The Ten "Lasts" list - a survey just for fun.

I know how much LTers love lists, so here's a fun one (I hope): Please cut & paste the question into your own post and add your answers.

Please tell us:

1. The last book you gave five-stars to.
2. The last book you were unable to finish.
3. The last book you bought.
4. The last book that made you cry.
5. The last book you borrowed.
6. The last book you received as a gift.
7. The last book you found disturbing.
8. The last book you read that made you laugh.
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost):
10. The last book you reread.

1. The last book you gave five-stars to: Tunneling to the Center of the Earth by Kevin Wilson The Broken Shore by Peter Temple. (I went back to double check and my first thought was obviously wrong!)
2. The last book you were unable to finish: Serena by Ron Rash (NOT a bad book, timing was wrong, I think)
3. The last book you bought: Love in Infant Monkeys by Lydia Millet
4. The last book that made you cry. Everything in This Country Must by Column McCann
5. The last book you borrowed: I've forgotten the title. A book on Tuberculosis from the library...
6. The last book you received as a gift. Black Mirror by Gail Jones
7. The last book you found disturbing. The Triumph of the Spider Monkey by Joyce Carol Oates
8. The last book you read that made you laugh. A Bloodsmoor Romance by Joyce Carol Oates
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): The Broken Shore by Peter Temple
10. The last book you reread: The Robber Bridegroom by Margaret Atwood

1. The last book you gave five-stars to. Veracity, Laura Bynum
2. The last book you were unable to finish. Directive 51 John Barnes, It was more of a techno-thriller than apocalypse novel. Gave up before it even got to the apocalypse part.
3. The last book you bought. Dune Messiah, Frank Herbert
4. The last book that made you cry. Bury your Dead, Louise Penny
5. The last book you borrowed. Eat, pray, love is it borrowing when a friend insists that you must read it and makes you take it home with you?
6. The last book you received as a gift. Last Dickens, Matthew Pearl
7. The last book you found disturbing. Daughters of the North, Sarah Hall,I loved this book, loved it, but it left me extremely sad, and my faith in humanity a little tested.
8. The last book you read that made you laugh. There's a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell: A Novel of Sewer Pipes, Pageant Queens, and Big Trouble, Laurie Notaro
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): Mapping of Love and Death, Jacqueline Winspear. I am convinced that I am Maisie Dobbs reincarnated, well, I wish that I was.
10. The last book you reread. Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Fantasy Life. Perhaps it was timing, but I really enjoyed the book this time. I wish there was a sequel.

Thanks, Lois, this is fun! And, as usually, I couldn't help annotating!

1. The last book you gave five-stars to. I don't give stars, but if I did the last one would be The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson
2. The last book you were unable to finish. I think this would be Once They Moved Like the Wind: Cochise, Geronimo, and the Apache Wars by David Roberts since this has been on my Currently Reading list since April, but I may yet get back to it.
3. The last book you bought. Either The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford or Wigs on the Green by Nancy Mitford, both waiting for me when I get home from the mountains, from Amazon.
4. The last book that made you cry. A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You by Amy Bloom
5. The last book you borrowed. Haven't borrowed any in a long time.
6. The last book you received as a gift. The Best American Short Stories 2009 and The Best American Mystery Stories 2009, standard holiday presents from some unimaginative relatives who need to be told something to get that they can find with no trouble at Barnes & Noble.
7. The last book you found disturbing. Almost everything I read! But I would say, of the last five or so disturbing books, The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford would lead the pack.
8. The last book you read that made you laugh. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson
10. The last book you reread. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

Edited to fix touchstones.

1. The last book you gave five-stars to. A Dark Stranger by Julien Gracq
2. The last book you were unable to finish. The Snow Ball by Brigid Brophy
3. The last book you bought. Sunlight on the Lawn by Beverley Nichols
4. The last book that made you cry. Elephant Winter by Kim Echlin
5. The last book you borrowed. Hmmm . . .
6. The last book you received as a gift. Merlin's Dream by Peter Dickinson (I am not sure if this was a gift or a loaner – Bob can you fill me in on this one?)
7. The last book you found disturbing. The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell
8. The last book you read that made you laugh. Laughter on the Stairs by Beverley Nichols
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): Homer's Daughter by Robert Graves
10. The last book you reread. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

>3 m4marya: Dune Messiah. I'm pretty sure that's the last Frank Herbert I ever read.
>4 rebeccanyc: re "Disturbing" - I know what you mean. I guess the closest I ever get to its opposite—consolatory, soothing,comforting—is to have a murderer caught at the end of a police procedural.

