Unread books

I have this annoying habit where I buy books and then don't read them. Some of the time I don't even want the book in question, I just pick it up because it's on offer, or I need to complete an offer (Waterstone's 3 for 2, anyone?), so I just buy the book for the sake of it. And it sits there on my shelf, looking longingly at me every time I'm looking for a new book to read, saying "pick me! Pick me!" like we're on some sort of school sports team and I'm the captain. Anyway. I buy the books and they take up space on my shelves and I don't really want them but am never able to give them to charity or anything because I've not read them yet and I'd feel too cruel.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've put together a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days, and one of the items on that list is to read all the unread books on my shelf. I'm going to make a list of them here so I can keep track, and maybe you guys can recommend what I should read first? Or second, or third, or... twenty-fifth? Ha. I don't know how many there are, but let's get started:

• Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
• Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
• Persuasion - Jane Austen
• Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
• Babel Tower - A.S. Byatt
• Women - Charles Bukowski (half read, never finished)
• Life of Pi - Yann Martel (started, never finished)
• The Periodic Table - Primo Levi
• Complete Short Fiction - Oscar Wilde
• One Flew over the Cukoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
• Paradise Lost - John Milton
• The Divine Comedy - Dante (read 'Inferno', but not the other two parts)
• Marley and Me - John Grogan
• Just Kids - Patti Smith
• A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
• Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K. Jerome
• Modern Baptists - James Wilcox
• SCOOP - Evelyn Waugh
• Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman - E.W. Hornung
• The Diary of a Nobody - George and Weedon Grossmith
• Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
• Mapp and Lucia - E.F Benson
• Lucky Jim - Kingsley Amis
• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
• Casino Royale - Ian Fleming
• The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov (started but never finished)
• Go Tell it on the Mountain - James Baldwin
• Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie
• Treasure Island - Daniel Defoe
• Robinson Crusoe - Robert Louis Stevenson
• Ulysses - James Joyce
• The Long Song - Andrea Levy
• Songs of the Humpback Whale - Jodi Picoult

Then there's a large selection of poetry books that I dip in and out of occasionally, so I won't list them. So in total I own 33 books (excluding poetry collections) that I've never read. Oops. At least they'll contribute to my reading goals etc...

Wow. Now I've made this list I feel bad about even considering buying new books. I would say I won't buy any more until I've read everything on this list, but I shouldn't make promises I won't keep!

Book habits

I'm sure everyone has some strange book-related habits, so I thought I'd share a few of mine.

I've recently started buying books second hand from charity shops. Normally I like my books to be new so I can make them mine. But there is a certain kind of pleasure from rescuing a book left on the shelf of a charity shop and giving it a new home. My most recent purchases (THE HISTORY OF LOVE and CAT'S EYE) were both charity shop buys, and cost me the grand total of £3.50 for both - two books for roughly half the full RRP of one. So that was also pretty satisfying, given my current lack of income...

But going back to books left on shelves. If I'm ever in a bookshop where I see one of my favourite books (or worse, a charity shop where someone has given away one of my favourite books), I always have to fight the urge to buy another copy and give it a good home. For example: when I was buying THE HISTORY OF LOVE and CAT'S EYE the other day, I also saw a copy of NORWEGIAN WOOD on the shelves (film cover, bleugh), which is one of my favourite books EVER, and I really wanted to buy this copy of N.W. just because it made me sad that it wasn't wanted. But I didn't buy it, and clearly I can't start doing so, because otherwise I'll end up with tens of copies of certain books that I really love.

I also have an annoying habit of buying books that I don't really want. I've got a couple of books that I've moved over to the flat as sort of 'back-up' reads. My books aren't over there yet because I've not moved in, so they're with me in my parents' house, but there's always the risk that I'll be over at the flat for a while on my own (daytime while boyfriend's at work) and I'll run out of something to read. So I have these books there because I know I won't actively choose to read them when faced with other options. I should just give them to charity, but who knows. Maybe one day.

And then, of course, there's those books you mean to read and don't get round to. For me at the minute it's ULYSSES. I got a cheap copy last summer and have been meaning to read it for ages (even before I bought it), but am put off by its length and difficulty. However, I have progressed to the stage where I've got it down from my shelves and it's now living by my bed, so maybe soon I'll take the plunge...

Also, I always fold down page corners rather than using bookmarks. Sorry.

What are your strange book habits? And should I bother reading ULYSSES, after all?

Dresses. Pretty, pretty dresses.

Well you all seemed quite interested in my off-topic, "I don't understand clothes" post the other day.

I nearly had to post a follow-up. My boyfriend got me a ticket to a summer ball that they're having at his university, and my first thought was "oh god, what am I going to wear?!"

But actually, I got really lucky. I was feeling a bit rubbish yesterday so decided to head into the city to clear my head and get some fresh air... and I came home with a dress. It's really pretty, and it was only £20! (And it's got the boyfriend's approval, so it's nice to know I won't look like a fool...)

I'm not one to put photos of myself up all over the place, but I might make an exception, because I'm really excited about it. And I'm kind of proud of myself for solving this dilemma all by myself. Normally I drag my mum out... or rather, she drags me out and I get stressed because I can't find anything I like, or I feel really fat in everything, or they don't have the right size, or.... well, you get the picture. I'm not good at buying dresses, let's put it that way.

