Whats in Your library ??

[mikego]

What books and literature do you consider essential to a well stocked library ?

Mike G.

[walls0stone]

The Bible, Forgoten Man, Company Aytch (H), Campainging with Grant, Speaches that Changed the World, Ben Franklin's Auto Bio'...the pokie little puppy

[rockymtngirl]

Pokie little puppy - yes! Western Gardeners reference book, Ball canning book, genealogy info (my family's), The Pineapple Story, The Bible, The Anarchist Cookbook

[OzarkMtnDaredevil]

...The Anarchist Cookbook

I like you :) ! I don't know what happened to mine but, my Poor Mans James Bond volumes are safely stored.
The Bible, the Ball Blue Book, books on metallurgy, gunsmithing related books, gardening books, way to much to list. DW and I have a pretty extensive library.
We like to keep some entertaining reading on-hand, as well. Ivanhoe, War and Peace, lots of Louis L'amour and Jimmy Buffett. One of my fave reads is The Book of the Dun Cow.

[maineyankee]

'The monkeywrench gang ' by edward abbey is first on my list . I've given away dozens of copies while working in the parks out west.

Every copy of mother earth news (yes I know it's on CD, but that's not the point)

'Where in the world is Joe Merchant' by Jimmy Buffet.

'Food storage for dummies' I forget the authors.

The best of Robert Service (poetry)

the complete foxfire series

the animal farm

ferinhight 451

[wax]

I am not sure I understand: to survive?

Hmmm... to read... believe it or not I started with Star Wars.
Dumas followed and was repeated then Twain then Poe. I would not have spread my wings without releasing myself from lit snobbery: John Carter, Tarzan.... Starship Trooper!
What did they really give me? Just an idea and they taught me how to read which is just as important as what to read.

Everything except for Star Wars above is free of course now!
Just do a Google search.

[pinetreefarm]

I have all the BWH Anthologies and every issue of Countryside. Have many cookbooks, The Merck Medical Book, survival books, The Preparedness Book by BWH, and lots more....spinning/weaving books, over 50 in all. We decided that we needed books rather than the net because elec. could be an issue. We keep all those books on one shelf in the event we have to move them quickly.

I have several C/D's also but cannot count on them. We have been at this for almost 10 years, now.

Pine

[MotherCharlotte]

If you're talking about homsteading/survival books, all I have so far is "The Self Sufficient Life" by John Seymour and a handful of gardening books...I'd really like to get more books like this but I can only afford to add them slowly, one at a time. That's okay, because we won't be getting our land for a few years anyway.

I have quite a few cookbooks though, mostly focusing on good basic cooking. Probably the red-and-white checkered Better Homes and Gardens cookbook is the one I pull out the most.

The majority of my library is more for entertainment and enrichment. I own a large collection of classic literature and poetry, both for adults and children (as I homeschool, my children's book collection is growing faster than any other part of my library). Far too many to list. I've gotten a lot of wonderful old books for very cheap (almost free) through library sales. Many I also acquired while taking English Lit courses at university.

I also have a large bookshelf filled with fantasy and science fiction. Everything from Lord of the Rings (my favourite) to Star Wars (which is my husband's favourite). This is for pure entertainment. I used to read a lot more of that when I was younger, now I'm spending more time on other things, but still, it's fun stuff. Sometimes it's a nice break from reality to enjoy a story set in a completely different world with different rules.

One thing I'd really like to add to my library is the BHM anthologies. Maybe for Christmas. :)

[Suzy]

I have either the back issues or anthologies for BWH from the beginning and I also have an extensive collectionof COUNTRYSIDE including many many back issues!

I think Carla Emery's book is a necessity as well as J.B.'s book about Dairy Goats (available from COUNTRYSIDE).

I also have a lot of the OLDER Mother Earth News, the ones from the 1970's and early 1980's.

I also like the "slicker" magazine FARM AND RANCH and have about five year's worth of it. (I love the diaries in it!)

Then there's all the FOX FIRE books, lots of quilting and knitting books, the vet book that Jackie Clay's first husband wrote and which she recently re-edited; copies of the Bible in several translations; and more...

I don't read very much fiction. But I have zillions of book, including 65 Zane Grey books that were my dads!

[Shamrock1121]

My name is Karen and I'm a book-a-holic. Even worse, I started a large home library in the late 1970's by buying a personal library at an auction of a well-read person (you can get a real bargain if you wait in the rain (LOL). The neighborhood kids used to come to our house to do reports and research papers. This was before computers ;). I have reduced the library by several thousands in the last 5 years and still have a couple thousand.

1. health, herbs, healing, medical

2. how-to: electric, plumbing, woodworking, fences, building/construction, gardening, landscaping, energy saving, Fox Fire set, household fixes/formulas...

3. knitting and crocheting - crafts - home sewing/decorating

4. cookbooks: cooking/baking science books and text books, home storage, home canning and preservation, using dried (survival-type) foods, dehydrating, grains/seeds/beans, breads, honey... Earliest cookbook is from 1859 (talk about getting back to basics :o) and I have WWI and WWII booklets. Just over 500 in this category.

