The "when I read that..." thread part 1

I hope I'm being somewhat original by starting this game, and it hasn't already in fact been started!

Rules:

1. The first person chooses a book that they've read.

2. The next person states when they read that book. They can state what year it was, what they were doing, how old they were, where they were, or any sort of piece of information they'd like to share about when they read that book. If the person hasn't read the book yet, the tense of "read" changes, and they state what they plan to be doing or where they plan to be when they read the book. So the sentence begins the same despite not having read the book yet. "when I read that book..."

3. That person then chooses a book from their library that they've read, so the next person can state when they read it.

Example:

Person 1: To Kill a Mockingbird

Person 2: When I read that I was in honors English in high school. I was 17 years old. It had a significant impact on me.
The Scarlet Letter

Person 3: When I read that I will hopefully be on a plane headed toward Hawaii. It's been in my library for ages and that's when I plan to finally get around to reading it.
The Stranger

Does that make sense?

First book:

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

In 2006 when I read it for the very first time. I bought the book because I was curious because of all the Publicity it was getting at the time and people were saying what a great book it really was. Today I'm a huge Harry Potter fan because of this book. In fact
I read Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban
all for the very first time in 2006.

Beatles1964

#2 You forgot to put a book for the next person to respond to :)

Okay, so I'll repost what beatles1964's response should have looked like, with a book at the end for the next person to respond to. Every response should have a book at the end so the next person can say where and when they read it.

"In 2006 when I read it for t very first time. I bought the book because I was curious because of all the Publicity it was getting at the time and people were saying what a great book it really was. Today I'm a huge Harry Potter fan because of this book. In fact
I read Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban
all for the very first time in 2006.

Beatles1964"

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

When I read Nineteen Eighty-Four, I was attending college.

No Matter How Much You Promise to Cook or Pay the Rent You Blew It Cauze Bill Bailey Ain't Never Coming Home Again
by Edgardo Vega Yunque

I keep editing to try to get T-stones to work. One time the title will be fine, the next time the author. I hope this time, it recognizes both of them.

I will read that when I am dead and the last book in the universe is checked out and overdue but Yunque's book is available because the librarian has been using it as a coaster. And I've already read 'Love Story' twice.

The Jungle Book by Kipling.

When I read The Jungle Book by Kipling for the very first time, I was 29 (Fall of 2009) I think, teaching the step-kiddo how to read (a lot better). I know I should have put "well" there, but eh...

Adolphe by Benjamin Constant

Adolphe

'Looks interesting.

I am totally ignorant of this title and author.

I haven't read Adolphe, and it is unlikely that I ever will. I'm just not into French Literature.

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

I read The Hobbit in college but not during the regular semester because I remember reading it in my room at home, and I was away for school. I enjoyed it, but it's the only one of the series I did read.

Your first Agatha Christie.

Read it a few years ago...And Then There Were None
Loved it so much, I bought more.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

I read The Grapes of Wrath two or three years ago, after my wife tried until she complained about the turtle that took forever to cross the road in the second chapter. I discovered a wonderful novel about the Great Depression that led me into some non-fiction on the topic so I could learn more. It's no wonder that experience shaped every generation that lived through it, and may we never see its like again. I'm impressed with Steinbeck, and I'll probably read more by him in future.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

When I read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it was the summer before my junior year in high school. It was assigned for summer reading, and I read it on a plane ride to Hawaii. I have great memories of reading that book! I remember I finished it up while sitting in the warm sun out on the patio of a condo in Maui. Don't we all wish we could finish up books in a setting like that...

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

I read that right after college and really enjoyed it. I picked it up on one of my sweeps of the bookstore (remember when, for a few years, the big stores had shopping carts?) and didn't know anything about it going in. I went on to read the rest of her prose. The story, told in a later book (or was it the same one?) about the touring company of Porgy & Bess in Soviet Russia was hysterical.

Dante's Inferno.

I will read that when I am in my deathbed. You know, just in case.

