Do Books Still Have A Place On The Bookshelf?

IS there a book you feel no home should be without? Nowadays anything you want to look up can be found online making reference books unnecessary. Classic books can be downloaded as e - readers. The only hard copies of books that seem safe at the moment are children's books, as it's so important for children to share books with adults and sit down and read aloud together.

Whilst in our house we download books on an e-reader and on an ipad and we do research online, I still like having hard copies of books on the bookshelf. I've spent the weekend pondering over what books are nice to have and have come up with the following:

• Oxford Book Of Quotations
• A Dictionary
• Books of Paintings

I know there must be many more but have drawn a blank. Emily has just heard she has won a school prize and needs to choose a book to have a plaque in. She has won the 16th Century history prize so whilst a history book would be nice it's not essential. She would like a book that she can keep forever and she can dip in and out of. Any suggestions?

Photo by Flickr jm3