May RandomCat: Believe in Your Shelf

As we are unable to get to the library right now I have decided that this month’s RandomCat Challenge will focus on our own shelves. My challenge is called "Believe in Your Shelf" and I would like you to take a look at your shelves or lists of audio/e-books and chose one of the oldest books that you currently have in your possession. Examine your book shelves, e-readers and audio books for reads that you have filed away meaning to read “someday”, bring out one of the oldest and give it a try. I think we will surprise ourselves with some great reads, after all there was a very good reason why we originally brought this one home in the first place.

Let us know what you are going to be reading this month and please remember to add your choices to the RandomCat Wiki found here: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2020_RandomCAT#2020_Random_CAT

Have a great reading month and look forward to removing one (or some) of those oldies from your shelf!

I am going with Z for Zachariah by Robert O'Brien which is one of the first audios I added in 2014. I also have a book that I purchased and added to my shelf in 2009, Gone With the Windsors by Laurie Graham.

This is the month I FINALLY get to Beware of the Trains, by Edmund Crispin. I've had it since 2011 and never found the opportunity to read it. It's do or die time for this one.

Although I joined LT in 2008, I didn't start adding my unread books until Jul, 2009. One of the ones still left on my shelves from then is The Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther. Time it moved.

This is a great challenge for me, as I've been working at getting the older unread books off the shelves. The question is: which one, or ones? Decisions, decisions!

This should be fun. I do not have dates of acquisition for most of my books which I had prior to joining LT in November 2007. My greatest challenge might be reading something that does not make my allergy to dust flair up. Tentatively, I'm planning to read On to Victory: Propaganda Plays of the Woman Suffrage Movement, edited by Bettina Friedl. I think I probably bought this relatively soon after it was published in 1987 when I was still trying to read heavily in women's history. It's a collection of approximately 20 short plays with introductory information about each play.

The challenge also gives me more of an incentive to read Undaunted Zeal: the Letters of Margaret Fell, one of the
early Quakers and wife of the founder of Quakerism, George Fox, for the epistolary of letters square of BingoDOG.

I think I’ll go with Live by Night by Dennis Lehane. It’s an ebook that I have had since before 2013 when I started tracking the year I acquired books.

I had planned to read The Physick Book of Deliverance by Katherine Howard this month but I'm not sure I'll get to it. If I don't I'll read it next month for this Challenge, I've had it since 2010. I might also read one of these: The Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears or Slightly Chipped: Footnotes in Booklore by Lawrence Goldstone, I've had both since 2009. One of my goals is to get 2009 cleaned out this year and I think I'll make it!

The treebook which has been languishing longest on the TBR shelf is Rome and Italy by Livy, while the ebook which has been waiting for me the longest is The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan

This should be fun!

I'm tentatively thinking I'll read Possession by A.S. Byatt but I bet I can find something even older on the shelves when I get a chance to browse.

>10 EBT1002: I LOVE Possession. It may be my favorite book.

Thinking of reading W or the Memory of Childhood by Georges Perec. Other options are I Malavoglia or Conversation in the Cathedral.

>10 EBT1002:, >11 Dejah_Thoris: I also loved Possession.

What a great title!
Mine would have to be The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt. bought it when it first came out as it sounded just like my thing - and that cover! - but it has been on my shelf ever since.

Great idea. I will have a rummage in the dusty recesses of the "to be read" shelf.

I have dug out A Bit of Fry & Laurie, which is the raw scripts from their very first BBC series. I don't know how long I've had it (although I remember it was a birthday present from my sister in my 20s, and I'm 50 now!), but it was published in 1990, the pages are pretty yellow, and they look very very very young on the cover!

Sarum keeps looking at me. I have had it for years and read if off and on.

The first audiobooks I ever bought were Terry Pratchett novels. I'll plan on Wyrd Sisters.

There are many to choose from on my shelves! This is a great challenge, thank you!

>16 mnleona: that one was on my mother's table for years. I think she read it.

>15 Jackie_K: I have 3 Bits of Fry and Laurie! They do look incredibly young, don't they :D

>21 Jackie_K: Haha, yes they do! Mind you, I'm pretty sure I looked incredibly young in 1990 too...

