TSS: What makes a book a keeper?

Sometimes, I look at my bookshelves, decide they look ridiculously cluttered, and try to clean them.  This is made extremely difficult by the fact that I find it almost physically impossible to get rid of books.  I put together a system of trying to place mass-market books in front of larger trade paperbacks or hardcovers.  This doesn't work well, though, because then I can't see the title of the books in back.  So instead, I employ a helter-skelter stacking system that makes my somewhat OCD sister cringe.  It looks sloppy.

In those instances, I will make a heroic (truly, it is heroic, even if she doesn't recognize it as such) to get rid of some books.  When I do this, it makes me realize that I have many different criteria for what constitutes a "keeper" book.

Georgette Heyer is firmly on my keeper shelf because she is my go-to comfort read.  I am comfortable in Heyer's world, I understand her language, I know her stories, and I am perfectly aware of what she will give me.  I even have multiple copies of some of her books just because I hate seeing them sad and unloved in a bookstore.  And because I like the vintage editions much more than the new ones.

There are other books I keep because they are favorites and I know I'll want to reread them or lend them to friends (only friends who give them back!).  In this list are Lindsey Davis' Falco series and almost every fantasy novel I own.  Quite a few of the mysteries, too.  The Shadow of the Wind.  I would say a bulk of my "keepers" are books I think others will enjoy, that I would like to have on hand to lend out (at my discretion!) when I need to do so.

However, there are many books I don't anticipate reading again for years.  Possibly for over a decade or more.  But somehow, I never hesitate to keep them on my shelves.  I just like knowing I have them.  Maybe it's just me (though I doubt it), but some books, I form a deep emotional connection to.  I feel like they helped define me, or mold me.  They made me think or changed my perspective of a situation.  They made me fall in love with them.  Having them with me, on my shelf and close to me, makes me feel more secure.  I feel as though those books have a piece of me in them, and the thought of giving them away makes me sick.  Truly, it makes my stomach clench.  What if Hilary Mantel's A Place of Greater Safety is picked up by someone who does not properly appreciate it?  How could In Other Rooms, Other Wonders just languish on a shelf for years, feeling unloved?  What if someone spilled coffee all over my beloved Persuasion?  The possibilities are just too terrifying to think about.  So these books stay with me, and I know they are safe and loved.

It's funny, because even though I know I won't pick up the books in the last category for a very long time, it's really hard for me to let someone else borrow them, or even recommend them for someone else to read, especially if a) I don't absolutely adore the person or b) I don't know the person's reading tastes well.  To me, recommending a book in that category, for which I have such a personal and immediate response, is like sharing a very private piece of myself.  What if the other person doesn't understand the book?  Or what if she does understand but doesn't like it?  What if she doesn't connect to it the way that I did?  I am ashamed to admit it as it makes no logical sense, but I totally judge people who dislike books that I love.  I don't mean that I judge them harshly or negatively, but I step back and change the way I think about them.  And because this is a pretty messed-up and disturbing reaction, I try my best not to give myself to get into the situation in the first place, and thus don't give the books away freely.


Do you have a strong and deep connection to any books?  Which ones?  How do you define a keeper?