Because they have quality.

Someone posed the question to me the other day of if I were in Fahrenheit 451, what book would I want to be?

Aside from now wanting to read Fahrenheit 451 over again, I’m torn. My flat-out favorite, Grapes of Wrath (which has the bonus of also being a flat-out classic)? Something newer, like The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay? Something controversial like The Satanic Verses? What about a kid’s book like The Phantom Tollbooth or Tom Sawyer, since you couldn’t pass something like Ulysses on to the next generation of book-people-in-the-forest until they’re older and, in theory, you’d want them to develop a love of books, too? Should someone remember all the Golden Books so that there’s something to read (say?) aloud to the kiddies before bed?

And speaking of Ulysses, what if no one in the forest liked it? Does someone have to be responsible for remembering a classic for classic’s sake? Because I don’t know what I would do with myself if I had that book knocking around in my head the rest of my life.

Could I remember a few shorter books (The War of the Worlds, Of Mice and Men, Candide) instead of one long one? Is that allowed? Perhaps I'm overthinking this.