I'm planning to read The Wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri that I brought home in 2014. It's been sitting waiting for me to catch up with the series to this point.

Although I have many older unread tomes on my shelves, I'm planning to read The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, which I borrowed from a friend in 2014....time to read & return, don'tcha think?

I have a bunch of Amos Oz paperbacks that I collected years ago. I've read lots of his work but there are still a few unread ones. Probably My Michael.

I have a couple of older ones (not sure which is the oldest), but they are both long! I have lost reading time with the lack of a commute. Anyway, I'll try for one of these:

Sylvia / Bryce Courtenay
Great Cat Tales

I think I'm going to try to read Larceny and Old Lace. I've had it since before I joined LT in 2008 so it's pretty old. Thanks for the nudge to get it read.

I am reading Forever Beloved by Joan Van Nuys. This book has made over 5 moves with me since 2000. Time to read it.

I made my (first) choice, The Pilgrim of Hate by Ellis Peters. It's a ROOT selection, a book that's been on my shelves unread for over a year.

I hope to add another book to this challenge once I finish it.

I am reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo - I have had an abridged paperback edition since 2009 and an unabridged Kindle edition since 2012 so it is a twofer! I am reading the unabridged ebook but I can see why my dad had an abridged edition (even though I think he would have enjoyed Hugo's thoughts about architecture).

I also did a reread of The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan (owned since 2011) and The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (owned since sometime in the 1980s) but I am assuming that the idea of this CAT is to try to read previously unread books...

>1 DeltaQueen50: I like the pretty graphic of the bookshelf but seriously, do any of us actually have room on our shelves for flowers and other non-book stuff?! ;)

Mine look more like this photo that I grabbed off the web:

>30 leslie.98: my shelves are a cross between your picture and the one in the OP.

On the top of one of my book cases I do have two copies of Beatrice Potter, one is a book I won, and I have some little ceramic rabbits I found at a thrift store on top of the books. On the shelves only the books.
>30 leslie.98: Looks like mine.

I've just finished A Bit of Fry & Laurie, which has been on my bookshelves since the early 90s. In all honesty, I think I appreciated the humour more now than if I'd read it then! It's the scripts from their very first TV series, I think probably the best way to sum them up is 'arch silliness'. I enjoyed it a lot.

Love the name of the challenge.

If I did this challenge, I would be spoiled for choice. Probably the prime contenders would be:

* Separation by Dan Franck (one of my early purchases at my current bookstore -- but it has disappeared in my stacks of books)

* Life in the Iron Mills and Other Stories by Rebecca Harding Davis (bought it because it had the wrong sticker on the back and I wanted to get it out of inventory, and it fit my collection of work by women writers -- I might know where this is. Sort of.)

* Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon (bought it new in hardcover, the fellow bookseller who used to ask me whether I'd read it yet has since retired.... This one I actually at least know the location of.)

I started cataloging my books on LT in 2008, including the year of acquisition for new books, so I searched on publication date for all my books that didn't have a year of acquisition. I found three unread books published in 1953 - two that I've had since the 70's and one my Dad gave me sometime in the last twenty years (since I lived in this house).

So, these are the ones I'll pick from: The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester, More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon and The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl.

From the nearly 800 bks on my TBR shelves I've picked Entering Ephesus by Daphne Athas. My sister loaned me this more than 20 years ago. Time to read and return!

Historical fiction set in 1939. Published in 1971. This is an intriguing and almost 'rare' book, owned by only 12 LT members. 4 stars too!

I've had a copy of Sheiks and Adders by Michael Innes for quite a while now--it was in the first batch of books I entered in LT.

I've read a collection of short stories by Theodore Sturgeon. The collection was a mixed bag, but the ones that were good were excellent.

>30 leslie.98: LOL - Yep, my shelves definitely look more like these ones!

I read The Pilgrim of Hate by Ellis Peters for this challenge. :)

I read Wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri. I can see why this has been on the shelf for so long. I have one more Camilleri on the shelf that I believe will be my last.

