take very few books, but fire is another thing all together. None. Save lives, not books.

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  11. That's a great answer. But for the pack rats out there (me included), it's also blasphemy... I wish I had that much will power to give my books away. But I want them too much to do that...

    Thanks for visiting my Top Ten.

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  12. Generally true...I could probably replace most of the books in my collection (and I know I couldn't rescue over 2,000). But there are some that are particularly special. Here's my answer: http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2012/02/top-ten-tuesday-rescue-from-inferno.html

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  13. I have some really sentimental books that were gifts and with inscriptions from friends. I do have quite a few signed books as well, but I'm not necessarily super attached to them.

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  14. I love your answer! I too recently went through a large move which involved the getting-rid-of or storing-of a literal library of books. I'd always been very, very possessive of my books but learned through this experience that I don't have to *possess* books to gain from them. Since then the library, bookcrossing, and charity shop reads (to give away) have become my best sources.

    Happy reading!

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  15. Hi, Deb! Since Google Friend Connect disappears into Google + on March 1st, I joined this a.m. and selected 'following' from its circles choices as I thought this would form a lovely foundation from which to create other circles when the Google transformation shook out. I'm hoping we can continue to follow each other! I'm at: http://www.kittiehoward.blogspot.com

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  16. Again agree with your sentiment, there's several books I adore but I possess them without need for a physical token & there would be things of greater importance to rescue, although I may grab my Ereader on the way out (just for the downtime)

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  17. I don't think I have anything particularly valuable, but I would save my autographed books, if possible. If not, it wouldn't kill me. I've gotten rid of hundreds of books in the past year, too. I have a long way to go!!! We have way too many.

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