I will probably need some clothes advice soon though. I'm starting a work experience placement at a literary agency in London on Monday, and have NO idea what to wear. It's complicated by the fact that there's a party in the evening... Ugh. I'm really excited about it though. I'd done quite a lot of work in literary agencies last year, and so it'll be nice to get back into the office, you know?

All that aside, this is my pretty dress. Isn't it lovely.

(Apologies for the bad-quality photo. My housemate took it for me on my phone. That's a comment on my phone's quality as a camera, rather than my housemate's quality as a photographer, by the way...)

(Also, apologies for my horrendously smelly slippers that are trying to get in on the action. They're not the prettiest things in the world, are they.)

Off-topic

This post has nothing to do with books, publishing, or anything else literature-related. Just sayin'.

...And on with the show.

I have a good friend, who I've known since secondary school, who told me at the start of the year that this would be the year she would reinvent herself. I asked her what she meant, and she said that she needed a new look. Now, at the time I was slightly puzzled by this. I didn't see anything wrong with her old look. But recently, I'm starting to get it.

You know that feeling when you get up in the morning and you feel like you've got nothing to wear? Well that's how I'm feeling at the minute. Except it's pretty much every day that I'll be feeling like this. I'm not a vain person, really. I don't spend hours planning my outfits and then hours getting ready. But I like to look good, you know?

I should mention that I'm also not, uh, the most fashion-savvy person in the world. My sister, well, I think she got the fashion genes. Or jeans, if you will. (Haha, Emily you're so funny. Yeah, I know. Thanks guys!)

ANYWAY. Essentially I'm at a stage in my life where I feel like I want to give my look a major overlook. By which I mean my wardrobe, not the rest of me. I'm just coming to the end of university, and since I've been here my wardrobe has consisted mainly of hoodies and the thickest jumpers I can find. Jeans that may or may not fit properly. And, er, that's about it. I don't know how to layer my clothes so that they look good, and I don't know how to accessorise properly. I own like, two belts (er, and a couple that don't fit me, and should probably be thrown away..!). I don't have any 'fashion jewellery'. My wardrobe is, in a word, boring.

Now, bearing in mind that I don't have much money at the minute, what do you think would be a good starting point with my wardrobe? I'm thinking maybe some cute accessories. Some jewellery, maybe. Long necklaces and bracelets, I always think they look cute - on other people, but not me, for some reason. I dunno. I should also probably go through and throw out anything that doesn't fit and/or I haven't worn for over a year...

And if you guys have any tips... I'd be thrilled. This fashion-challenged chica needs all the help she can get!

Countdown...

OK, I should probably let you know that I'm pretty excited at the minute.

Why, you ask?

Because the new (last?) book in Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children series is out in a week! According to Amazon, the fifth book in the series, The Shelters of Stone, came out in 2002, 2003-ish. I'm not sure about that, because I'm sure I read the fifth book in hardback, borrowed from a friend, just after it came out. And I don't think I was reading this series at the age of twelve or thirteen.

ANYWAY. That aside, the point is that I've been waiting YEARS(!!!) for this book.

With the obvious exception of the Harry Potter series, I've never really had to wait for a specific book to be released. Probably because I'm a little slow on the uptake, and by the time I get round to reading a series, the final book has already been released. (I did that earlier in the month with Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games series...). And while I did have to wait a little while for the later Harry Potter books, it was only ever a year or two at a time.

So. After a wait of about eight years, I'm looking forward to getting a copy of The Land of Painted Caves. But, of course, I'm starting to worry about it too. What if the book doesn't live up to my expectations? What if the ending is terrible? What if my favourite character(s) die? What if everybody dies? I guess I'll find out soon enough..!

What is the longest you've ever waited for a new book to come out? What was it? Was it worth it? Tell me your tales of anticipation and (hopefully not) disappointment...

Book-haul

My name is Emily Smith, and I'm a bookaholic.

There, I said it.

After the Orange Prize for Fiction longlist was announced yesterday, I spent a lot of the afternoon thinking about books. I'll be honest - I didn't have much else to do. So it got to mid-afternoon and I started getting a bit twitchy and restless, so I decided to go into town. Except "town" for me (90% of the time) means "bookshop". And so I made my way down to the local bookshop, braving a bus full of small children which were having some sort of screaming contest, and picked up a nice selection to add to my TO READ pile.

From top to bottom:
The Swimmer - Roma Tearne
Grace Williams Says it Loud - Emma Henderson
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
The Long Song - Andrea Levy.




*Note: I only bought the top 3 yesterday. They were on a 3 for 2 deal, so I got The Book Thief as well because I've heard a fair bit about it recently. I got The Long Song a couple of weeks ago in my last book-haul. I bought Room at the same time, and then a couple of days later bought all of The Hunger Games trilogy. That was a good week.

**Note: This is only the most recent additions to my TO READ pile. Lots of them are at home, rather than with me at university, which makes me sad. Other than these, I think I've only got two other books on my bookshelves here that I haven't read yet, which makes me feel slightly nervous.

I started reading The Swimmer last night. I'm about 80 pages in now, and am enjoying it so far. My initial impressions were that it's got a great cover, and that it could do with a slightly larger font size. I won't go into my thoughts on the novel itself just yet; that's something for another day. I'm off to do a bit more reading now, before some pre-birthday celebrations with my housemates, hooray!