I have a library, what I call my "reading room." Okay, it's actually the formal living room, but we sure as hell ain't formal 'round here. So I took most of my books and filled a wall of bookcases, in addition to the built-in bookcase that came with the house. These are my keeper books, and there are well over five hundred, easy. I know, that's a small number for a so-called devoted reader. But you know, as I looked at my books the other day, I realized I've read each one at least 3-4 times, if not more. Like those found in a real library, my books are there for my pleasure any time. I can't explain it. I know how the stories will end, yet I'll still read an entire book over again.Sometimes I've forgotten the flow, the characters, or the author's voice, and it's like a gentle homecoming as remembrance seeps in with every word read. Lately, I've been on a Jayne Ann Krentz kick. I love her Arcane Society series. Then there her older contemporaries, which are just as fun. I have her work in paperback and hardback, under all her names: Krentz, Castle, Quick and James. No, I'm not a stalker, just a fan who's been reading her for years.
There are other authors with tons of books on my shelf: Christine Feehan, Sabrina Jeffries, Angela Knight, Lora Leigh, Josie Litton (when will she EVER write a new book????), Johanna Lyndsey, Julie Garwood, and a ton more. I also have Poe, Eddings, King and Koontz next to Joseph Campbell, Bullfinch's Mythology (favorite book ever) Shakespeare and Milton.
So much to read, so little time to do so. The lamentation of a devoted reader, surely...
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"So much to read, so little time to do so."
... So very true!
You listed many of my favorties as well and I'm guessing that my library looks much the same as yours. My collection of favorites goes back to my junior high years when I was first introduced to Jane Ann Krentz and Amanda Quick, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Johanna Lindsey, Julie Garwood, Linda Howard and SO many more. I've been re-reading these books for the past 20 years in addition to all the fantastic new authors I've come across... Present company included! ;)
They're like old friends, right?
Yeah, Elle. I think we have similar looking bookshelves. :) Johanna Lindsey used to be my number one author years ago. Then I went through a Julie Garwood phase, back when she was writing those stellar historicals. I'm not into her comtemporaries so much. Linda Howard was an auto-buy, but after *Ice* and a few others, she fizzled for me. Though to this day *Son of the Morning* remains one of my all time favorites. Oh boy. I'd better stop before I blather into tomorrow. And yeah, books are like old friends, you're so right!!
Marie
Whoops, I meant Howard's Cover of Night. I never read Ice. And I had a realllly hard time with Up Close and Dangerous. Really hard.
ack
Marie
lol... That's where she started losing me too! (at least with her new stuff)
I think part of the reason I still re-read these books 20+ years later (aside from the fact that they're great stories!) is that they remind me of my younger years so it's almost like living a real-time home movie; I swear I can even hear the same music I listened to back in the day echoing in my mind. :)
Sometimes I just sit and stare at my walls of books and am almost overwhelmed with choosing just one to pull down... that's why I end up reading multiple books at any given time. (Stupid EDJ really interferes with my reading time!)
*sigh*
Add Sherrilyn Kenyon, Laurell K. Hamilton, J.R. Ward and Lorelei James and a few others and you have my book shelf.
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