Historical Fiction Challenge

Danger, Will Robinson!! Danger!!  I've found another challenge!!

While reading some blog postings the other day, I found this Historical Fiction Challenge at Historical Tapestry.  I have absolutely no business signing up for another challenge, but I've nearly finished three of the four challenges I originally signed up for this year, so why not??  I do love historicals and between my book groups and my TBR shelves, I easily found more than ten historicals that would fit the challenge (not to mention historicals on my to-read list for book groups at the library). I've signed up for the third level, Struggling the Addiction, which is ten books.

Here's a what I have hanging around the house at the moment that would qualify for the challenge:

It might be a bit blurry, so here's what's on the pile:

1. I, Claudius by Robert Graves
2. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
3. The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber
4. Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
5. Sapphira and the Slave Girl by Willa Cather
6. Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather
7. The Living Reed by Pearl S. Buck
8. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

And then there's this stack:  

1. Alas, Poor Lady by Rachel Ferguson
2. The Mysterious Death of Miss Austen by Lindsay Ashford
3. The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zweig
4. Summer Will Show by Sylvia Townsend Warner
5. A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr
6. The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard
7. Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard
8. The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer
9. Lark Rise to Candleford by Elizabeth Jane Howard

And then I found a few more. . . . 

1. Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
2. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Ben H. Winters
3. Empress Orchid by Anchee Min
4. A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss
5. The Twelfth Enchantment by David Liss
6. The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt

I'm only sorry that I didn't see this challenge earlier -- I looked back at my Goodreads list of 2012 reads so far, and I've already read at least eight historical books this year that would have fit the challenge.  Anyway -- what do you think, bloggers?  Which ones should I read first?  Any that should go on the donation pile immediately?  And am I absolutely insane for even thinking about another challenge?

The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West

I'm very happy to have finished this book.  Not only is it a book off my own TBR shelves, it's also an NYRB Classic (of which I have a healthy stack, all unread) but I've seen it all around the blogosphere and it seems to be universally liked.  I did like it but it really wasn't what I expected at all.

The Fountain Overflows was described by someone as Jane Austen-ish, but I personally wouldn't make that comparison at all.  In a nutshell, it's the story of the Aubreys, a family living in genteel poverty in London around the turn of the century, told in the first person by Rose, one of the four children.  Their father, Mr. Piers Aubrey, is a brilliant writer, but he has trouble holding down jobs and managing the family's money; specifically, he has a weakness for the stock market and the family is forced to make a lot of sacrifices.  Their mother was once a brilliant pianist who gave up her career when she got married, and she's doing her best to train her children to be musicians as well.  Unfortunately only two of her children seem to have inherited her musical ability and the necessary discipline.  The oldest daughter, Cordelia, is convinced she's a talented violinist, but the rest of the family believe she's really a hack with no artistry, and they're always sneering at her.

There's really no plot to speak of in this book, it's basically the story of Rose's childhood, told in little vignettes about various incidents in her life.  Some of them are kind of mysterious or a little creepy -- there are a poltergeist, a possibly abusive husband, an accused murderess in the supporting cast -- but most of it is a little sad.  Their mother is obsessed with making them into good musicians, their father is brilliant but hopelessly irresponsible.  It's sort of like I Capture the Castle, which I love, and like the father in that book, I just want to shake him and tell him to snap out of it and take care of his family.

It is an entertaining story, though I did find it a rather dense read.  It's about 400 pages, yet in my edition, an NYRB classic, the margins are very narrow and the print is fairly small.  It's 17 chapters but they took awhile.  It was published in 1956, but the style of writing made it seem older, and I guess that made it a slower read as well.  It seemed to have been written around the turn of the century, not just set in that era.  I guess this would be a good candidate for the Slow Books Manifesto.

Anyway, here's a sample:

"Papa was always happy when he was engaged in certain activities.  Of these the one which gave him greatest pleasure was his lifelong wrestling match with money.  He was infatuated with it though he could not get on good terms with it.  He felt towards is as a man of his type might have felt towards a gipsy mistress, he loved it and hated it, he wanted hugely to possess it and then drove it away, so that he nearly perished of his need for it.  But he knew almost as great joy if he were conducting a campaign  against some social injustice, particularly if it were the rights of property that had been dealt with unjustly."