Little Women

I struggled through Little Women in my 10th year of school...honors English. It wasn't too terrible, but not the best reading for me at that age.

THE LIGHT THAT FAILED by Rudyard Kipling

Hah!

I read Little Women just this past year. As I recall, LTer NarratorLady reminded me in one of her reviews that I had never read this classic, so I picked it up. Surprisingly, despite my normally reacting adversely to moral instruction, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Dracula

I read that when I was a very young girl. I had seen the movie with June Allyson and loved it. I still read this book on occasion and have given one to several granddaughters.

Oops! I read Dracula many years ago every night for a while. I couldn't sleep, even though my parents were in the next room to protect me.

The Winds of War

I tried to read that after my sister got it for her birthday (age 9), but the first couple chapters weren't interesting enough for me to keep fighting with her over whether I was allowed to touch it.

The Iliad

When I read that I was in high school. It was freshman year and I was taking honors English. I'm not going to lie, I was bored out of my mind.

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

I read that last month two months ago, in between meetings and lunch breaks. I cried in the end.

War and Peace.

When I read that book, I was living in London, Ontario, Canada between 1980 and 1982, and bought Penguin when they used to still be more in the habit of breaking a huge novel into two volumes, not sure if they still do that. Bought at a bookstore on Richmond Street that is still there (Oxford Book Shop), I see it on Google Maps:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&q=richmond%20dundas%20london&rlz=1R2ADF...
Remember the super small print. Remember the two different cover art paintings. Remember wanting to learn Russian some day. Still hasn't happened. Realizing I could never travel back in time to learn what it was really like to be alive at the same time as Napoleon. Realized reading this book is the next best alternative.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Sorry touchstones, seem not to be working.)

I read it back in the 80's, as a student, when carrying a copy of Crime and Punishment was required if you wished to appear intellectual. I remember almost nothing about it.

the great gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Heavens, I must have read that so many years ago that I just can't remember - I think I was about 12 or 13. I found it a sad and lonely book, but I'm glad I read it.

The Hotel New Hampshire John Irving

I read The Hotel New Hampshire in the early 2000's when I was on a John Irving binge.

Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findley

When I read it, I thought, why are there no charcters or settings that seemed familiarly 20th century, such as were in all of Timothy Findley's other books I had read up until that point.

Famous Last Words, by Timothy Findley.

I would read that if I were living in Canada and after I'd finished everything by Robertson Davies. I don't generally like historical fiction.

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham.

I was probably about 12 or 13 when I read The Day of the Triffids. My parents and most of their friends were blind, so I found the idea of almost everyone losing their eyesight at once absolutely fascinating. I still consider it a great classic of science fiction.

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

I started to read that when I was either in middle school, and stopped because I got bored. I watched the movie instead! I liked the movie, so I suppose I should have given the book a chance.

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

When I read that I will be remembering how much I enjoyed my first reading experience of David Guterson, which was a volume of his short stories, see below:
The Country Ahead of Us, The country Behind, by David Guterson.

Maybe I'll get to that when I give up on finding anything good to read, I start working through my local library alphabetically for lack of any better idea, and arrive towards the end of the "G"s.

Let's see, something lots of people are sure to have read, topical ... got it!

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

Though I've read a good variety of classics, I have no intention of ever reading Gulliver's Travels. Perhaps it's because I dislike fantasy.

Major Pettigrew's Last Standby Helen Simonson

I read Major Pettigrew's Last Stand in April. It was an Early Review copy & I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Enders Game by Orson Scott Card

I must have read Ender's Game more than 15 years ago - and I really enjoyed it. I had no idea what it was about and was blown away by the ending. Bit naive I was and still am....

The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox

I've never heard of it. I would read that if...well, I was stuck in a blizzard and the bar was closed. I like the idea, but 'rich and evocative prose' to me usually means cloying and dull.

Rosemary's Baby.

I have never read Rosemary's Baby, but I have seen the movie and have always meant to get around to reading the book at some point. I will add it to my ever-growing list of books to read!

