A reader recently asked what books I would include in a “concise” library which could fit on a single shelf. When I began putting the list together, I had it in mind to distinguish between books I would choose simply because I enjoy teaching them and books I would choose for pleasure. The longer I considered the list, the less this seemed a genuine difference.
The Song of Roland
The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius
The Divine Comedy
Reflections on the Revolution in France, Burke
Frankenstein, Shelley
Plato’s Republic
Jane Eyre, Bronte
Till We Have Faces, Lewis
The Remains of the Day, Ishiguro
Strangers on a Train, Highsmith
The Road, McCarthy
Stoner, Williams
The Little Prince, de Saint-Exupéry
Frog and Toad: The Complete Collection, Lobel
The Wind in the Willows, Grahame
Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, Bartlett
There are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. 