1. The last book you gave five-stars to. My Antonia by Willa Cather
2. The last book you were unable to finish. I always finish books, but the last one I wanted to stop was The Road by Cormac McCarthy
3. The last book you bought. The Glass Room by Simon Mawer
4. The last book that made you cry. Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans by Dan Baum, hmm...this made me realize I'm not really a crier (for books anyway).
5. The last book you borrowed. The Road as well but that was more foisted upon me and refused to take back
6. The last book you received as a gift. Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child (thanks hubby!)
7. The last book you found disturbing. I'm going with three here: Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil by Peter Maass had some disturbing subject matter but nothing particularly surprising; The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis made me a bit uncomfortable; but Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire by Robert Perkinson was seriously disturbing and very good
8. The last book you read that made you laugh. Sections of Herodotus's Histories from The Portable Greek Historians
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen
10. The last book you reread. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

1. The last book you gave five-stars to: I don't star my reviews anymore, so it would have been The Black Death Transformed from last November. A fascinating and controversial discussion of whether or not the Black Death of 1347 was actually bubonic plague, as we've been taught.
2. The last book you were unable to finish: The Bridge on the Drina, Ivo Andrić. I know it's an important work and all, but it was still boring!
3. The last book you bought: The Years of Rice and Salt, Kim Stanley Robinson.
4. The last book that made you cry: It's been a long time... maybe Memoirs of a Geisha? (My eyes did water a bit during Napoleon's memoirs, but I was reading microfiche...)
5. The last book you borrowed: Cold Earth, from the library.
6. The last book you received as a gift: Wolf Hall, at Christmas.
7. The last book you found disturbing: Also The Bridge on the Drina, the impalement scene in particular.
8. The last book you read that made you laugh: Probably The Shadow of the Wind, parts of that were really laugh-out-loud funny.
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): The Lake of Dead Languages, by Carol Goodman. Not a book for the ages or anything, but very atmospheric.
10. The last book you reread: In the Woods. Can't get enough Tana French!

1. The last book you gave five-stars to: xkcd: volume 0 by Randall Munroe. Because I love xkcd just that much.

2. The last book you were unable to finish: I think it may have been The Fifth Generation by Edward Feigenbaum. I put it down to start Jurassic Park and never picked it back up again. That was about 1989. I am, uh, kind of obsessive about finishing books once I start them.

3. The last book you bought: Oh, man, I just ordered a huge batch of them. Specifically, The Blessing Way by Tony Hillerman, Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit by P.G. Wodehouse, Me of Little Faith by Lewis Black, The Prisoner by Thomas M. Disch, No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold, and An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears.

4. The last book that made you cry: I'm not sure. Probably The Book Thief. That made me tear up a little, at the very least.

5. The last book you borrowed: Out of the Darkness by Peter David. That was several years ago, though. I've got too many books I already own and haven't read to go borrowing more.

6. The last book you received as a gift: That depends. If you mean "Here, I'm done with these and I think you'll like them, so take them," then it's Weapons of Choice and sequels by John Birmingham. If you mean an actual birthday or Christmas-type gift, then it's Gifts by Ursula K. Le Guin, Different Seasons by Stephen King, and The Traveler by Daren Simkin, all of which my mother gave me for Christmas.

7. The last book you found disturbing: Well, bits of Superfreakonomics might count, although probably not in the way the question really means. I appear not to have read too much genuinely disturbing fiction lately. I should rectify that.

8. The last book you read that made you laugh: Ring for Jeeves.

9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin might qualify.

10. The last book you reread: I think it was Castrovalva, the novelization of a Doctor Who episode. Should I be embarrassed about that?

1. The last book you gave five-stars to: I've only just started starring stuff - so I haven't yet.
2. The last book you were unable to finish: Huckleberry Finn - Tom Sawyer was a childhood favourite but I found this rather different - but I shall have another go soon.
3. The last book you bought: I bought three online but I think Scenes From My Life by Judi Dench was the last to arrive.
4. The last book that made you cry: A difficult one - it's been a long, long time but I remember tearing up a bit at Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth and Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles - can't remember which was last, though.
5. The last book you borrowed: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - haven't given it back yet (oops).
6. The last book you received as a gift: Christmas presents - choose any one of What's That Bird? by Paul Sterry (been a bird-watcher for over half a century - don't need a beginner's guide), Delia's Frugal Food by Delia Smith (cook well enough and I'm not hard up), Fishing's Strangest Days: Extraordinary But True Stories by Tom Quinn (had it already - I collect fishing books) and The "QI" Book of the Dead (?) - I wish people wouldn't buy me books.
7. The last book you found disturbing: The Marquis de Sade, 120 Days of Sodom - only read the first ten or fifteen pages but sincerely regretted doing so.
8. The last book you read that made you laugh: Emma, Jane Austen - always does (more of a quiet chuckle than a belly-laugh with Austen).
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): Ditto.
10. The last book you reread: Ditto, again.