Maybe it's just me, but that seems much more like a Victorian novel or maybe Edwardian.  The writing was very good and I liked the characters, but it isn't a book I could rush through.  But I'm happy to have read it and look forward to reading West's The Return of the Soldier, which is another of my Classics Club selections.  This book also counts toward my TBR Pile Challenge, so I'm happy about that too.  

Mrs. Craddock by W. Somerset Maugham

I'm very pleased to have finally finished Mrs. Craddock.  I'm a big fan of W. Somerset Maugham, and a couple of years ago I bought this one on the recommendation of Amanda from Ramblings.  We're in the same real-life classics book group at the library and we both love Maugham.  Our group read The Painted Veil back in 2009 and I loved it, and we're also discussing Of Human Bondage in June -- I read it years ago and it was one of the first classics I read for pleasure, so I'm really looking forward to re-reading it.

But back to Mrs. Craddock.  This is one of Maugham's lesser-known works -- in fact, I'd never even heard of it until Amanda recommended it.  My library didn't even own a copy, hence the purchase.  I think that's a real shame because I thought it was excellent.  And short -- it's only 268 pages, including footnotes.  If you're looking for a good short classic, look no further.

Basically, Mrs. Craddock is the story of an unhappy marriage in the late Victorian period. Young Bertha Leys returns to England after the death of her father, with whom she lived abroad for many years.  She's living with her Aunt Polly at the family estate, Leys Court, and falls in love with an attractive young man from her childhood -- it's one of the tenant farmers, Edward Craddock.  Despite the class differences, she is determined to have him.  There's a bit of grumbling from the family doctor and some snide comments from the neighbors, but Edward is a good, solid young man, and there aren't many other prospects for headstrong young Bertha, who is madly in love.

What follows is the breakdown of their marriage, at least from Bertha's point of view.  I wouldn't say this book is defending the arguments about marrying outside one's class, but more about how hard it is to marry someone with whom one has essentially nothing in common.  After the initial sexual attraction begins to wear off, these two people really have nothing in common.  Edward is a good man, but he's not very educated, and not interested in books or music or travel or anything that Bertha likes.  He wants to be the country squire, which he does successfully.   Of course, now that they're married, everything belongs to him.  She tries to make the best of things but is faced with one heartbreak after another.

This sounds really sad, and parts of it are, but the writing in this book is just wonderful, so I hope I haven't discouraged anyone from reading this book.  And surprisingly, parts of this book are actually really funny -- Bertha's Aunt Polly has quite a sharp tongue and she is the queen of the one-liners.  I'd love to see her go head-to-head with the Dowager Countess of Grantham on Downton Abbey (also known as Maggie Smith).  In fact, Countess Violet would have been nearly the same age as Aunt Polly 30 years before, when the book begins, so there you are.  

Here's a couple of great lines from Aunt Polly.  Every time I read them, they sound just like Maggie Smith:

On marriage:  "Most people when they get married fancy they're doing quite an original thing.  It never occurs to them  that quite a number of persons have committed matrimony since Adam and Eve."

On class differences:  ". . . each set thinks itself quite as good as the set above it and has a profound contempt for the set below it.  In fact the only members of society who hold themselves in proper estimation are the servants.  I always think that the domestics of gentlemen's houses in South Kensington are several degrees less odious than their masters."

This book counts towards two challenges:  The Classics Challenge 2012 and the TBR Pile Challenge 2012.  I guess I could even count it towards the Victorian Challenge, since it was technically written in 1900 (though not published in 1902, so maybe that's dubious).  

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay

Sorry for not posting lately, I've worked the last seven days straight and even though I sit in front of a computer a large part of my day, I think the library administration would frown on writing my personal blog on the city's dime.  By the time I get home I have no desire to write anything.  But I have been reading!  In the past two weeks I finished not one but TWO books off my challenges list.  The first one was The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, which came highly recommended by someone in a book group years ago.  I bought it at a bookstore in Orlando for the sheer purpose of getting my parking validated at a pricey shopping mall, which actually backfired -- they wouldn't validate and so I had yet another unread book on the shelf AND had to pay for parking anyway.  Hmpf.  

