Greenburgh Public Library Blog

Keepers

It seems unbelievable that home libraries have become controversial. In her popular series Tidying Up, Marie Kondo has set the size of a collection at 30 books. For the bibliophile, this might be a ridiculous suggestion. Since her entire method is based on the concept of keeping only things that "spark joy," my own collection is considerably larger than that, and I am unapologetic.

I have bookshelves throughout my house that are overflowing. There are caches of coffee-table books leaning in corners. I have my mother’s Nancy Drew and Bobbsey Twins books from the 1950’s, my tattered Newberry winners from the Scholastic Book Fairs of the 70’s and 80’s, and The Hobbit, both the paperback edition, slipcased with The Lord of the Rings, and the edition illustrated with Rankin-Bass movie stills. 

I have my books from college. My copy of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare was $150, and the college bookstore offered me only $3 to buy it back at the end of the year. Besides, isn’t Shakespeare timeless? The Canterbury Tales, a few Norton Anthologies? Classics. No one will be surprised that I was an English Major. 

There are novels from my 90’s book group, cookbooks, parenting books, and all our family’s favorite picture books. My disintegrating copy of My Book About Me by Dr. Seuss has been joined by copies for each of my children, with tracings of impossibly small hand prints, lists of favorite foods, and counts of forks and freckles. 

These days, I rarely buy a book. I’m an avid library user, and my card is usually maxed out at 50 items. My shelves are already packed with books I acquired in my life before the library, but every once in a while a book comes along that I have to own. Most recently, it started with a chocolate chip cookie recipe. My husband leaned over on the couch one night showed me a New York Times recipe on his phone, and asked, “Would you make these?” I tried the recipe as written, and the cookies were incredible.

I tried to get The Vanilla Bean Baking Book from the library system, but no library in the county owned it. It’s a paperback and it was under $20, so I bought myself a copy. Blogger Sarah Kieffer is a self-taught baker, who honed her skills in a tiny coffee-shop kitchen, and her recipes are especially user-friendly for the home baker. There are no unusual ingredients, and each recipe yields a reasonable amount. I had everything I needed right in my pantry. I didn’t have to invest in specialty spices to make 9 dozen terrible cookies, once.

Every single recipe I tried was amazing.

 

 

The cardamom knots were gorgeous, oozing their scented sugar.

The oatmeal cookies were perfectly chewy, with crisp bottoms and edges.

The blackberry-poppyseed “everyday” cake has become a new family favorite. Plus, who can resist the concept of everyday cakes?

 

Seriously, this book was a keeper. I immediately talked the librarian into ordering a copy for our collection. I may or may not have greased the wheels of acquisitions with some samples.This got me thinking about the books I own. My shelves are already overflowing, so I’m pretty discerning about what I add to my collection. But sometimes I read a book, and I just feel compelled to own a copy, no apologies!