Like many voracious readers, I tend to gather books. Every couple of years I thin them down, donating to area libraries and such. I've moved a couple of times and had to thin down extra at those times.
It's hard ...
So I can only imagine the struggle of having to pick just one book. It's like the interview question, if you were stranded on a deserted island with just one book, what would it be? Um ...
I don't even know where to begin to narrow down my bookshelves to just one book. Most of my favorites are parts of trilogies or small series with set ending points.
What I do know is without authors, there would be no new books. The lose of any work of art, be it a painting , a symphony, or a book, is a detriment to the world. Yet the lose of creativity would be much much worse.
While we may never see a repeat of the abilities of some of the masters, new ones will arise in time, so long as we nurture the crative spark within us. So rather than risk all to save one book, which would probably by the one I happened to grab off of my shelf in a moment of panic rather than one selected with deliberation, I would let them be taken.
I would then commit my life to recreating what I could, and writing new stories, hoping that it would help keep creativity alive within the human condition, so that future generations will be able to enjoy their own masters of the arts.
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteThis week's topic is a tough one, isn't it?
I'd been tempted to write about saving 'classic' books, something like the complete works of Shakespeare. Then I realised there'd be no point in saving such a book as there are actors and fans all over the world who can recite the majority of his plays.
Good post,
Ash
You've probably struck upon the best solution to this hypothetical problem. New books can always be written, and we can always try to recreate anything that was lost. True, somethings can never be recreated, but that's the way things are!
ReplyDeleteAsh - Indeed there are. Which I have to say, does make it so much easier to hypothetically save certain well loved works.
ReplyDeleteHelen - Thanks so much. : ) I admit, the very idea of such censorship makes my skin crawl.
Hi, Michelle,
ReplyDeleteWhen I was getting rid of books in order to move, one of my criteria was "If I wanted to read this again, would I be able to find a copy?" Classics will always (at least hopefully!) be available. So I ended up keeping the weird stuff, books that I loved but which nobody has probably ever heard of.
Hard topic, though. Definitely.
Warmly,
Lisabet