I finished Gone With the Windsors by Laurie Graham and I really enjoyed this one. The author put a fresh spin on the story of Wallis Simpson and English Prince of Wales that was both humorous and witty. It feels good to have finally read one of the oldest unread books on my shelf.

>42 DeltaQueen50: That would make a good book for the Bingo square with the title pun!

I've started The Sacred Wood and Major Early Essays by T.S. Eliot for this CAT...it's been in my library since before I cataloged my books on LT! Looks like it's going to be tough, but that will make completing it all the more satisfying.

I finished Beware of the Trains as indicated in >3 rabbitprincess: and quite liked it! So thanks, Judy, for the push to read it :)

>43 MissWatson: Yes, that was my other reason for picking this one. :)

I finished Georges Perec's W, or The Memory of Childhood which has been on the shelf for 9 years. Should have read it sooner!

>47 pamelad: I've had that experience quite a few times, wondering why I'd left a book on the shelf, unread, for years.

June's RandomCAT thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/320334.

I just finished Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster for this month's read. The copy I have was printed in 1964, and that is probably when I got it. This was a most enjoyable read.

>50 LadyoftheLodge: I am very fond of Daddy-Long-Legs and its follow up, Dear Enemy. I may have to read them again, now that you've brought them to mind.

>51 Dejah_Thoris: I have Dear Enemy on my Kindle, but I loved reading the paperback copy of Daddy-Long-Legs that I got when I was in elementary school. It has been waiting a long time to be loved.

>52 LadyoftheLodge: Our exchange made me realize that I'd always intended to go back and read Jean Webster's other books - so I just downloaded several from Project Gutenberg. Thanks for motivating me!

Whew. I finally finished Possession by AS Byatt. A long, slow read worth 4 stars in the end.

I have found two books on my shelf that I have owned since university days: Beau Geste was an okay read, but I didn't really like the brothers. Re-reading Der Mann vom Pecos has finally convinced me to part with this and its fellow westerns, I simply do not enjoy them anymore because of the unsatisfactory translation. On the bright side: free space on the shelf!

>55 MissWatson: I haven't reread Beau Geste in years - I wonder how I'd feel about it now?

>56 Dejah_Thoris: Interesting question. I rolled my eyes at the patronising attitudes towards women and the lower classes.

I finished The Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther which I added to my LT unread shelf in July, 2009. This is when I first started entering my unread books so it's been there unread longer than that.

I completed Jamaica Inn, by Daphne du Maurier it's been on my shelf since 2013.

I've finished reading On to Victory: Propaganda Plays of the Woman Suffrage Movement edited by Bettina Friedl which I've had since before I joined LT in 2007.

I read The Murder Room by P.D. James 4★

This one has been on the shelf since Oct 2009 because I saw it on the Adam Dalgliesh tv series and thought it just too darkly weird. I enjoyed the book much more.

In James' mysteries there are no penetrating interviews by hardened detectives, no rushing around, no plodding research. Instead this is a stately, measured account of murder in the cultivated setting of a private museum and school. Commander Adam Dalgliesh, the detective in charge, writes poetry so naturally a suitably cultivated air is provided. But the upper crust can commit heinous crimes as well as anyone else.

In an attempt to clear library books while I can't borrow any more, I've finished Ross Poldark which I've had on loan for approaching 6 months... Requested it in a fit of good intentions to join the Poldark series read, only never quote got round to it - until now.

I finished The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester. I really didn't have to cringe too much (as I quite often do with early sci-fi in terms of the sexism). There really weren't many strong female characters, but the sexism wasn't too overt. This was a pretty good sci-fi mystery - maybe better described as a police procedural - where the police prefect, an Esper (person who can read minds), is trying to land a murder case. In a universe filled with Espers, nobody commits murders anymore as they are usually prevented before they happen. This book won the first ever Hugo Award in 1953.

My copy is a book club edition (The Science Fiction Book Club) which I've had on my shelves since the 70's - and with a little research (the only publication date on the book is the original date, 1953), I've determined it was 1978. Soooo, I need a few more of these challenges to read more of the books that have been on my shelves for a little while... :)

>63 LisaMorr: I'll remember that one for the Mystery KIT in July - cross genre/mashups. Thanks!