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

I've just looked up a review on Middlesex and I must say I find it intriguing and will put on my wishlist of books , and even see if they have at the library.

Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese

When I read Cutting For Stone by, Abraham Verghese
I was seeing a doctor for various reasons and hence read most of the book in "waiting rooms"

People of The Book by, Geraldine Brooks

#5....I DID read that book and I liked it !!!

//faceinbook -- I think you may be the reason I bought it but am not sure. I saw the title in one of the LT thing games and started a search for it. Finally found a used one.

My husband read it and said it was just about the best book he'd ever read.//

When I read People of the Book, it was the second time I had ever read in-depth accounts of the southern part of Europe during World War II, including Romania and Greece. In my milieu, there is a preponderance of material on Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Belgium and the Netherlands,
Before People of the Book, my first chance to go south had been reading The Balkan Trilogy, by Olivia Manning.

I read The Balkan Trilogy about 25 years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it (also, the BBC did a series - Fortunes of War - based on the books, with Ken Branagh and Emma Thompson, and it was marvellous too).

Any takers for Villette by Charlotte Bronte, especially its very weird and ahead-of-its-time ending?

I read Villette two or three years back, loved it, and was most disconcerted by the ambiguity of the ending.

The return of the native by Thomas Hardy.

When I read The Return of the Native in Grade 12 English, I became fixated on the word "heath". I know it meant the grassy or bushy land that was not too productive agriculturally. But for some reason the sonorous quality of the word just stuck in my mind. (Being that this was 1979 or 1980, maybe Heath Ledger was just a kid at that point, or a baby, or not even born yet.)

Of course I was also concentrating on the story, it being the first English novel that I had ever read. I was just learning to love the orange colour of Penguin books, and the durability of their bindings. This was reinforced when I bought a different publisher's copy of The Dynasts by the same author and the gum binding cracked into hundreds of little gummy crumbs.

The Dynasts

When I read the Dynasts I'll probably have nothing else at hand.

How about something a little newer:
The Higher Power of Lucky - Susan Patron

When I read The Higher Power of Lucky someday in the future, I may be reading it because I need some light reading...or maybe I'll be a middle school English teacher or something of the sort. Who knows! It looks adorable though.

Let's go with the young adult theme again:

The Secret of Red Gate Farm (A Nancy Drew Mystery) by Carolyn Keene

If I read that, it would have been when I was about 13. That was the only time I read Nancy Drew books, and I can't remember which ones I did read.

The BFG by Roald Dahl

I read that, along with Roald Dahl's books, to my daughter when she was about 10-years-old.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

I have read it, probably soon after it was published, and it did leave quite a vivid impression, but as to exactly when and where I read it... it's a bit of a blur.

Three men in a boat by Jerome K. Jerome.

>45 InfectiousOptimist: Read all of the Nancy Drew mysteries when I was young.

Right now I work at a used book store.....Nancy Drew still sells. The other day the owner bought a bag of used books....contained 15 First Edition Nancy Drew books in the dust jackets. Small fortune :>0

Do you suppose "Jerome K. Jerome" is a pen name ??

Right now reading The Five Quarters of the Orange by, Joanne Harris

I read that during my second year of university. It was terribly vivid, but it put me off Joanne Harris. I think I just found the main character too malicious. Perhaps I would be more accepting now.

Another one I read that year was The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay.

I read Lions of Al-Rassan shortly after it was published in 1995. I mostly gobble up Kay's books and then have to wait until he writes another one.

Romeo and Juliet

Edited to fix typo

I read that during Freshman year in high school, in my honors English class. I actually enjoyed it. The teacher had us read at home, then come in and re-read the scenes as we listened to them on tape. For some reason, listening to the book-on-tape version helped in comprehending it better.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

I read that a few years ago after my daughter had been at my house and brought it with her. She liked it so much that I got one for myself after she left. I loved all the twists and turns.

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

I haven't read that but I'm interested in the history of white slaves in the US. I guess I'd read that, well, probably never but I'm not sure.

