The Last 10 Books Tag
I saw this over @ Reading Freely (go visit!) and couldn’t resist....
The Last Book I Didn’t Finish: ‘The China Clippers’ by Basil Lubbock (FP: 1914), which I was going to read as a ‘coupling’ with ‘For All the Tea in China – Espionage, Empire and the Secret Formula for the World’s Favourite Drink’ by Sarah Rose. Unfortunately, I think I was the wrong audience as it seemed to be directed at people with a LOT more interest into the minutia of ship design and usage. I only got a handful of pages in, so didn’t consider it a true DNF.
The Last Book I Reread: ‘The Syndic’ by C M Kornbluth. I’m not a huge re-reader (I have SO many new books to read I sometimes surprise myself at re-reading ANYTHING at all). I do however have another re-read coming up shortly – although I haven’t started it yet – by William Gibson. The last time I read it (and indeed the trilogy of which it is the middle book) was around 40 years ago.
The Last Book I Bought: ‘Wanderers - A History of Women Walking’ by Kerri Andrews. I picked this up in my local charity shop which is sweet for a number of reasons. Every time I go in there (roughly every 2 weeks) I’m more impressed by what the locals are reading. I’ve picked up some good quality books there to date.
The Last Book I Said I Read and Didn’t Really: SO not my thing! I either read a book and am happy to say so, or I haven’t (or won’t) and an equally happy to say so. I can’t see the point in *pretending* to have read something. Plus, there’s ALWAYS the danger of being made to look foolish if someone who HAS read it wants to discuss it with you!
The Last Book I Wrote in the Margins Of: Sorry.... What the WHAT now? What am I – a Philistine BARBARIAN?
The Last Book I Had Signed: I do pick up a few signed copies of books randomly from time to time, but the last book I lined up for to be signed by the author was ‘Sharpe’s Trafalgar’ by Bernard Cornwell which he signed with a “Happy Birthday” message on my 40th birthday. Even after 25 years it still makes me smile that I own this copy.
The Last Book I Lost: Not something I tend to do to be honest. There are a few that I couldn’t put my hand on at a moment's notice, but I don’t consider them ‘lost’. I just don’t know with 100% confidence where they are.
The Last Book I Had to Replace: I recently read through the complete set of Sherlock Holmes books as part of a ‘buddy read’ with Marian H over at Classics Considered (go visit!) and discovered some gaps in my collection. I’m guessing that either some of my reads were library books (I read them originally in my teens before I could afford to buy/own whatever I wanted) or they’re wrongly stacked away from the others and will turn up eventually. The most recent one was ‘Count Zero’ by William Gibson that it likewise lost in the stacks somewhere. It was easier to just buy another copy than tear my house apart looking for the original.
The Last Book I Had an Argument Over: Again, not something I normally do. I do remember a LONG time ago reading something about the 100 Years war, probably ‘Conquest – The English Kingdom of France in the Hundred Years War’ by Juliet Barker which I read 10 years ago – when one of the guys I worked with asked me what I was reading, so I told him. He was incredulous and said: “NO war lasted 100 years!”, so I explained that it actually lasted 116 years... I don’t think he believed me.
The Last Book I Couldn’t Get A Hold Of: Probably too many to count. Of late though I’ve started looking at/acquiring and reading books from the Warhammer 40K series. Unfortunately, the earliest books in this set are LONG out of print and completely unavailable even at the stupid prices that some of them go for. I will continue picking up what I can, when I can.
13 comments:
Slightly jealous about having met Bernard Cornwell. On the Hundred Years War....it was really an on-again, off-again sort of thing, depending on whether English lords were married to the right French (or Burgundian) daughters.... XD
The Cornwell thing was pretty much accidental. I was just passing the bookshop (as you do) when I saw a notice that he was signing books. Coincidentally it was on my birthday - so I'd already booked the day off as I don't work on my birthday - so I decided to go along. I bought the hardback of his latest book (not something I normally do) and showed up on the day. He was very nice and we had a chat for about 2-3 minutes before I was (politely) advised that *other* people wanted there's signed too...
Oh, I'm fully aware that there wasn't fighting for every day (or even every year) of all 116 years of the war. Back then they tended to have 'fighting seasons' so they could go back home for the harvest etc.. Plus they were only just getting logistics and, more importantly, taxation together so that longer campaigns were an option. There was fighting even in the more 'peaceful' times though - either between factions, for personal gain or simple banditry. Plus the French were fighting their own virtual civil war in the middle of it... It's a fascinating period/conflict.
Yep! One of my college papers was on Joan of Arc. I was a little disappointed to realize that Joan's successful periods coincided with areas when the Orleanist-Burgundian war was more active -- and of course, the English cause collapsed completely when the Duke of Bedford's French wife died, as I recall...
Interestingly, I've recently finished an overview of the Hundred Years war which said that Joan was a footnote *at best* during the war and might even be considered as irrelevant! I've never heard THAT before! It'll be interesting to follow up on though....
The English & the Burgundians were allies for a goodly chunk of the war and things turned VERY badly for the English when that alliance fell apart. Bedford's wife's death certainly didn't help. I *think* from memory that she was the head Burgundians sister...? [muses]. Either way once that marriage was over... yup, things got even more complex. The whole war does make GoT read like a kids book. Even the Wars of the Roses was more straight forward! [lol]
A History of Women Walking sounds so good! And to find a charity shop with bookish gems is so exciting :)
It does look like a FUN read. The charity shop has surprised me on more than one occasion - both for the quality of the books... and the quality of the books. I always look forward to my visit as part of my regular food shop.
Such a great post, so many things to think about while reading and then blogging. I might have to do this post one day.
Anyway, I like that you say that you never pretend to have a read a book. Same here. And if I read a book that is not "valued", I still confess it, no matter what.
I don't understand about pretending to have read something. What if someone calls your bluff? Plus why do it in the first place? Who are you trying to impress? Makes zero sense!
People always pretend to have read some classics or books that you "should have" read in order to look smarter. I bet those are the same ones who read some silly or stupid stuff but don't tell anyone. Or they don't read at all, which is even worse IMHO.
I certainly felt (and still feel to be honest) some 'pressure' to read "proper" books rather than the enjoyable "trash" I've been reading most of my life. Being the person that I am, the pressure to read certain books put me off from reading them - I HATE being told what to read. But when I finally got around to reading them - classics & such - I actually found most of them to be excellent. So these days I'm really enjoying reading the things that I was 'supposed' to decades ago. I wish I'd started sooner as here are SO many classics out there I want to read now!! [lol]
I know a lot of people who always say something like, I ought to have read this book. But I think, you should read what you enjoy. Certainly, it's good to know some of the "big" classics but if you don't enjoy them, it doesn't help at all when you read them.
Nice answers to a book tag!!
Thanks!
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