But I digress.  I'd heard this was a great book but all I knew was that it was about South Africa and boxing.  I find Africa fascinating but I am not a sports fan and I absolutely HATE boxing -- the idea of people beating each other up for FUN is repellent to me.  It's no wonder this book sat on the shelf unread for so long.  I finally sucked it up and picked up the book a couple of weeks ago, and to my surprise, I really, really liked it, boxing and all, though it's more than 500 pages long.

The setup:  a little boy nicknamed, aged 5, is sent off to boarding school in South Africa in the 1930s.  His mother has had some kind of a nervous breakdown and there's no father around, so they ship him off to school.  Unfortunately, he's the only English boy at the school of Boers.  (Did you know that the white South Africans hated each other as well as the black South Africans?  I had no idea.)  So, not only does this little boy have to suffer because he's a wee little thing who should be home with his family, he's horribly abused by all the nasty bigger kids for being different (and smarter).  The thought of sending a child under twelve away to school horrifies me, but FIVE?  What were they thinking???

Anyway, eventually his family move and he leaves the wretched school all alone on a very long train journey, where one of the porters keeps an eye on him for the trip.  Turns out this porter is an amazing boxer and takes the boy, who is now nicknamed Peekay under his wing and also to a boxing match.  This is a life-changing event for Peekay, who decides that someday he'll be the welterweight champion of the world, and no one will ever pick on him again.  

The rest of this book is a coming-of-age story about Peekay and how he comes to terms with all the bullies of the world, in school and life, as he goes through school and trains to be a boxer, with the backdrop of WWII and the beginnings of apartheid I learned a lot of things about Africa in this book, which I liked, and also about boxing, which, shockingly, I also liked.   Somehow Courtenay was able to describe the boxing training matches in a way that made it accessible and interesting even for a non-sporty person like me (I still haven't figured out the rules of American football).  Apparently boxing is sort of scientific, not just people beating on each other.  (It's sort of like in the new film versions of Sherlock Holmes when they slow the action down and explain Sherlock's thought processes, then show the speeded-up version, if that makes sense.)

Anyway.  I rather liked the boxing bits, and the school bits, plus there's lots of great stuff about the African country and how beautiful it is, and Peekay has a wonderful relationship with a music professor who is his neighbor and becomes a father figure to him, and that's lovely.  My one complaint about this book is that Peekay is just too perfect.  He becomes an amazing boxer.  He's brilliant.  Everyone loves him, especially all the black Africans.  He's not just good at everything, he's the best ever. (Except music, at which he is just pretty good).  He becomes this angelic figure up on a pedestal, and he's so perfect he started to annoy me.  Plus, the ending didn't work for me.  Without giving anything away, I'll just say that it didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the book.  

I am glad I read this book, it's definitely worth reading if you're interested in Africa or you like a good bildungsroman, or if you like sports (or even if you don't).  I'm happy to say that this book counts toward two of my challenges:  TBR Challenge 2012 and Chunkster Challenge 2012. 

Challenge progress:  TBR Challenge 1/12;  Chunkster Challenge: 2/6

The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith

After Dr. Thorne, I was tempted to jump right back into another big fat Victorian doorstopper, but on a whim I grabbed Diary of a Nobody and put it in my bookbag on my way to work the other day, thinking it would be a fun, light read on my lunch hour, and as it's epistolary fiction, it would be easy to read in bits and pieces during breaks.

True, it was an easy, light read, but somewhat disappointing.  It's supposed to be hilarious, but it was nowhere near as good as Three Men in a Boat or one of my favorite epistolary novels, The Diary of a Provincial Lady.  Both of these had me laughing out loud and I recommend them over and over.  Honestly, Diary of a Nobody is just meh.