The SAS Survival Guide by John Wiseman.

I will read that in the unlikely event that I am able to get a hold of a copy when I am struggling for survival.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

//SomeGuy, it's not about white slaves, exactly. This young orphan is taken in by a plantation owner/ship captain and was only sent to live with the slaves because his wife was nuts. They raised her and she loved them but eventually entered White society, even though she wanted to stay with those she considered to be her family. It was a very sad tale.//

I read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd in highschool, and absolutely loved the reveal at the end; too young at the time to care whether it was gimmicky or not. Okay, honestly, I wouldn't have cared had I read it today, either. Agatha Christie is great.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

I will finally read that when I stop throwing it across the room in frustration, which currently happens every time I try to read it.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.

I have never read "Tess," but I am going forthwith to place it on my amazon wish list, as I have been meaning to read it forevah.

Rainwater
by Sandra Brown

I listened to Rainwater on audio last winter. I normally don't borrow/read Sandra Brown books but it wasn't too bad.

I've been working on a list of banned and challenged books in preparation for Freedom to Read week so I'll pick one of those:
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

I read Atwood's The Handmaids's Tale when it first came out way back when.

Did not know the book was on a list of banned or challenged books. Why would this be ?

Right now I am a little over a third of the way through Parrot & Oliver in America by, Peter Carey

I don't like most historical fiction, so I probably would never read Parrot & Oliver in America.

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.

I know that The Screwtape Letters are a well-esteemed work, but reading them didn't do very much for me. I tend to minimize the devil in my own thinking. I don't see much evidence in reality of the fiery, brilliant, malevolent fiend. Evil seems much more to be a banal, seeping, impersonal force, with no anthopomorphic tendencies, although anthropomorphic tendencies make it much more entertaining. But sometimes the entertainment gets to be too much of a good thing. Evil, please leave me alone.
The Posessed by Dostoyevsky.

I've never read any Dostoyevsky, but I will probably go through a few before I keel over. lh, you don't believe in an anthropomorphized, fiery fiend? You have obviously never been divorced. The devil exists, my friend, and it wants your soul and half your stuff.

Where the Lilies Bloom by Vera and Bill Cleaver.

>>61 faceinbook:
faceinbook, some of the complaints against A Handmaid's Tale include profane language, anti-Christian, violence, and sexual degradation. Yay for Freedom to Read!

> #65 Really ? I have certainly read worse ! Have those who decided that A Handmaiden's Tale is unfit for reading, watched any television lately ??

When posting the next title, it's best for this thread's sustenance that it be something fairly widely read.

Let's try Pillars of the Earth

(Edit: apologies; looks like Where the Lilies Bloom is award-winning YA stuff that isn't 'unheard' of ... so it's just me.)

(Too late I know....but I actually read Where the Lilies Bloom when I was about 14, early '70s) But I haven't read Pillars of the Earth , so carry on...

I will read Pillars of the Earth the minute I can secure a copy! So far, I can only find this book in my native language, Spanish. (bleh!)

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.

I will read One Hundred Years of Solitude only if I have absolutely nothing else to read, and maybe not then, as I read two books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and found one of them disgusting and one of them merely boring. There's that different drummer, again. lol

Walk in My Soul by Lucia St. Clair Robson

I read One Hundred Years of Solitude for a college class on Hypertext Narratives. It was an ... interesting class, that was sort of scattered, in that I'm still not sure what One Hundred Years of Solitude has to do with Hypertext Narratives (we never got around to discussing it in class; we also read Borges' The Library of Babel that week and spent too long on it) but I sat down and read it in one sitting, one sunny afternoon in the college library, and felt like I was coming up from a hundred years in Faerie myself when I finished.

(Then I attempted to read it in Spanish, but my Spanish isn't nearly good enough for a book that complicated.)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Walk in My Soul - doesn't look too appealing and I will probably never read that (but who knows?).

Pride and Prejudice - when I read that I was about eight or nine and didn't really appreciate it, but I went back to it 20 years on and loved it.