5. Frugal living/tips

6. Religion/Bible collection - I recently donated my Hymnal Collection, Grace Livingstone Hill collection, and children's religion to a church library.

7. History: Genealogical/Kansas/Local/Civil War

8. Classic literature/poetry

9. Pre-WWI novels

10. Large collection of childrens books, including early Golden Books, children's classics from the mid-1800's through the early 1900's...

-Karen

[MotherCharlotte]

Very impressive Karen! I hope to have as many books as you someday. Now I know why you're always overflowing with helpful information. :)

[Katrina-Sisu]

Bible

Diary of Anne Frank

Any Dean Koontz and Anne Perry books

Recipe books

Amish books

Poetry I like

[ms-woman]

Thousands!! I lost around 6 thousand , oh well start over. I don't have that many now only 2-3 thousand. Survival, how-to, college books (I get those a lot), entertainment, medical, history, bhm anthologies, carla emery, john seymour, jean auel, harry potter, james rollins, diana gabaldon(those have A Lot of really good info in them!!!survival, herbs, medical, etc..) I love to read, and read really fast so I'm always collecting!

[Sarah]

Hmmm... Really an impossible question for me to answer.

The problem is that I consider our enclave library as MY library. Our enclave is the school enclave for many of our Amana tradesmen, and home enclave for the book restoral school. My husband is the Master of the school. I work at the 'Vot' desk, which is basically an administrative help desk.

I am spoiled rotten, and I admit it.

Personal favorites: The card catalog printout books, our complete Mother, CSSSJ, and BWH collections, and any ICS (International Correspondence School) materials.

Personal favorites in my 'personal' library: The complete Mother (a gift!), and the four CDs from Mother, Dick's Encyclopedia, Henley's Encyclopedia, six different pre-1900 cookbooks, Emery, and my Meal Master collection.

OK, so Meal Master is a cookbook collection software but I love to browse the old BBS databases that were also a present.

Sarah

[Cutter]

W.E.B.Griffin, The Brotherhood of War series and the Corp series. Plus I'll read anything else I find of his.

[MYellowRose]

NOTHING! I lost my library last fall when I had to move into the 2 bedroom trailer where my DD lived after her hubby left her.
I had complete set of back issues of TMEN from beginning through 1986; complete set of back issues of Backwoods Home from beginning through I think it was issue 95 or something like that. Complete set of Foxfire books. Carla Emery's book. All three Tightwad Gazette books. Many of the books recommended by TMEN and BHM not to mention many craft magazine back issues, many Mothering magazine back issues, many back issues of Backwoodsman magazine, and on and on. I cry inside every time I think of the loss of all that stuff. We had no vehicle to move the stuff so I just had to leave it.

[CarolAnn]

Oh, Molly! I feel so bad for you! I too love books and they're stuffed in every cranny and nook in the house. To leave them would mean . . . oh . . . NOT PACKING AND HAULING them next time I move? Maybe that wouldn't be so bad! I got most of mine at Goodwill and rummage sales - so just remember, you can always start over.

My books packed in my brother's shed in Arkansas just had to go to the dump; musty books never really come back from that. That was 11 years ago and you'd never know now that this is a recent "library."

I dream of having a little shelf-lined room and getting them all put in some kind of order so I could actually find the one I need. >sigh< Someday . . . maybe. That and two soft chairs to curl up in would be a perfect place! (Two chairs = one for a friend!) :)

[Dawgus]

Our library is pretty large, I really doubt I could narrow it down to a select few. I could never part with my Foxfire books, I read them over and over, and always manage to catch something new. We have lots of books on self sufficiency, herbal & home remedies,small scale farming and more. I have a thing for OLD do-it-yourself books. I love reading on how to do things without modern power tools, and have several of those. I recently found a 1946 "handymans guide" at the habitat store for 75 cents...love it. Beyond that, I have the same as some other posts above, the Anarchists Cookbook, Poor Mans James Bond, One Shot-One Kill (carlos hathcock), gunsmithing books, and all my dads reloading books dating back to the late 50's. I've also got most of the hardbound series from North American Fishing Club....another goodwill find for $10. Since we dithched the tv, we read every night, so we get new books constantly.

[Gracie]

Gosh, and we thought we had a quite a few books...wheee reading all these posts, almost feel 'book-poor'. Hubby loves the old western writers, Zane Gray etc. how-to books, gardening and wildlife, and as he says,"a little bit of everything". Have many cookbooks, the "Fanny Farmer" is a favorite, have been zeroing in on self sufficiency books, and purchased some that were recommended here on BWH, thank you, for the suggestions. Also, have quite a few faith-related books.
CarolAnn, your dream, is mine too...we don't have the the space for this room, but to be able to have one would be heaven. The only addition would make would be a small table for cups of coffee or tea. Makes me smile, just to think of it :) Gracie