1. The last book you gave five-stars to: Uni Bound? Students' Stories of Transition from School to University by Irena Madjar
2. The last book you were unable to finish: Moo by Jane Smiley (not because it's bad - just not the right time for me to read it)
3. The last book you bought: Blue Moon by Alyson Noel - it sucked and is being resold asap.
4. The last book that made you cry: Never. But the last book that made me feel sad was Before I fall by Lauren Oliver
5. The last book you borrowed: last night I borrowed a bunch of books from the library the last one I literally checked out was City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.
6. The last book you received as a gift: Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones in 2008 (people tend to buy me vouchers)
7. The last book you found disturbing The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
8. The last book you read that made you laugh: Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): The entire Sookie Stackhouse series - it was an awesome week the week I read that series lol.
10. The last book you reread: Eclipse (before the movie)

1. The last book you gave five-stars to.: Giovanni's Room, James Baldwin
2. The last book you were unable to finish.:Religious Literacy, Stephen Prothero (I agree that religious literacy is important for everyone, but this book did not speak to me. ZZZ)
3. The last book you bought.:The Means of Reproduction, Michelle Goldberg
4. The last book that made you cry.:Can't remember--not much of a crier
5. The last book you borrowed.The Forest Lover, Susan Vreeland (haven't read it yet).
6. The last book you received as a gift. ?? Can't remember.
7. The last book you found disturbing.:The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches, Gaetan Soucy
8. The last book you read that made you laugh.Horse, Bird, Flower, Kate Bernheimer
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost):Orlando, V. Woolf
10. The last book you reread.:A Room of One's Own, V. Woolf

1. The last book you gave five-stars to: The River Why by David James Duncan
2. The last book you were unable to finish: The Scientists by John Gribbin, the arrogance and focus on physicists was too much to take
3. The last book you bought: The Stuff of Legend by Mike Raicht
4. The last book that made you cry: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck back in like eighth grade
5. The last book you borrowed: Hmmm... I have no idea
6. The last book you received as a gift: F U Haiku: Pissed-Off Poetry for Every Occasion by Wendy Simard
7. The last book you found disturbing: Skeleton Crew by Stephen King
8. The last book you read that made you laugh: The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder and Maus by Art Spiegelman
10. The last book you reread: Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

1. The last book you gave five-stars to: Probably In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot

2. The last book you were unable to finish: Probably When People Are Big and God Is Small. There has been a bunch this year. Most I will likely get back to. Some are more like references, and some, like short story or essay anthologies, are meant to be dipped into. So the question I am really answering is: What is the last book I was unable to finish right away? I don't remember what the last book was that I set aside because it didn't merit reading.

3. The last book you bought: The answer depends on how you interpret that. Yesterday I bought Marcus Aurelius in a bookstore. Just after that I retrieved In Search of the Multiverse from my mailbox; I ordered it sometime back, but I haven't paid for it yet.

4. The last book that made you cry: I don't actually cry. I had one of those mothers who deny the validity of emotions in their children, especially in their sons especially in outward manifestation like crying. The Glass Room brought a strong emotional response and brought tears to my eyes, however.

5. The last book you borrowed: I pretty much refuse to borrow books.

6. The last book you received as a gift: The God of All Comfort a few years back, a complete surprise, and so far mostly unread.

7. The last book you found disturbing: When Money Dies, but there are so many of them nowadays.

8. The last book you read that made you laugh: Sh*t My Dad Says I think.

9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): The Millennium Trilogy and more specifically The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and how!

10. The last book you reread: The Sunlight Dialogues

Reading these postings is much more meaningful after I've done my own. Thanks everybody.