The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka

Haven't read Metamorphosis yet, but would definitely like to. Possibly his diaries as well.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

I had never heard about The Heart is a Lonely Hunter before, but I assure you I will be reading it soon.

When I read Pride and Prejudice, I had just gotten engaged to my current husband. I fell in love with Jane Austen right then and there! I kept pushing my then fiance to read it so we could discuss it, and when he finally picked it up, he hated it so thoroughly I began reconsidering the whole engagement thing.

The Metamorphosis I first read when I was about fourteen, per an older friend's recommendation. It creeped me out, but I loved it.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

I read Wuthering Heights when I was about 16 or 17. I was terribly disappointed, because I loved Jane Eyre, but WH was so very dismal.

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer

Don't remember that title specifically, but I went thru a Heyer phase in the mid '70s, so I probably read it then.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I don't remember the first time I read The Secret Garden; my sister was given a copy for her 8th? 9th? birthday, and I must have read it soon after. I've read it at least once a year since then, though, usually in Spring, just when the green is starting to draw its veil over the world. At this point I don't even really need the book in front of me.

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek has been in my stacks for ages.....haven't read it yet. Can't say why this is.

Struggling through Wolf Hall by, Hilary Mantel right now.

When I read Wolf Hall, I will want to call in sick to work for two or three days and just read non-stop, just as I felt very tempted to do when I was reading A Place of Greater Safety.

>79 libraryhermit: Not me...not so much. Have read Mantel before and wasn't much of a fan. Can't really put my finger on why it is I feel this way. Not opposed to reading historical fiction, nor do I mind difficult writing styles.
This is a book group read. Wolf Hall won the Booker Prize and we are reading both The Booker and The National Book Award titles back to back.

We seem to have stalled.

When I read Wolf Hall I hope I'll have a huge chunk of time on my hands because it looks quite lengthy.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I just read that last summer for the first time.

Anne of the Thousand Days

(Have currently been sucked in to The Tudors, and remembered this title from way back when)

When I read Anne of the Thousand Days, I will probably want to curl up in a ball and whimper. I don't dig Historicals.

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury.

I read The Martian Chronicles in highschool. It was required reading, but I probably would have got around to it anyway, during my science fiction period. Some of it I liked, some I didn't.

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey

I read Dragonflight in seventh grade, one of my earliest ventures into sci-fi. Strange that I entirely ignored her Dragonharper trilogy which was more geared to my age - and I still haven't gotten around to it.

Dune by Frank Herbert (my other 7th grade discovery)

I've read that one twice, the last time being within the past six months.

Graceling
by Kristin Cashore

I loved Graceling, and read it right away when it came out in hardcover, based on an effusive review in Publishers Weekly. I liked the companion, Fire, too.

A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

//jnwelch, I just received Fire and it's my next read.
It will probably be a while before Bitterblue is released, but I'm looking out for it.//

Yes, can't wait for Bitterblue! I'll be interested to hear what you think of Fire.

I read The Handmaid's Tale when I was in my early twenties. I liked it a lot, but I still haven't read much more by Margaret Atwood, except for all the poetry that is required reading for any Canadian student.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Ahhh. Love this whole series. I first read A Wrinkle in Time around 4th or 5th grade. Not sure. (We're digging around in 50 year-old memories here.) My current favorite in the series is A Swiftly Tilting Planet.

My Antonia by Willa Cather

I read A Wrinkle in Time in 6th grade- I think when I needed a Newberry Honor Book for a book report. I did not like it one bit. I still dislike any sort of fantasy/science fiction.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Ooo. Somebody has two choices.

I will take both :>))) As I have read both titles. Read them when I was in high school. Along with MerryMary, I am digging around in some very old memories but I do recall enjoying them.

Serious Men by, Manu Joseph (which is making me laugh)

When I read that I will borrow it from the library.

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin

After reading some of the reviews for Alice I Have Been, I think I can say that I might read it when hell freezes over.

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson