The Overhaul #4

It’s time for another Overhaul! For those who missed the first three in the series – it’s where I look back at haul posts from the past on my blog, and see if I actually read the books.

And this time we’re going with maybe my biggest haul ever.

The Overhaul #4

The original haul post is here.

Date of haul: April 2011

Location: Bookbarn, Somerset

Number of books bought: 29

TWENTY-NINE BOOKS. Buckle up, and let’s see how well I’ve done with them… [and click through to the original post if you want to know more about the books and why I bought them – for some reason I thought it was thirty-one then.]

• Confessions of a Story-Teller: short stories by Paul Gallico
• The Small Miracle by Paul Gallico
• Ludmilla, and The Lonely by Paul Gallico
• The Adventures of Hiram Holliday by Paul Gallico

I have read plenty of Paul Gallico since 2011, but I think the only one of these I’ve read is the shortest – The Small Miracle.

• A Village in a Valley by Beverley Nichols

When I bought this, I wrote “I keep stockpiling Nichols books, and have still read none…” – well, readers of StuckinaBook probably know that the dam burst and I’ve read a lot of Nichols since then – including this one.

• Four Years at the Old Vic 1929-1933 by Harcourt Williams

I’ll be honest, I forgot I had this. It sounds great! I wonder where it is…

• The Theatre Since 1900 by J.C. Trewin

I have a better idea where this is, but I defo haven’t read a word of it since I bought it.

• Nonsense Novels by Stephen Leacock

I think I read this before I bought it? COUNTING IT.

• Countries of the Mind: Essays in Literary Criticism by J. Middleton Murry

I have no recollection of ever seeing this book before in my life. But I guess it’s here somewhere? This isn’t going well.

• Dreams in War Time: A Faithful Record by E.M. Martin

Nope.

• Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

I still haven’t this, but – fun fact – I did accidentally buy another copy later, because I liked the way it sounded when it closed. A very satisfying thud.

• Letters to a Sister by Rose Macaulay

I’m not sure, but I’m going to say that I have read this. I’ve certainly read a lot of Macaulay letters, so why not this?

• After the Stroke: a journal by May Sarton

I’ve read a couple Sarton novels since I bought this one, but… not this memoir. Yet.

• Summer in February by Jonathan Smith

I did read this one! Though I have to say I didn’t love it. If you’re into that famous Cornish painting community that I can’t remember the name of, though, then you may well enjoy it.

• The Dud Avacado by Elaine Dundy

This is one of those novels I’ve been meaning to read for my entire adult life. Have I? You already know the answer. And apparently I got rid of it at some point, as it’s no longer on my shelves…

• Star Quality by Noel Coward

I can see this from my bed, and I often think ‘Hmm, should read that’. Does THAT count??

• The New Immortality by J.W. Dunne

I really should have read this for my DPhil but, y’all, I did not.

• Conversations in Ebury Street by George Moore

I read this for the very first ‘club’ year, the 1920 Club!

• My American by Stella Gibbons

When I bought this, I’d only read one novel by Gibbons. I’ve now read three or four more, but this is not among them.

• Her Book by Daisy Ashford

This is so short that I could have whipped through it, just to up my numbers here. But it’s a no.

• The Unspeakable Skipton by Pamela Hansford Johnson

I read this earlier in the year, as one of my 25 Books in 25 Days, and it was a really enjoyable character piece.

• The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg by Louis Bromfield
• Mrs. Parkington by Louis Bromfield

And I read The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg this year too! Imagine how badly I’d have done on this list last year. But haven’t read Mrs Parkington yet.

• The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

Another one I’d read before I bought it – as a library copy – and another sneak tick from this haul.

• The Ginger Griffin by Ann Bridge

Why have I only read one Bridge novel? And it ain’t this one.

• Leave it to Psmith by P.G. Wodehouse

As I wrote at the time, “You can never have too much Wodehouse: FACT.” But I haven’t read it.

• Wonderful Clouds by Francoise Sagan

I thought Sunlight on Cold Water was so annoying that I got rid of almost all my other Sagan novels, including this one.

• A Summer Bird-Cage by Margaret Drabble

I have read The Garrick Year and The Millstone since buying this, but not actually this.

• The Abbess of Crewe by Muriel Spark

At least we finish on a success! This take on the Watergate scandal, transposed to a nunnery, is the sort of wonderful, odd novel that only Spark could have written.

Total bought: 29

Total still unread: 17

Total no longer owned: 2