Diary of a Nobody was published in 1892, serialized in Punch magazine.  It's the story of Mr. Pooter, a middle-aged senior clerk at some financial institution in the City of London.  He begins a new diary after he moves into a new house in a London suburb with his wife Carrie, and it's a year in his life.  Pooter's life is pretty ordinary, but he thinks he's fascinating.  It's just little vignettes about his life.  It's mildly amusing and interesting to read about what Victorian life was like (if this can be interpreted as truly representative) but I didn't find it that funny.  I barely cracked a smile most of the time I was reading it.  It was okay, but I can't really see myself recommending it to anyone except the most die-hard fans of Victorian literature.  It's especially disappointing because I bought this book since it wasn't available at my library, and I've moved twice since I bought it, which means I've packed and unpacked it twice!  Hmpf.

The best things about it were that it's very short, just about 130 pages, and I finally read it and can take it off the TBR bookshelf.  It also counts toward my both my Victorian Challenge, and my Classics Challenge, though foolishly I didn't put it on the list for my TBR Challenge -- I sort of thought it would be cheating to repeat too many books on my challenges.  Oh well, I'll know better next year.

Now I have to decide if I should tackle Martin Chuzzlewit, which I'm supposed to be reading with an online group over a period of several months; or Framley Parsonage, which I checked out from the library.  I honestly don't think I can handle both of them at the same time.  Bloggers, what do you think?  Dickens or Trollope?  Or something completely different?  And has anyone else read Diary of a Nobody?  Did you love it or were you disappointed, like me?

Classics Challenge 2012

I've been seeing a lot of challenges for 2012 on the blogosphere lately, and I can't resist joining at least one.  I have sooo many classics on the TBR shelf, but this challenge hosted by November's Autumn is only seven books, and I'm pretty sure I can manage that number, if not more.  This time around  I'm going to go strictly by the books I have unread on my own shelves.

The list is pretty loose right now; I have multiple unread books by some of my favorite authors on the TBR shelves, so if I end up switching titles, I'm okay with that.  Anything I read will be progress on the TBR shelf.  Here's what I have so far:

1.  Nana or L'Assommoir (The Drinking Den) by Emile Zola -- my latest favorite classic author.  I've read three of his books so far this year and I loved them all.   I still have about five of his books unread now, and there are a few more in good translations available at my library. I also have copies of  The Ladies' Paradise, and The Masterpiece, plus more  Zola on my Christmas wish list.  If I receive any more, they'll be eligible also.

2.  At least one book by Anthony Trollope.  I have NINE unread works by Trollope on my TBR shelves, more than any other single author -- definitely more by page number, since he wrote some real doorstoppers.  This includes a copy of Dr. Thorne which I borrowed from my mother a year ago!   I'd love to continue with the Barchester Chronicles but Pallisers series is also intriguing.  I'm on the library's waiting list for an audiobook of Can You Forgive Her?, so that's a strong possibility.

3.  East of Eden by John Steinbeck.  This must be the fourth year in a row I've sworn I would read this book.  Somehow I just never get to it.  I've loved most everything I've read by Steinbeck so why do I keep putting it off?

4.  The Song of the Lark or any other book by Willa Cather.  I bought about four more of her books during the Borders clearance, plus I have two other on the shelves, so I need to read at least one of those.  I've owned Song of the Lark since about 2007, so I should really read it; naturally, it's the longest one unread.

6.  The Diary of a Nobody by George and Wheedon Grossmith.  I've heard this is hilarious, and I've owned it since 2006.  Plus it's really short especially compared to most of the other classics I have unread.

5.  Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham.  This is the only reread I'm planning at the moment. It was one of the first classics I ever read for sheer pleasure and loved it.   It was my pick for the 2012 reading list of my real-life classics reading group.  It's been more than 20 years so I hope it stands up to how I remember it.

7.  Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens.  2012 is the 200th anniversary of his birth, so I want to read at least one new Dickens.  I've read ten of his novels so far, and Our Mutual Friend is supposed to be one of his best.

8.  Kipps by H. G. Wells.  Since I'm including one reread, I've also added an extra bonus book -- I've had this book on my shelves since 2005, shortly after I began my journey back to the classics.  It came highly recommended by an author at a book fair, and after buying my own copy, I haven't touched it other than moving it to two different houses.  If I actually finish this book I'll be very pleased with myself.

Thanks to Katrina at Pining for the West for posting about this challenge!  I'm looking forward to it.

