A Book Case

"The contents of someone's bookcase are part of his history, like an ancestral portrait."
---Anatole Broyard

Although I read all day and all night, it's been months since I've read any fiction. I'm feeling an emptiness in my soul. I need a saturation of my senses—a book I can't put down, words that will keep me up thinking "Just one more chapter, just one more page." I want characters that will become confidantes, who will make me laugh, wonder, yearn, and cry when I say good-bye.

I don't want a fast read, or a put-it-down-pick-it-up-next-week-because-it-can't-hold-my- interest type of book. And I'm tired of learning stuff. I need a good, old-fashioned, heart-wrenching saga. Or a thriller that will have me in a cold sweat. Or a romance that will have me in a hot one. Or a mystery with a dashing British detective and a bewildered, puzzling victim. And I want it right this very second! I'm searched my It sounded good when I bought it two years ago shelf and nothing jumped out at me.

Here's a list of books I wish I hadn't read yet (so I could read them for the first time) to help you with your suggestions.

Fifty Favorite Books

1. Youngblood Hawke
2. Marjorie Morningstar
3. The Winthrop Woman
4. Gone With the Wind
5. To Kill a Mockingbird
6. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
7. To Serve Them All My Days
8. Rebecca
9. Eye of the Needle
10. Day of the Jackal
    
11. Kane and Abel
12. The Odessa File
13. The Firm
14. Pelican Brief
15. Presumed Innocent
16. The Ring
17. Ghost
18. Shellseekers
19. Five Smooth Stones
20. Coma
21. Warriors Don't Cry
22. Joy in the Morning
23. Katherine
24. A Great Deliverance
25. Dragonwyck
26. Bourne Identity
27. The Chancellor Manuscript
28. Absolute Power
29. Immortal Wife
30. Love is Eternal
31. The Godfather
32. Forever Amber
33. Disclosure
34. The Rabbi
35. Christy
36. The Hiding Place
37. The Thornbirds
38. Jane Eyre
39. Winds of War
40. Far Pavilions
41. The Water is Wide
42. Cold Sassy Tree
43. My Cousin Rachel
44. Mistress of Mellyn
45. The Ivy Tree
46. Once and Future King
47. Mists of Avalon
48. The Salzburg Connection
49. Hawaii
50. QB VII

"Once in a very rare year, there comes along a new book,
and I say as I'm reading, as my eyes eat words without a blink,
(as my heart and mind grab each other,)
"This," I say, "is The Best Book."
I know before the first page is gone. I sense it building.
And as the book finishes, I go as slow as I can.
I don't want to leave this book's world."
---Jill Robinson

Immortal Wife and Wannabe, 1969

What books do you think I'd like?