kept by · mrs. p. (the widow) · upstairs, the drawing room
shelf — the russians and the brontes
shelf — what mr. p. is not reading anymore
mrs. p. reads at the window in the morning and at the lamp in the
evening. she has read every novel here at least twice, and most of
them three times. she does not own works of philosophy, except by
accident: a small essay collection
that arrived as a gift from the apothecary
and that she has never opened, though she likes the cloth.
most read: a novel about a sister who returns, which she finds in
her hands every november without seeking it. least read: the
household manual, brought
upstairs by the keeper and never
returned. she does not mean to keep it; she keeps it.
a third of the shelf is what mr. p. is not reading anymore. she
has not moved his books; she has not added to them. they sit at
the same angle they were in when the angle stopped meaning
anything.
field note · in pencil, on a flyleaf the books one returns to are not the best books; they are the ones that have learned to wait. a good novel will sit in a house for thirty years and not feel impatient.
see also · the keeper's shelf · the grandfather's books · letters · the library · silent writers