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Monday
28Dec2009

What Books Can You Live Without?

DateMon, December 28, 2009 at 7:50 AM
At the New York Times, Francine Prose is one of seven authors to take part in a 'debate' about "Books You Can Live Without":
Two years ago, I re-organized my library, and gave away 20 cartons of books, culled according to the following general principles:
  • Unless you are an Egyptologist, you only need one, at most two, enormous coffee table books on the Art of the Pharaohs.
  • If a country, like Czechoslavakia, no longer exists, it’s unlikely that you’ll want to take the travel guide along with you when you go.
  • If the reproductions in an art book are so fuzzy and blurred that you can’t tell the work of the Impressionists from that of the Pointillists, or even from the Surrealists, get rid of it.
  • Ask yourself the following hard question and answer honestly: If I live to be 100, will I read this book again?
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