Robert

1. The last book you gave five-stars to. Death Comes to the Archbishop by Willa Cather. Way back in February, 2009 - I don't give 5 starts very often.
2. The last book you were unable to finish. The Gastronomical Me by M.F.K. Fisher. Most people seem to like this, but I didn't like Fisher, or her voice, or her narrative character, or something like that.
3. The last book you bought. Three today! Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver and American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
4. The last book that made you cry. I don't cry very often, but something about the ending to Doomsday Book by Connie Willis got to me.
5. The last book you borrowed. From the library: A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny. From my mom: Missing Joseph by Elizabeth George. A one-star debacle, and the end of reading Elizabeth George for me.
6. The last book you received as a gift. Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. I've been making bread ever since.
7. The last book you found disturbing. A Fair Maiden by Joyce Carol Oates. A short novel that packs a wallop.
8. The last book you read that made you laugh. I'm currently reading Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome, and even though it's about three English guys on the Thames at the end of the 19th century, Jerome could just as easily be describing my husband and his friends on their yearly canoe trip.
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series.
10. The last book you reread. I want to say Death Comes for the Archbishop, but really it's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Both were in 2009, though - it's been awhile since I reread anything.

>16 Talbin:,

Talbin, I cried several times near the end of Doomsday Book. Willis has a way. I recently finished her book Passage. I felt a little teary near the end. I might add to my crying books above the last two pages of The Kindly Ones left me in tears.

>16 Talbin:, 17: I wept buckets at the end of Doomsday Book, myself. Which was potentially embarrassing, since I was reading it at work.

I bought Doomsday Book in July... given the comments here I wonder if it will be the first book *ever* to make me cry - will bump it to the top of the tbr list... and not bring it to work.

1. The last book you gave five-stars to: The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
2. The last book you were unable to finish: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by What's-Her-Face.
3. The last book you bought: I bought 85 last Sat. for $25, so I'll pick one: An Insular Possession by Timothy Mo
4. The last book that made you cry: Les Miserables. Keep quiet! (i.e. "shut up!") all you HHers (Hugo Haters).
5. The last book you borrowed: Off the Rails: Aboard the Crazy Train in the Blizzard of Ozz by Rudy Sarzo
6. The last book you received as a gift: Adios Scheherazade by Donald E. Westlake
7. The last book you found disturbing: Shock Treatment by Karen Finley
8. The last book you read that made you laugh: Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): The Same River Twice by Ted Mooney
10. The last book you reread: Last Vanities by Fleur Jaeggy

Kewl thread, Avaland!

#10 above, Q10 - I told a lie, there - should have said The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. I've just realised that, including the one I'm on now, my last three novels have been re-reads - must get more adventurous!

1. The last book you gave five-stars to. Private Life by Jane Smiley
2. The last book you were unable to finish. The Fig Eater by Jody Shields I will finish it one day, just wasn't in the mood at the time.
3. The last book you bought. Lottery by Patridcia Wood
4. The last book that made you cry. Lonesome Dove
5. The last book you borrowed. from the library: Sultana's Dream and Selections from The Secluded Ones (A Feminist Press Sourcebook) by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain
6. The last book you received as a gift. At the Heart of Friendship a Hallmark book/card
7. The last book you found disturbing. The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle
8. The last book you read that made you laugh. Secret Keepers : A Novel by Mindy Friddle
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): Lonesome Dove
10. The last book you reread. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Touchstone must be tired

>22 Citizenjoyce: I've had Lonesome Dove sitting on my TBR pile for a long time - it looks like I need to finally get to it.

>20 absurdeist: Rique,

Quit playing the poseur. You know you read and loved every one of the Harry Potter books and saw all the movies. Certain people reported seeing you at Barnes and Noble for the midnight Harry Potter parties. And why would you read Last Vanities twice? An interesting book, but surely not sui generis. The much under-appreciated writer Rachel Ingalls uses some of the same techniques but far, far more competently. I highly recommend you start with her collection of short stories I See a Long Journey.

Fun!

1. The last book you gave five-stars to. The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton - best book of the year so far.

2. The last book you were unable to finish. Troubles by J. G. Farrell - just not the right time, I'll come back to it.

3. The last book you bought. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson, Skippy Dies by Paul Murray, and Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey - clearly I am on a bit of a Booker binge.

4. The last book that made you cry. Kartography by Kamila Shamsie - not overly sad, but I am a crier in general.

5. The last book you borrowed. Sky Burial by Xinran - for a Belletrista article.

6. The last book you received as a gift. Miss O'Dell - I don't read a lot of non-fiction/memoirs, but I love 60s and 70s music, so this memoir of a "groupie" caught my eye. My Dad gave it to me for my birthday; I should really get around to reading it soon.