Big Fat Books from My TBR Shelf

By the end of the month I will have completed two very fat books from my TBR shelf: Charlotte Bronte's Villette and The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (by far the largest book on the shelf  because it's a hardcover).  But I am still left with a whole bunch of chunksters -- more than 20 books that are 500 pages or more.  I know these are probably all amazing, but after reading two BFBs (Big Fat Books) simultaneously, it might be time to take a little break before tackling another.

Here are some of the BFBs that await me (page numbers indicate those in my particular editions):

The classics.  These comprise most of the unread pages, not surprisingly.  Of course they're actually shorter than they appear since many of them have endnotes.  Still big and fat and a little scary, though.

East of Eden by John Steinbeck.  One of the books selected by Amanda for our reading swap.  I have been meaning to read this since I zipped through The Grapes of Wrath a few years ago.  Despite the length, it shouldn't be a terribly long read.

The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hacek.  This was the selection for one of my online groups which sounded really interesting -- a satire about WWI, written from a European perspective.  It sounds like a Czech version of Catch-22.  Includes lots of funny little cartoons.  The book group seemed to like it but of course I didn't read a single page. (784 pp.)

Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson.  Technically, it's an omnibus of three books in one, but this is a big, fat edition.  Bought after reading all about the beloved series, which I still haven't seen -- it's never aired here on PBS and I thought I should read the book first.  (537 pp.)

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.  One of the freebies I won in the Penguin contest.  People either love it or hate it.  I hope to give it a try later this year in an online readalong. (652 pp.)


The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker:  Another gift from the nice people at Penguin Classics, and one of those I was most excited about receiving.  I've never read her but I've heard she's hilariously witty. "This wasn't just plain terrible, this was fancy terrible.  This was terrible with raisins in it." This collection includes stories, essays, and letters, so it's probably a good thing to read a little at a time.  But there's still 640 pages of it.

Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope.  And Phineas Finn, Can You Forgive Her, He Knew He Was Right, The Eustace Diamonds. . . . Okay, don't even get me started on Trollope.  I bought a whole bunch of his works after I read The Way We Live Now, and more after one of my online groups decided to read the entire Pallisers series. (There are six, all more than 500 pages.  Some are closer to 800!  I have yet to finish a single one).  Plus I've started the Barchester Chronicles (only four volumes left) and I have several of the stand-alone books as well.  There's probably close to 5000 pages of unread Trollope on my TBR bookshelf this minute.  Trollope wrote 47 novels, and I'd like to read as many as possible, so I'd better get started.  

Miss Marjoribanks by Margaret Oliphant.  Bought during my obsession with Victorian literature.  She is described as something of a transition between Jane Austen and George Eliot, which intrigues me. (512 pp.)

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. (880 pp.)  One of about five more works by Dickens that are sitting on the shelf unread -- I also own The Old Curiosity Shop, Sketches by Boz, and Pictures from Italy.  And did I mention I just bought Martin Chuzzlewit last week?  Eight hundred pages of teeny tiny print, what was I thinking?

South Riding by Winifred Holtby.  This will probably be my next Big Fat Book -- I won this in a giveaway during Virago Reading Week and I am really looking forward to the BBC adaptation which airs in the U.S. in May.  I'll need no convincing to read this book. (502 pp.)

Contemporary books.  Mercifully, these tend to be faster reading than the Victorians and other classic chunksters.  They're still taking up a lot of space, though.

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay.  A coming of age story set in South Africa just after WWII. I know it has something to do with boxing, of which I have no interest whatsoever, but I've heard this is just fantastic. (528 pp.)

The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt.  I found this hardcover for $2 at the library book sale.  I liked Possession, so I couldn't resist at that price.  And the cover is really pretty. (675 pp.)

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber.  A neo-Victorian, also bought at the library sale.  This one's a paperback so it was only $1.

Nonfiction.  These are actually less pages of text because of references, indexes, etc.  They're still darn long.

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang. Another library sale find.  I've heard it's great but it sounds kind of depressing.  It has pictures though. (544).

John Adams by David McCullough.  Everyone says this is just great, but it's 751 pages of early American history and politics.  Was this a bad purchase?  I paid $1 at the library sale.

