“A book,” Garrison Keillor supposedly declared, “is a gift you can open again and again.” He may (or may not!) have said so on one of his Prairie Home Companion shows, but the picky details hardly matter. The main thing is that he hit the nail on the head.
Every dyed-in-the-wool reader can name a few favourites that never grow old. They need not be numerous for their importance to last a lifetime. My own catalogue includes John Moore’s Brensham Trilogy, Robert Ruark’s The Old Man and the Boy, the short stories of Mavis Gallant, and the poems of A. E. Houseman, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Robert Frost.
So, yes indeed, Keillor got it right. I reopen those volumes again and again. What’s more, my money says that you treasure your own list, too. By all means share one or two titles in a reply to this post.
And here’s another idea. Check out Providence Point wherever you buy your novels. I daresay it’ll earn its place alongside the books you already turn to time after time.
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