7. The last book you found disturbing. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas

8. The last book you read that made you laugh. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, which I read because it is one of the options for my grade 9 class.

9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): The Long Song by Andrea Levy - I didn't expect to like this, but I actually loved it.

10. The last book you reread. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - unlike the haters above, I love the Harry Potter series, and am proud of it! I was 11 when Philosopher's Stone came out, so I followed the series as it was published. I still reread them regularly.

>25 Cait86: You're not alone! My last reread was a Harry Potter, too.

I ain't no HP hater like those Hugo Haters hereabouts. I got seven chapters into it, actually mildly enjoyed it, but got distracted and put the book down somewhere. I'll pick it back up at chapter eight next summer.

Yeah, that's right, Uraniaformerly#1, I mildly enjoyed Harry Potter!

I read Last Vanities a second time since, at the time of my second read, there was a discussion going on about it, and I needed to refresh my memory; a discussion, I might add, in which a certain "lapsed academic" mimicking some damsel in distress, declared, "wait, wait, don't discuss Last Vanities yet, my copy still hasn't arrived."

So we wait ... and wait ... and wait for Uraniaformerly#1, to show up so we could discuss it, the book, Last Vanities, but did she show up? Do dogs meow? No!

Word on the street: She was too busy reading Twilight to her goats. Talk about animal cruelty.

Poor goats. I do hope she restricted reading to only her male goats. Twilight should not be inflicted on a female member of any species.

#23Talbin I predict you'll love Lonesome Dove. It's wonderful, engaging, thought provoking and depressing. A quick hint. If you read a newer edition make sure you don't read the forward by the author. For some reason he gives away major plot developments, one of which doesn't even happen in this book.

>For the information of all concerned, I was reading The Idylls of Theocritus to my goats. Currently, I am regaling them with Virgil's Georgics. Next on the agenda . . . War and Peace, so they will have their baahs in shape for that vile breaker of peace, maligner of faerie queenes, and misspeller of names Enrique.

Sincerely,
urania1

1. The last book you gave five-stars to: The Saga of Gosta Berling by Selma Lagerlof -- you WILL get a review for the December issue, Lois
2. The last book you were unable to finish: Clarel by Herman Melville -- maybe when I retire
3. The last book you bought: Melymbrosia by Virginia Woolf -- I've decided I should read all her novels
4. The last book that made you cry. Heidi -- when I was 10 -- I'm obviously not much of a crier
5. The last book you borrowed: The Lacuna -- thrust upon me (yeah, twist my arm) -- I'm not sure I'm returning it
6. The last book you received as a gift: Full House by M.J. Farrell -- thank-you bleuroses.
7. The last book you found disturbing: In Parenthesis by David Jones
8. The last book you read that made you laugh: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): Primeval and Other Times and House of Day, House of Night by Olga Tokarczuk
10. The last book you reread: Summer by Edith Wharton

1. The last book you gave five-stars to: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

2. The last book you were unable to finish: The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes

3. The last book you bought: Room by Emma Donoghue (which is also the book I'm currently reading)

4. The last book that made you cry: Harumph. Real men don't cry. My allergies were bothering me when I finished Travelling with Djinns by Jamal Mahjoub, honest.

5. The last book you borrowed: Closing the Chart: A Dying Physician Examines Family, Faith and Medicine by Steven D. Hsi, MD

6. The last book you received as a gift: Uncommon Wisdom: True Tales of What Our Lives as Doctors Have Taught Us About Love, Faith and Healing by John Castaldo, MD (thanks, Dad!)

7. The last book you found disturbing: Nadirs by Herta Müller

8. The last book you read that made you laugh: The Elephant's Journey by José Saramago

9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers

10. The last book you reread: The Plague by Albert Camus

Love this kind of listy crap.

1. The last book you gave five-stars to: The Histories by Herodotus
2. The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton and Catherine A. Liszt, but only because I threw it across the road in an unsuccessful attempt to salvage what was left of my dignity
3. The last book you bought: Darwin's Bastards by Zsuzsi Gartner (ed.)
4. The last book that made you cry: Herodotus again!
5. The last book you borrowed: Coleridge's Philosophy of Language by James C. McCusick
6. The last book you received as a gift: The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
7. The last book you found disturbing: Last Vanities by Fleur Jaeggy
8. The last book you read that made you laugh: Immortality by Milan Kundera
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee
10. The last book you reread: Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

All right, I was curious about what a book called Darwin's Bastards might be about, so I went and looked it up, and now I have one more volume on my wishlist.

