The unread book that you've owned longest

[jaynie]

mine would have to be Mao's Last Dancer...bought January 05, sat on me shelf ever since...don't think I'll ever get round to it. It wasn't a total waste though because my mum read it not long after I got it and enjoyed it.

[Guest ii]

Some books of maman's that have technically been mine since I was 14. So that's over 10 years old.

[frankie]

Uh oh. I saw a book review of this on TV the other day and they mostly really liked it, so I immediately added it to my 'internal' wish list. I might still check it out though...but warily.

 

Well, if you keep in mind that in the beginning it really seems like huge devastating things might happen in the course of the book, but nothing like that happens, then I think you'll be alright with it And it's a really short and quick read so why not read it and see for yourself I might even read it myself some day, now that I know what it's like and I have no high expectations. But I must say I have no idea why that book ended up on our English lit course

[Kell]

I've got a couple of books I got instead of Easter eggs in 206 that I haven't read yet.

[Ossiy]

War and Peace. I also had Solzenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago which has probably quite mercifully gone missing.

 

war and Peace it is very long!

Do you want will give a present you? In Russian language

[chesilbeach]

I've got a couple of books I got instead of Easter eggs in 206 that I haven't read yet.

 

Wow, Kell, I'd never have guessed you were over 1800 years old - what's your secret?

(sorry, couldn't resist!)

 

My OH has been trying to get me to read The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiesen since 1990, and it's still on my TBR shelf!

[Stephanie2008]

Kerry Katona's autobiography. Got it given for Xmas in 2005 I think and never got around to it (although I don't like her so probably never will!)

[Kylie]

Wow, Kell, I'd never have guessed you were over 1800 years old - what's your secret?

(sorry, couldn't resist!)

 

Just as well she didn't get the easter eggs instead. They wouldn't have kept as well as the books, I think.

[Echo]

Hmmm...well, there is a leatherbound copy of Gone With the Wind that my parents had for years that I have now, so it's probably been around for over 20 years now. I tried reading it, but after 5 pages I gave up. I don't know if I'll ever read it at this point.

[libri vermis]

I have a Mark Twain book that I have had for over 10 years that I haven't read. I think it's called The Lesser Known Writings of Mark Twain or something like that. It looks sort of interesting, but is not really in novel or short story format, so that is why I always put it off.

[anisia]

Probably Catch-22.

[Mysterioso]

'The Bible'- discovered Darwin at an early age and never looked back!!

[Ravenwood]

I've still got some that I should have read when I did my degree back in (ahem) 1994 that I still haven't finished/got around to opening! (Hello Dante!) They look great on the shelf though!

[blithe]

The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone. A friend of mine gave it to me along with a boxful of used books about 15 years ago. I never got beyond the first page.

[ned]

David Beckham's autobiography. It was a christmas present a few years back, i have no intention of reading it (well really, you've heard him talk would he really have anything interesting to write) but i have no intention of getting rid of it either as it was a gift.

[Kasei]

I have some "Congratulations you've graduated! Now what?" type books that people gave me after I graduated from high school about 6 years ago that I never touched. Felt bad about that so tried to pick them up the other day until I realized that it was a pointless endeavor seeing as I've already completed university and begun my career. e_e Heh, oh well...maybe I'll pass them on to someone else so I can get them off of my bookshelf.

[bobblybear]

I have quite a few that I have owned for probably 10-15 years, but have just never got around to reading. The thing is, I plan on reading them at some point, so have still held on to them.

 

Some of them:

Steppenwolf - Herman Hesse

The Outsider - Albert Camus

I Know This Much Is True - Wally Lamb

A Beautiful Mind - Sylvia Nasar

Sarum - Edward Rutherford

Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco

Cloudstreet - Tim Winton

Lila - Robert M Pirsig

A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand

 

I know some of them are supposed to be very good, but I always seem to find something else to read.

[Kylie]

Cloudstreet - Tim Winton

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand

 

These are brilliant. Atlas Shrugged can be a bit of a slog, but it's well worth it, I think.

 

Cloudstreet is a great Australian classic.

 

I've also read and enjoyed The Outsider.

[TheNinthWord]

The Iliad, Homer

 

I've dipped into to, and read it up until book 20-something, I think. It was the catalogue of ships that stopped me. It's been on my shelf for 3 years, and apart from my first attempt I haven't looked at it.

[Nollaig]

Probably Nineteen Eighty Four. I've had it since I was a teenager

[Pixie]

I'm not sure, but it might be Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon.

 

Someday I'll get to it.

 

A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

Excellent read. You should get to it soon.

[bobblybear]

These are brilliant. Atlas Shrugged can be a bit of a slog, but it's well worth it, I think.

 

Cloudstreet is a great Australian classic.

 

I've also read and enjoyed The Outsider.

 

I've been planning on reading Cloudstreet quite soon, as I've heard nothing but good things about it. I shall move it up in my TBR pile. Atlas Shrugged looks like such hard work, but again, I've heard great things.

 

 

Excellent read. You should get to it soon.

 

Again, I've heard plenty of positive things about A Prayer for Owen Meany. Maybe I should make this year the year I read all my old un-reads.

 

So many books, but so little time.

[I'mRose]

The Valley of horses I think. I bought it when I was like ten cause it had the word horses in it. I never got around to reading it and now I've realized it's a part of a series and I don't have the first one.

[frankie]

 

 

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. I've had it for 10 years

 

 

 

[Kasei]

The Valley of horses I think. I bought it when I was like ten cause it had the word horses in it. I never got around to reading it and now I've realized it's a part of a series and I don't have the first one.

 

Ahh, Clan of the Cave Bear, an epic twist on the paperback romance. I loved the first book when I read it (at the age of 12, actually. Surprising once you read what happens in it that I was allowed to do so). The Valley of Horses was the sequel and it was pretty good too, though as the series goes on it definitely becomes more and more like a smutty romance series and less about what initially attracted me to the series, the prehistoric setting and the archeological aspects of it. You might try checking out the first book sometime just to see if its up your alley.