My Keeper Shelf

I seldom reread a book.

The one that I have read four times is "The Lady's Companion" by Carla Kelly, which came out in 1996. Amazon sellers value this book at ten bucks a pop. Since this is on my keeper's shelf, I won't have to buy one. But it's also a book I refuse to lend out. It breaks a lot of rules, the hero doesn't come until after page seventy, and within pages, I adored the man.

Carla has a new release, her first since 2002, so I was delighted to see it came out this month. I will be searching my local WallyWorld to get my copy. I've even purchased her book "Here's to the Ladies: Stories of the Frontier Army." So, put me down as dedicated fan.

I've read "Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl" twice. Once when I was eleven, then again when I was sixteen. The book's meaning changed a lot between readings. She was talented.

When I was a kid, I haunted the small one room library, I read every book in my age level. The soft pink fuzzy "Pollyanna," "The Adventures of Toby Tyler," everything by Lois Lenski, who I adored.

I do have all the Harry Potter books. I believe J. K. Rowling is brilliant in developing plots that when you're reading, you're absorbing, and then at the end, everything folds into place. I won't loan these copies out either. I haven't reread them, but most likely will.

"A Man to Die For" by Eileen Dreyer, written many years ago, is a case book on 'hooks' and was one of the first books whose ending surprised me.

Susan Sizemore's "The Price of Innocence" is also a case book on how 'flashbacks' can improve your story.

These books stay on my 'keeper' shelf.

This week's eye candy.