Reading these kinds of lists can be fun that way.

Yes, lists are great for that.

1. The last book you gave five-stars to.
(this was the last one I gave 5 stars to which was not a reread)
The Kindly Ones It's rare for me to find a contemporary book that is 'the real thing'. This was definitely 'it'.

2. The last book you were unable to finish.
I finish everything I start. But I am having a hard time staying the course with Dostoevsky's journalism, I can tell you.

3. The last book you bought.
I bought a batch today, but the one I'm most excited about is Conundrum by Jan Morris, an account of her sex change, that I have been trying to get hold of for ages.

4. The last book that made you cry.
I don't usually cry when reading novels, but I have been known to weep copiously (especially after a few vodka martinis) on reading poetry. Anything by Keats will usually set me off. I was recently moved to tears by this Pushkin poem.

Gift haphazard, unavailing,
Life, why wert thou given to me?
Why art thou to death unfailing
Sentenced by dark destiny?

Who in harsh despotic fashion
Once from Nothing called me out,
Filled my soul with burning passion,
Vexed and shook my mind with doubt?

I can see no goal before me:
Empty heart and idle mind.
Life monotonously o'er me
Roars, and leaves a wound behind.

See there I go again. *sniff*

5. The last book you borrowed.
The Analects of Confucius: A philosophical Translation poor old Confusion....Don't know when I will get around to reading it, but it looks interesting.

6. The last book you received as a gift.
My dear LT friend polu sent me The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, which I absolutely loved.

7. The last book you found disturbing.
Again, The Kindly Ones. Like Urania, the last few pages made a huge impression, but I was more gripped by outrage than moved to tears.

8. The last book you read that made you laugh.
I chuckled the other day over a short story by R.K Narayan from Malgudi Days, whom I am reading on the side, a writer whom I fear is in the process of vanishing into obscurity. Highly recommended.

9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost):
The Levant Trilogy by Olivia Manning. Brilliant.

10. The last book you reread
Demons

>34 tomcatMurr: Thank you for bringing The Kindly Ones to my attention. (and my library carries it!)

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1. The last book you gave five-stars to-- Amongst Women
2. The last book you were unable to finish--The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
3. The last book you bought--Mrs. Dalloway--(.25 cents at a flea market!)
4. The last book that made you cry-- Super Sad True Love Story...and laugh, and laugh, and laugh
5. The last book you borrowed--I borrow all the books I read from my library.
6. The last book you received as a gift--Under the Dome
7. The last book you found disturbing--The Surrendered--currently reading--quite strong (Korean War), but I'm really starting to get into it
8. The last book you read that made you laugh--since I've already credited Super Sad--Sag Harbor!!
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost)--Death Comes for the Archbishop
10. The last book you reread--The Accidental Tourist---ahhhhhhhh

1. The last book you gave five-stars to. - I hardly ever give out stars, usually only to one-dimensional fluff that is uncomplicated enough to be rate-able in my opinion. But if I didn't give my read of Middlemarch this year five stars, I could have done without a qualm. Best. Book. Ever.

2. The last book you were unable to finish. Moby Dick. Most people in le salon know my trials concerning this one.

3. The last book you bought. The Chook Book by Jackie French (wrong touchstone). Yeah, I know.

4. The last book that made you cry. I think I might have teared up slightly at Daniel Deronda - I often get a teensy bit teary. Can't remember the last time I really wept over a book though.

5. The last book you borrowed. Lark Rise by Flora Thompson. Suprisingly enjoyable, though I haven't mentioned it on my thread because I perhaps mistakenly counted it as fluff.

6. The last book you received as a gift. Can I count The Same River Twice even though I have to send it on? Otherwise, I was given Not For Profit: why democracy needs the humanities for my birthday in May.

7. The last book you found disturbing. Mmmm, I guess The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

8. The last book you read that made you laugh. A Damsel in Distress. Wodehouse usually does it.

9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): So many different degrees of lostness - I might go for Middlemarch again.

10. The last book you reread. Aw, this one's embarrassing. I usually reread the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder every spring, because it re-connects me with an inspiration I got as a kid and reminds me of what spring is about for me. And it's spring here down under, sooo... that's what I reread last. Don't you dare laugh.

