My Best Book Gift

I saw a question in The New York Times Book Review for Chelsea Clinton: what's the best book you ever received as a gift?

I want to write about my answer.

My favorite book is I Capture the Castle as I discussed here. The book was out-of-print for many years. I lent my copy to my sister Joanna to re-read. I told her to take care of it; she used to dog-ear her books which drove me crazy.

So what happened? Her German Shepard puppy got a hold of the book and chewed it up. Joanna said she sobbed when she found it.

I was bummed, but I didn't blame her.

For my next birthday, Jeff gave me a copy of I Capture the Castle, in perfect condition along with the dust jacket.

I was so happy. I had no idea you could get out-of-print books without hunting through library book sales (which I did before the book was back in print.)

Only Jeff realized how important the book was to me: one more reason why I love him.