ABTIK

I have mentioned this useful site before. I am seriously pruning our book collection and every month or two I go along the bookshelves to see what can go. Many of our books are precious and will be kept, and one day may be passed on to our children [and grandchildren?] should they want them.
There are altogether too many books out there. As the writer of Ecclesiastes declared Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
Too right!! 
I try to re-read my 'classic literature' on a regular basis to see if it merits shelf space. This year I have set myself a new challenge; each month I plan to re-read a book from my youth which genuinely affected my thinking and actions. Anything read between about 1975 and 1995. I suspect that a high proportion of these will be books from Christian publishers on the subject of "The Life Of Faith" as it was often called back then. Maybe a few secular volumes will creep in. 

I have heard people say "This book changed my life!" For me, only one Book has ever truly done that. And that Book is one I refer to daily....but there are others which have challenged me, encouraged me, informed my thinking.
Hence ABTIK - A Book That I'm Keeping
Each month I plan to take down one of those "neglected former favourites" and see if it still speaks to me. These were books that mattered 20,30,even 40 years ago - do they still have a message, personally, or generally in today's "Post-truth Society"? 
All written in the days before iPods, iPads, iPhones etc - none of the widespread, instant sharing through Facebook, blogs, or Twitter. When most of what I read was on paper, not a screen.
I have no idea where this excursion will take me - but I hope I will relearn positive lessons I have forgotten, and reinstitute good habits long neglected, and be re-enthused with some of the better of my youthful passions  [no, that last phrase sounds far too pompous!!] Watch this space for a monthly book review. You may be reminded of a volume you once read and then forgot, or perhaps be introduced to a good one worth getting to know better. Wait and see...