In my personal library, I have a shelf- the Sacred Shelf of 10. This is the shelf that holds the books which are my ten favorite at any given time. There can only be ten. When I find a book that I highly enjoy, I consider putting it on the sacred shelf. But, if one goes on, then one comes off- no exceptions (this is what I think they ought to do in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but that’s a discussion for another time).
The rule of ten makes me consider, really, truly consider which of my books deserve to be on this shelf. Why the scrutiny? These ten are the only books I’ll go back and reread (while they remain on the shelf). There’s too little time and too many books to reread more than that. The books on my shelf are chosen because I simply enjoy reading them, not because they do or do not have redeeming literary value. They may or may not have won an award, other than the award of sitting on the Sacred Shelf of 10.
Here they are, in no particular order:
- Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
- The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
- Booked to Die by John Dunning
- The Meaning of Night: A Confession by Michael Cox
- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
- Sophie’s World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaarder
- Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
- The Bookman’s Wake by John Dunning
- An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
- On Writing by Stephen King
Those are the books on the sacred shelf in my library. Some have been on the list for a while, some have only recently been added. Now, I can hear some screams of dismay and several of you saying, “huh?” But regardless, those are my favorites. Now the question is- what is on your Sacred Shelf of 10?
I don’t shelve them together, but my own Top Ten is:
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (an annual re-read)
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Mila 18 by Leon Uris
Trinity by Leon Uris
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto
On Writing by Stephen King (If I were a writing instructor, this would be the only book I’d require for my course!)
[...] reasons I have refused since to see movies based on my favorite books. These two books are on my Sacred Shelf of 10: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson. These two books [...]
I was working on a very similar post when I came upon this blog. I love your idea of a “Sacred Shelf of 10.”
Check out what would make my list:
http://davethenovelist.wordpress.com/2007/10/27/the-greatest-novels-of-all-time/
In no particular order:
- The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
- Ender’s Game quadrology – especially the Speaker for the Dead one (Orson Scott Card)
- Dragonlance Legends (Tracy Hickman & Margaret Weis)
- The Anubis Gates (Tim Powers)
- The Dark Elf Trilogy (R.A. Salvatore)
- The Stress of Her Regard (Tim Powers)
- Foundation series (Isaac Asimov)
- 1984 (George Orwell)
- Alvin Maker series (Orson Scott Card)
- Dune (Frank Herbert)
Yeah, I know that those count more than ten books, let’s consider ten in a greater meaning
[...] So many books, so little time- I have time to read a book once, then move on. If a book is not on the Sacred Shelf of 10, it is shelved with the rest of my collection, not to be read again, but collected for collections [...]
[...] novels of his have been nominated for the Edgar Award. In addition to awards, Dunning has readers. Drew Goodman, book sales manager at the University of Utah campus store, has gone so far as to include two of [...]
I just blogged about how I’m having difficulty finishing “An Instance of the Fingerpost.”
You can read my dilemma at http://www.HeidiTown.com. Please check out my post! I’d love a comment on why you liked this book so much… I really enjoyed the first voice, but I’m stuck on the 3rd voice (page 385) – 300 more pages to go. I’ve suddenly become very bored with it. Words of wisdom?
~Heidi of http://www.HeidiTown.com
I have to agree with #5. There’s too many books out there for me to spend time reading one more than once.
That said there are three that over the years I have read more than once.
No particular order
1. Lord of The Rings
2. The Hobbit
3. 1984
That’s it. No more.