That was rather fun. :)

>36 ChocolateMuse: not laughing here! When I got my first real job after uni I started buying the Little House books one by one as I read through the whole series again. I read them about once every two years but the comfort I get from seeing them on my bookshelf all the time is worth so much more :)

PS: I also bought the Anne of Green Gables series for the same reason!

I'm not laughing either. The Little House series was a hugely important reading experience when I was a young kitten.
I read them all many times, avidly. I still remember Laura's terrible experiences as a teacher in.... The Long Winter, was it? when 'Manzo comes to fetch her home?

Should I dare to reread them, do you think?

in fact, I will share an embarrassing episode with you. when I was about 10 I decided to run away from home. I was determined to be found lying frozen in a ditch covered with leaves. That would teach them, I thought!!

The only problem was, I only had a very small suitcase. I deliberated for hours as to whether I should take the whole Little House series, or the Swallows and Amazon series. Try as I might, I could not get them all in the suitcase, and so I gave up the attempt to run away. Nothing could separate me from my books.

#39 - Now I'm laughing!

>39 tomcatMurr: - LOVE that story! You know, I don't think I ever read the Swallows and Amazon series.

>36 ChocolateMuse: - Not embarrassing at all! I still reread Anne of Green Gables every year, and all this Little House talk makes me want to dig out my copies :) We could do a group reread LOL

1. The last book you gave five-stars to: The Elements by Theodore Gray. I long for an iPad mostly for its access to this book’s enhanced e-version.

2. The last book you were unable to finish: So far I can’t get beyond page 24 of The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart. I’m in the minority and wish I did better with silly and charming.

3. The last book you bought: The Geometry of Pasta by Caz Hildebrand/Jacob Kenedy. Terrific pasta/sauce history and recipes.

4. The last book that made you cry: Nothing recent comes to mind so I’ll report Night by Elie Wiesel; my sobs woke my husband from sleep upstairs.

5. The last book you borrowed: Extraordinary Clouds by Richard Hamblyn.

6. The last book you received as a gift: The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver.

7. The last book you found disturbing: Passages in Caregiving by Gail Sheehy.

8. The last book you read that made you laugh: Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern.

9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): The one I’m reading now, Turn and Jump: How Time and Place Fell Apart by Howard Mansfield. I read a passage yesterday and thought, oh! I’ve experienced that; um yes, just a few pages beforehand, in my previous reading session, when the book had crept into me.

10. The last book you reread: The Playbook by Alex MacLean. Aerial photography of playgrounds, amusement parks, etc.

1. The last book you gave five-stars to- I rarely give five stars to anything. My last four star book was London Lavender by E.V. Lucas.

2. The last book you were unable to finish- I always try to finish any book I start. I’ve failed to do so only twice in my life. But the last book I was very much tempted to give up was The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope.

3. The last book you bought- The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

4. The last book that made you cry- A short story called The Doll’s Ghost from the book For The Blood Is The Life And Other Stories by F. Marion Crawford.

5. The last book you borrowed- The Historian (I think).

6. The last book you received as a gift- Silas Marner by George Eliot.

7. The last book you found disturbing- The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson.

8. The last book you read that made you laugh- Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock.

9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost) - Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë.

10. The last book you reread- The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays by Oscar Wilde.

43 Porua,

What an excellent and eclectic collection of lasts you have.

1. The last book you gave five-stars to. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

2. The last book you were unable to finish. I'm still working my way through Das Falsche Urteil by Hakan Nesser, but I will finish it. The last book I gave up on because I couldn't force myself to read any farther was Still Life by Louise Penny.
Please do not burn down my house.

3. The last book you bought. For full price, in hardcover, was Tana French's newest, Faithful Place. Last book purchased was To Siberia by Per Petterson

4. The last book that made you cry. Dogstown by Stefan Bechtel. Look, anything involving unhappy pets or children upsets me, alright? I know I'm being manipulated and it makes not a whit of difference.

5. The last book you borrowed. I have The Delicate Storm by Giles Blunt checked out of the library now.

6. The last book you received as a gift. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin was given to me for my birthday by a very good friend who looked through my LT catalog to find a book that I'd loved but didn't own.

7. The last book you found disturbing. Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich.

8. The last book you read that made you laugh. I Like You by Amy Sedaris

9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): The Forgery of Venus by Michael Gruber

10. The last book you reread. Ramona and Her Father by Beverley Cleary the kids and I are working our way through the Ramona books.

