Top Ten Tuesday: List of Shame
Honestly, I had kind of a hard time figuring this out. Most of the books that I saved from childhood have been read and I gave lots of books away in a pre-college clean out and with every move since then. So, what I learned from this exercise is that I've really accumulated a ton of books in the last five years or so.
Here are 7 books I'm pretty sure I've had since college:
10. Richard Brautigan, An Unfortunate Woman: A Journey: I believe I was having a beat phase.9.William Faulkner, Light in August: Purchased in the three book Oprah edition, but this is the only one I haven't read.
8. Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams: I may have even bought this one in high school, as a result of my obsessive love of The Bean Trees
7.Katherine Dunn, Geek Love: This I still very much want to read and I don't know why I haven't.
6. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Watchmen: I had a big graphic novels phase brought on by reading Gaiman. I never got to this one. 5. Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina: This was another Oprah's book club purchase, embarrassingly enough. I started it and couldn't get past the names.
4.Don DeLillo, Underworld: This is the book that I've been reading the longest. I've given it two goes. What's strange is that I really like it, just can't finish it.
And three that I've had since childhood:
3.Austin Teppan Wright, Islandia: This is my parents' book, so it has likely been in this house since the late 80s. I'm not sure why I kept it and not any of the others that they left when they moved.2.Louisa May Alcott, Little Women: I have had this copy since elementary school. I've read most, but not all of the book. I would love to replace it with the Penguin clothbound pictured.
1. Volumes 5-7 in C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia: I've had the same box set for as long as I can remember. I think I got it as a Christmas present when I was seven. My mom read me 1-4 before bed.
What books have been on your shelves the longest? Do you still plan to read them?
I have so many books on my shelf waiting to be read, most I just haven't got around to, but some (I've been putting off Anna Karenina too!) are waiting to be read because they're too daunting!
ReplyDeleteMy TTT
At least you've read 1-4 of Narnia. I've only read The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe! Eeek.
ReplyDeleteI had Anna Karenina for the longest time before I read it... I read it this year and I really enjoyed it though, if that persuades you to read it any! Also, I've had Animal Dreams for aaages too, mainly because I really liked The Poisonwood Bible but just... haven't got round to it!
ReplyDeleteYeah those Russians and all their names! I had the same problem with Crime and Punishment last year. I wish the authors would provide a family tree at the back of the book or something like that. I haven't built up the nerve to tackle AK yet. Maybe 2012 will be the year?
ReplyDeleteUnderworld made an appearance on my bookshelf for a while. Then I got real with myself and I gave it away because I knew that I wasn't going to read it. I read some DeLillo in college and thought I would continue, but no, that didn't happen.
ReplyDeleteWatchmen is pretty great!
ReplyDeleteHere’s my Top Ten Tuesday post. :)
If you at all love weird books, then you need to read Geek Love sooner rather than later. It's fantastically demented.
ReplyDeleteRead Anna Karenina! Russian names are not scary. But then again, they have a weird way of doing nicknames that makes you wonder *who's that* when it is just the same old character you already know. But there is a web page to help you, so use le Google and all will be well;)
ReplyDelete