# Cull your book collection down to a dozen volumes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cull-your-book-collection-down-to-a-dozen-volumes/500596>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 22, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cull-your-book-collection-down-to-a-dozen-volumes/500596 "2009-06-22T16:01:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cull-your-book-collection-down-to-a-dozen-volumes/500596/21 "2009-06-22T23:19:03Z")

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I’m a fan of the classics, so I’d go with _Penthouse_, January - December, 1984.

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**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cull-your-book-collection-down-to-a-dozen-volumes/500596/22 "2009-06-22T23:30:06Z")

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My books or my life?  
[jack benny]  
I’m thinking!  
[/jb]

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cull-your-book-collection-down-to-a-dozen-volumes/500596/23 "2009-06-23T00:39:45Z")

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OED, online version.  
Historical Dictionary of American Slang I  
Historical Dictionary of American Slang II  
The Yale Book of Quotations  
The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes  
The F Word  
Merriam Webster Collegiate 11th  
Dictionary of Etymology  
Mark Twain’s Works  
Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue

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**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cull-your-book-collection-down-to-a-dozen-volumes/500596/24 "2009-06-23T02:28:20Z")

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I know my list isn’t as highbrow as some, but if I’m going to be forced into these choices, along with the serious stuff I also want humor and entertainment.

1. The Bible, with the Apocryphal books, Oxford Study Edition, NRSV

2. by Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird,

3. by H.H. Munro(Saki), a single volume edition of his short stories

4. by O. Henry, a single volume edition of his short stories

5. My one volume, annotated edition of all Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets, and other poems.

6. The Episcopal Church in the United States edition of the Book of Common Prayer.

7. by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Alas, I don’t own a single volume edition of LOT, so I had to choose between them.

8. Beard on Bread, by James Beard. Hey, I’m a baker and it’s my absolute favorite bread book, out of the many I own.

9. my annotated Sherlock Holmes, authored by Conan Doyle of course, the Sabine Baring-Gould annotations.

10. by Leonard Wibberly, **The Testament of Theophilus** (also titled The Seven Hills)

11. by Ellen Kindt McKenzie, Taash and the Jesters

12. a totally out of print and forgotten(except by me) bit of fluff fiction titled And To My Nephew Albert I Leave the Island What I Won Off Fatty Hagan in a Poker Game, by two guys who used the pen name David Forrest.

At least I’m going to have fun in my year!😛

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