The Last 10 Books Tag

This is probably more of a vlog thing that a blog thing, because I’m taking it from Rick’s latest video at Another Book Vlog, but nobody needs to see more of my face – so here it is written down instead. The tag is all to do with ‘the last book you…’. Well, it’ll become pretty clear pretty soon. (Btw, Rick’s selection is really interesting, even if he is WRONG about David Sedaris, so do go check that video out.)

1. The last book I gave up on

I don’t keep a list of these, so I’d have to rely on my memory… I do recall, during my 25 Books in 25 Days challenge, that I picked up At Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart, and knew that I couldn’t last more than a few pages. But it’s still on my shelf, so I’m sure I’ll come back to it.

2. The last book I re-read

I’m currently re-reading Edward Carey’s Alva & Irva for ‘Tea or Books?’ (which will probably be in the new year now) – but the last one I finished was in September, also for the podcast – Paul Gallico’s excellent and dark Love of Seven Dolls.

3. The last book I bought

I bought the book we’ll be reading in book group in January – Jose Saramago’s Baltasar and Blimunda. My first Saramago novel, and I’m tentatively intrigued…

4. The last book I said I read but actually didn’t

I’ve never seen the point of lying about books – because, honestly, why does anybody care what other people have read? If I haven’t read a much-vaunted book, it just means I have that experience ahead of me. Which just means we have to go back to my undergraduate degree, where I implicitly lied (in my essay about it)about having finished reading The Canterbury Tales…

5. The last book I wrote in the margins of

I don’t do this all that often – and when I do, it is always in pencil – but I did today! It’s in Nell Stevens’ Bleaker House, which I’m super enjoying, and it was because there’s a snippet of a novel she started in it where somebody is reading Ian Watt’s The Rise of the Novel in the Upper Reading Room of the Bodleian Library. Having worked as a librarian there for seven years (part time), I felt I had to make the pencilled note that Ian Watt’s book is ONLY available in the restricted section of the Lower Radcliffe Camera – because it’s so popular that we couldn’t risk it being lost. Important marginalia!

6. The last book I had signed

The novel my Mum wrote! A signature I have seen before once or twice, but nice to have in the book itself. (Before that… Sarah Waters a few years ago, I think?)

7. The last book I lost

Hmm, well I don’t think I ever notice when I’ve lost a book unless I happen to be seeking it out again, but I do know that Stephen Benatar’s Wish Her Safe at Home is no longer on my shelves. I assume I’ve lent it to somebody. Whenever I lend a book, it instantly goes from my memory… please don’t take advantage of this, people.

8. The last book I had to replace

I haven’t done it yet, but having really enjoyed Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver, I am regretting getting rid of a couple of her books when I moved house… They were long and I needed the shelf space! But, yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ll be re-buying those if I come across them in a charity shop.

9. The last book I argued over

Every time Colin and I see each other, we probably end having an argument about Virginia Woolf – and, since the only one he’s read is Orlando, I guess it’s that one. (These arguments are all in good fun, of course, and deep down Colin knows he’s wrong, and that Orlando is not “definitely the worst book he’s ever read”.) For the record, Orlando is far from my favourite Woolf novel, but it’s obviously still brilliant. (I think Jacob’s Room is my favourite, at least at the moment.)

10. The last book you couldn’t find

I had to go for the audiobook version in the end, but I couldn’t find a paper copy of Leigh Sales’ Any Ordinary Day (which I wrote about in October) because it seemed that it was only available in Australia. The audiobook version – read by Sales herself – turned out to be great, so that’s fine. Otherwise, I would love to have a copy of Diana Tutton’s The Young Ones, but that’s not available anywhere online. I read a copy in the Bodleian, but it’s not the same…