>63 LisaMorr: >64 Dejah_Thoris: It's on my treebook TBR shelf as well. Great idea, Dejah_Thoris.

I finished My Michael by Amos Oz which I've owned for at least 20 years. I didn't particularly care for the characters but it was beautifully written, the story of a marriage in 1950s Jerusalem. I also read Storm Boy by Colin Thiele, a lovely children's book that I've owned for many years (my copy was old, ex library and tatty but the story itself was lovely).

>66 avatiakh: Oh, I love Storm Boy! I have lots of Colin Thiele books and they are all great.

>67 JayneCM: I read up on Colin Thiele when I finished Storm Boy and now got a couple more of his books on my kindle app. Storm Boy was made into a film again last year, have you seen either one?

>68 avatiakh: Yes, the original is straight from the book and is wonderful. I was glad when they remade it last year that they didn't just change the original story. It is a continuation of the story as Geoffrey Rush plays Storm Boy as an old man and he revisits the Coorrong with his granddaughter. Both movies are worth watching, especially the first one to see the beautiful scenery of the Coorrong.

Which other books did you get? I love Emma Keppler and Swan Song but he has written so many fabulous ones - Pinquo and Danny's Egg are also great. Pretty sure my love of animal/nature books came from his books.

I was lucky enough to meet him when I was a girl as my grandpa worked at Oxford University Press and there was a book event of some sort. I can't really remember it - I think I was too starstruck at meeting a real live writer!

I've only watched the trailers but would want to see both films.
I got Blue Fin, Uncle Gustav's Ghosts and Sun on the stubble, my library has the ones you mention and several others. Oh lovely memory though, I don't think I met any writers when I was young.

Well, the book I had intended to read was a DNF for me, but I still managed to read 10 other books from the TBR shelves. The oldest had been around since 2008 (Dombey and Son, Dickens).

Great Cat Tales / Various Authors
2.5 stars

This is a book of short stories, poetry, and I think some short nonfiction essays by various authors (including Jerome K. Jerome, Rudyard Kipling, Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, and more), all about cats.

I’m just not a fan of short stories. I don’t know why I have the book (my guess is a gift?). Everyone knows I love cats, but short stories just mostly don’t hold my interest much. There were a few that I liked. Overall, though, it may have been that I was trying to read quickly, maybe that I just know I’m not “into” short stories and didn’t give it enough of a chance, via mostly skimming through. Likely if I’d slowed down and taken more time to pay attention, it would have garnered a better rating from me.

Did not read the one I intended but did read 3 from TBR.

Of the 3, the witch elm by Tana French had been on the shelf longest time.
Others I had ordered since the stay-at-home began.

>62 Helenliz: did you like Ross Poldark?

>72 LibraryCin: your feelings about short stories echo my feelings about poetry. I just don't get into them.

Some of these "greatest (insert) stories" collections contain stories that aren't very well chosen or edited, imo. I recall a horse collection I read a couple years ago that was very well done, Thundering Hooves by Christine Pullein-Thompson. I gave it 4 stars and kept it for a future reread.

>74 fuzzi: Oh, yeah. I didn't mention poetry (though there was a bit of that in the book). I'm not "into" poetry, either.

I hope everyone had a successful month of reading from our own shelves. Everything I read during May came from my shelves so I cleared a nice space for some new books and I moved along some books that have been on my shelves for years.

>74 fuzzi:, yes, I did. He'd be an attractive man even if he didn't look like Aiden Turner. >;-) And families are such interesting things. I'll be requesting the next on from the library when it reopens.

>77 Helenliz: you'll love Demelza.

Ross is a man who I love but want to smack, frequently.

>76 DeltaQueen50: I think all my reads were from my shelves, if you don't count ebooks.

>75 LibraryCin: I feel better. So many LTers talk about how great poetry is, and I'm like, "meh".

>78 fuzzi: Yes, it's always nice to have someone else who feels the same when in a minority!