The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary Lovell. Purchased after I read and loved The Pursuit of Love and  Love in a Cold Climate.  I have since bought more books by the Mitfords.  I haven't read those either. (640 pp.)

Few Eggs and No Oranges by Vere Hodgson.  Naturally, there is at least one Persephone on the list.  This diary of life in wartime England sounds fascinating, but I am put off by the length, I admit it. (640 pp.) 

Does anyone else tend to put off the big fat books in favor of the shorter ones?  Which of these have you read and loved, and which should be sent directly to the library as donations?  Any input would be greatly appreciated.  I'll probably take a break and read some novellas soon -- Readathon is coming up in just a couple of weeks and I have a whole stack of those too.

Books I HAD To Buy But Haven't Read

I love making lists so I always look forward to Top Ten Tuesdays -- so many great excuses to make another! This one, however, is a little embarassing.  Here are ten books I rushed out to buy. . . and are still sitting unread on my TBR shelves (along with about 180 others, sigh).  In alphabetical order, by author:


1.  The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende.  For some reason I decided I needed to buy this book and take it with me on a trip to Paris, not thinking that maybe a book by a French writer would be more appropriate.  One of the characters is a girl with green hair.  I was not in the mood for magical realism and put it down after only one chapter or so.

2. Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker.  I kept reading about the delightful Bloomsbury books now back in print, especially this one.  Drove across town specially to buy it.  Still haven't opened it, but at least it's only been a few months yet.  Oh, and a month later I found three more Bloomsbury books in pristine condition at Half-Price Books!

3.  Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton.  The most recent of my purchases on this list, I ordered it with my Christmas gift money after reading this rave review by Thomas at My Porch.  There were even more raves last weekend during Persephone Reading Weekend, but I'm going to wait until May for the Persephone Books group read on Goodreads.  Hopefully someone else will comment this time.

4.  Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens.  One of five unread Dickens novels on my TBR bookscase.  I was obsessed with Dickens a couple of years ago and read seven of his works in two years.  Needless to say I got a little burned out by Dickens and switched over to Trollope (because he only wrote 47 novels).  I'll get back to Dickens eventually.

5.  The Barnum Museum by Steven Milhauser.  This collection of short stories includes "Eisenheim The Illusionist," basis for the excellent movie The Illusionist.  After I saw it I went home and immediately started searching for it online since my library didn't own a copy.  Haven't read any of the other stories yet.

6.  The Bromeliad Trilogy by Terry Pratchett.  I read a review of this and wanted it so badly, my mother went out and bought it for me and carried over the Pacific Ocean.  About seven years ago.  Have I read it yet?  Um, no.


7.  The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope.  I've been in love with Trollope's work since I read The Way We Live Now in 2008, so I bought this 800 page tome.  Of course it's third in the Pallisers series and I feel like I need to read them in order, but I got distracted during Can You Forgive Her?, the first volume.  Then I started the Barchester Chronicles and I have to finish that first.

8.  Letters From Hawaii by Mark Twain.  Since I was going to Hawaii, I thought I should read something appropriate -- and wouldn't it be appropriate to buy it in an independent Hawaiian bookstore in Honolulu?  Yes, if I could find it -- I walked around Honolulu half a day and finally broke down and bought it at their Barnes &Noble, for which I still feel guilty.  At least I read the introduction, right?


9.  Kipps by H. G. Wells. Have you heard of this one?  Has anyone heard of this book?  I was at a reading festival and one of the visiting authors recommended this while she signed my book, so naturally I ordered it online.  It's supposed to be a witty satire on Victorian life.  It had better be good since I have shlepped this book to three different houses since I bought it.


10.  Twilight Sleep by Edith Wharton.  I'd been really into Wharton so I drove about eleven miles out of my way to Borders to buy it -- and realized I'd forgotten my coupon, so I had to pay full price!  Have I read it?  Of course not.

So, what books did you absolutely have to buy . . . that are still sitting on the shelves?  I would love to hear.  And which of these should I read first?  Still working on my TBR Dare.

This Top Ten Tuesday Meme was borrowed from The Broke and the Bookish via Brenna at Literary Musings and Suey at It's All About Books.