>45 RidgewayGirl: #10 I remember that era! Then there were all the Dahl books, the Sleator books, the Selden books...

Murrushka, I love that story. Thanks to all who are not laughing, and if Murr Himself read them repeatedly as a kitten, then I now feel fully justified in reading them still.

I would hesitate to take the responsibility of advising anyone to reread something they read and loved as a kid (or kitten) and haven't revisited since. Some bloom of magic always dies. But these books do stand up very well to rereading. The only word of warning is to keep in mind that there's a potentially offensive attitude towards 'Indians' throughout. I've seen rants of hatred elsewhere online because of it, but I believe Murr will be quite able to see it for what it is in its place and time.

I haven't even heard of the Swallows and Amazon series. I must look them up.

#47 - I would hesitate to take the responsibility of advising anyone to reread something they read and loved as a kid (or kitten) and haven't revisited since. Some bloom of magic always dies.

On the other hand, it's good to fill gaps: I never read The Wind in the Willows as a child, but now I'd put in my list of all-time favourite novels (I did have a sort of head start, though, in that one of my favourites was the dramatised version - A A Milne's Toad of Toad Hall).

#44 Thank you, urania! But having a diverse taste in books also means that it is hard for me to find many people who share my reading preferences. I like to read classics, cosy mysteries, plays and short stories. Finding people who like classics and non-violent old mysteries is hard enough. But finding people who like short stories or plays is even harder.

1. The last book you gave five-stars to.
** The Other by Thomas Tryon - as horror goes, this is what it's all about!
2. The last book you were unable to finish.
** Columbine by Dave Cullen - it was too unsettling to finish, despite my fascination with how these children became so unbalanced with so little reason
3. The last book you bought.
** The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister - read a snippet and I was hooked! Anyone who can write so seductively about food is alright in my book.
4. The last book that made you cry.
** 6991312::Twilight by Stephenie Meyer - that this passes for literature saddens me. I own the whole series, but I'm ashamed of it.
5. The last book you borrowed.
** The Devil's Cup: A History of the World According to Coffee by Stewart Lee Allen - to a coffee-enthusiast and a lover of history and cheap humor, this was fantastic!
6. The last book you received as a gift.
** The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame - one of my all-time favorite stories
7. The last book you found disturbing.
** see Columbine by Dave Cullen
8. The last book you read that made you laugh.
** see The Devil's Cup: A History of the World According to Coffee by Stewart Lee Allen
9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost):
** A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff - this was exactly the kind of feel-good novel I was looking for
10. The last book you reread.
** The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas - another one of my all-time favorites!

1. The last book you gave five-stars to - Non fiction would be Art Across Time by Laurie Schneider Adams.Fiction would be The Wasp Factory by Iain M. Banks, way back in March.

2. The last book you were unable to finish - The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas

3. The last book you bought - A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins

4. The last book that made you cry - Not many books have ever made me cry. Maybe The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman made me choke up a little as it was quite touching towards the end.

5. The last book you borrowed - The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

6. The last book you received as a gift - An Excellent Mystery by Ellis Peters, wayyy back when I was barely out of my teens. It was quite unexpectedly given to me by my mother, who
would not ordinarily buy me books since she could never guage my tastes. She picked this one up on a whim, thinking I might like it. Turns out I positively loved it. Who knew!

7. The last book you found disturbing - Engleby by Sebastien C. Faulks

8. The last book you read that made you laugh - Hmmm, not many of my books do this for me either. Oh, I have it - He's Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt. That made me both laugh out loud and cry bitter tears.

9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost) - I'm afraid it will have to be The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey.

10. The last book you reread - My perennial favourite it seems : Moby Dick by Herman Melville

1. The last book you gave five-stars to. Play Their Hearts Out: A Coach, His Star Recruit, and the Youth Basketball… by George Dohrmann

2. The last book you were unable to finish. Coercion : Why We Listen to What They Say by Douglas Rushkoff

3. The last book you bought. The Last Stand by Nathaniel Philbrick

4. The last book that made you cry. Tales from Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett

5. The last book you borrowed. The Late Show

6. The last book you received as a gift. Too Fat to Fish by Artie Lange , Anthony Bozza

7. The last book you found disturbing. Too Fat to Fish by Artie Lange , Anthony Bozza

8. The last book you read that made you laugh. Pure Drivel by Steve Martin

9. The last book you really felt you got lost in (the good kind of lost): Don't Stop the Carnival by Herman Wouk

10. The last book you reread. The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy