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Original poster

Reading challenge: tackle the book that you have owned the longest

144 replies

bibliomania · 06/05/2025 10:50

Its time has finally come - pick up the book that has accompanied you through the last umpteen house moves, or the one that has languished longest in the depths of your kindle. The challenge is simple: to read it between now and the end of June.

If you start it and it's not for you, maybe it's time to let it go to a new home.

With physical books, you won't always know which you've owned the longest, but go on - pick one!

I'm going with Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, by Jack Weatherford. It was published in 2004 and acquired by me in December 2015. Its time has come!

OP posts:
Sgtmajormummy · 07/05/2025 10:36

I’ve just done it!
I have a 1973 copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses borrowed from a colleague 30 years ago and never returned (shame on me). I now realize it’s not the best edition-no line numbers, no chapter breaks, no commentary, but I’m using it as atonement!

I’ve joined a Ulysses reading group and the expected time of study and discussion is 12 years, so I’m pacing myself. I also read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man on holiday for fun last week.

There are lots of books I own but haven’t read, but I would like to reread the Frederica Potter series by A.S.Byatt in chronological order this time. Or Anna Karenina (oldest Kindle).

BestIsWest · 07/05/2025 10:10

Going with the The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters in Kindle form. Going to take a look at the physical books in a bit. I hope I haven’t still got Tarka the bloody Otter.

Original poster
bibliomania · 07/05/2025 10:07

Go for it, tobee! And get rid of the ones you're never gone to read. If the giver asks, say unblushingly that you loved it but can't remember the details as it's so long ago.

OP posts:
tobee · 07/05/2025 09:43

I never said I accepted the challenge!! 😳😆

Damn I'll have to now!

SheilaFentiman · 07/05/2025 09:38

Woo hoo! good luck with your novel!

tobee · 07/05/2025 09:36

Find a novel!

The Rising of the Moon by Gladys Mitchell, bought in 2003. Many of my books were ordered on Amazon as a gift in those days or were more history.

I would have got The Rising of the Moon because I'd enjoyed the Diana Rigg series on tv a few years before. I started to read but probably put it down and wondered off to do something else. And then forgot to come back to it. Story of my life.

tobee · 07/05/2025 09:31

SheilaFentiman · 07/05/2025 09:27

If it's old enough that you can't remember how old it is, the giver has probably forgotten too :)

Here's hoping! ☺️

tobee · 07/05/2025 09:30

Looking on Amazon the 3 books I ordered first, 2002, I haven't read; they are AJP Taylor: The First World War - An Illustrated History, AJP Taylor: The Origins of the Second World War and The Swordbeaers by Correlli Barnett. These books are from history reading phase. I'm still in my history reading phase. However, I'm more in the mood for reading non fiction and I can't find one on Amazon yet.

SheilaFentiman · 07/05/2025 09:27

If it's old enough that you can't remember how old it is, the giver has probably forgotten too :)

tobee · 07/05/2025 09:23

Gosh the challenge of working out which is my oldest unread book will be a good challenge in itself.

I'm wondering if one of the oldest I might find will be book someone gave me and that I have no interest in reading; there's quite a few. 😬 I would find it hard to throw them out though as some sort of misplaced sense of guilt. I'm also always worried that I will be asked what I thought of the book given as a present.

I know I would be sad if a book I gave someone said they had no interest in reading. Maybe I'm just ridiculously thin skinned. There should be a rule that you never ask, as the giver, if the recipient read/liked the book you gave them. Although I'm sure I've broken this rule.

Original poster
bibliomania · 06/05/2025 13:53

Some of the phrases and scenarios from JI's books have stuck with me, though it's over two decades since I read them. I'm not necessarily sure I want to remember them, but I do.

OP posts:
EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 06/05/2025 12:48

bibliomania · 06/05/2025 12:28

I went off John Irving too, Eine. Sheila, I loved The Seven Basic Plots.

Yes, he gets repetitive and I found the portrayal of CSA in Until I Find You very disturbing

I think the others are Meany, Garp and Fourth Hand

I have a vague idea that I read New Hampshire Hotel but I didn’t read Cider House Rules I don’t think

Tarahumara · 06/05/2025 12:41

Just checked my Amazon account. Ignoring free classics, the oldest book on my kindle is Chances by Freya North - published in 2011, purchased in March 2012. Maybe its time has come! I'll start it when I finish my current book.

Original poster
bibliomania · 06/05/2025 12:28

I went off John Irving too, Eine. Sheila, I loved The Seven Basic Plots.

OP posts:
ÚlldemoShúl · 06/05/2025 12:28

I’m going to aim to read She-Wolves by Helen Castor and A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz both on my kindle since 2012

SheilaFentiman · 06/05/2025 11:44

I have squizzed through my old Amazon orders (2001 onwards!) and bookshelves. I have The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker from 2008 which I would like to read...

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 06/05/2025 11:36

For me, I haven’t a clue about my physical books but Kindle wise it’s Last Night In Twisted River by John Irving which I, like Sheila got with my first foray into ebooks in 2010 so fifteen years

I read a lot of John Irving once but sort of went off him and so its languished there. I don’t really have much desire to read it actually

Original poster
bibliomania · 06/05/2025 11:12

Ah yes, I remember the new kindle and the first flush of enthusiasm for downloading classics, @SheilaFentiman !

I forgot to say in my intro that this is aimed primarily at tackling unread books - I'm not trying to come between any reader and the childhood favourite that they keep on hand, just in case it's needed.

OP posts:
SheilaFentiman · 06/05/2025 10:58

I acquired 6 kindle books at the end of August 2011 - the day I got my first Kindle :)

Five were cheap/free classics of which I had previously read two anyway.

I will pick the sixth - Confessions of a GP by Benjamin Daniels. When I am near the bookshelves, I will guess at the oldest one there too!