What books are gathering dust on your bookshelves?

[MrsSpoon]

I'm presuming we all have them, two or three books that have taken up residence on the shelf and never been read. I thought perhaps we could mention them here and someone could encourage us to read them or charity shop them.

Mine are:-

The Poisonwood Bible - recommended here loads of times but I just never manage to pick it up.

Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigiani - Didn't like Big Stone Gap so have presumed I won't like this either.

White Teeth by Zadie Smith - I have owned this book a couple of times but never actually read it.

Cold Mountain

Captain Correli's Mandolin

I'm sure there must be more but these ones concern me most.

the complete works of shakespeare!

love to see the plays but not read them!

Read the Poisonwood Bible immediately MrsSpoon - its fantastic.... White teeth also good, Captain Coreli's Mandolin I didn't like so you can take this one to the charity shop . Haven't read the other two.

Have sooo many gathering dust but some of the ones that have been there ages and just don't get read are Miss Smilla's feeling for Snow, Snow falling on Cedars and Rose Tremains Silence and Music.

Perfume
Posession
The Handmaid's tale

Whit Teeth is excellent,as is Miss Smilla
Cold Mountain...hmmm. American friend gave it to me years ago (daaahlings!)and I really couldn't understand her ravings.

toooo many, depressingly! both ones i need to read for studies & ones i'd just like to read for pleasure...

Whit teeth??
Ah well,it is Easter an' all.

Moondog, I can thoroughly recommend Perfume.

Moving The Poisonwood Bible and White Teeth up the list.

perfume i don't have - worth investing in then???

Now the problem with this thread is I'm now going to want to buy ones that people say are good and add to the ever increasing pile of 'to be reads' .......

Oh no, I loved Captain Correli! (If you've seen the film ignore it - pile of pants) Moondog, I read the Handmaid's Tale on holiday a couple of years ago - I'm sure I really enjoyed it but can't even remember the synopsis now for some reason!

Kipper22, you have given me some hope about old Captain Correli.

Another vote for poisonwood bible - it's fab.
White teeth ok

Capt Corelli - tales a lot of getting in to but definitely worth it

Haven't read the others

Poisonwood Bible - hmm, s'ok
Corelli - ditch it
Perfume is worth reading in that it's so very odd and the translation is v good
Handmaid's Tale - gut-wrenching - I wouldn't MD unless you are made of stone. Definitely a pre-child book imo.

I have The Red Tent, How Did MumboJumbo Take Over The World?, and one by Orhan pamuk. A couple of Isabel Allendes.

I started then ditched The Red Tent, despite it coming highly recommended.

Yet another vote for Perfume.

Star of the Sea has been sitting in my reading box for what seems like forever - just keep finding other things I would rather read. I also won The Count of Monte Cristo several years ago and still haven't read it (the small font really puts me off more than anything!)

I hate Perfume - pseudo intellectual, pretentious, violates basic science in a totally unbelievable way, utterly devoid of significance or genius.

The Pigeon was even crappier.

I've got Star of the Sea too. The first copy with nicked a couple of years ago, along with DH's rucksack, on holiday so I acquired another copy and still haven't started it.

Which Orhan Pamuk have you got Pruni?
They take a bit of getting into, but I was on the edge of my seat by the end of both Snow and My Name Is Red.

I enjoyed 'Snow' Nightynight.
Had extra resonance for me,as I live in this part of Turkey.
What were your thoughts?
Whole thing is an eleaborate word play as 'kar' is Turkish for snow,set in Kars,and protagonist is Ka of course.

agree with NN - 'My name is red' was a brilliant read.
The ones that I have on the shelf gathering dust are Angela's Ashes and 'Tis - they were presents that I have never got round to.
Also have 'Personality' by Andrew O'Hagan and 'Stasiland' by Anna Funder that I have been meaning to get to for a while.

Andrew O Hagan is odd.
Books seem light but he writes a fantastic column in Telegraph every week. Sort of latter day Theodore Dalrymple.

oh, that hadnt occurred to me. The whole book was packed full of double meanings, and different themes, I found them all really interesting.

I thought that Ka was going to stand for Turks who lean towards Europe, and Blue was going to stand for those who lean towards Islam...but then the girl turned out to be not worth having...so not sure where that leaves Turkish nationalism, unless the author is v cynical.

Well,whole Turkish thing very odd.
Kurds desperately want to join Europe of course for greater cultural and political autonomy.
Wherever we go,we are greeted with 'Tony Blair! Good man!'.
Turks treat Kurds very badly.Had a Kurdish friend to stay here in Wales last Autumn. The biggest impression on her was the (relative autonomy we Welsh have re language).
Others are too proud.Want a sort of Western model without Western inteference,but happy to take cash and expertise which is what dh offers with his project (his assistant is for Kars).
Turkey is fascinating at present-so many different forces at work.

the cover of the Andrew O'Hagan has been putting me off I think, and the review printed on the front saying 'a love story, morality tale, sly social commentary....The novel is magnificent' Harpers & Queen.
Will get to it one day maybe!

Andrew OH is shacked up with India Knight which was very hard to overcome as she is an arse.

lol zubb, over-enthusiastic reviews from the Daily Mail or Telegraph, Jeremy Paxman or Boris Johnson tend to put me off any book