BOOK THOUGHTS
Seven Deadly Sins
What "sinful" books are hiding on your shelves? Here's my collection:
PRIDE: a big or challenging book
The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats. It took me years to get through this poetical doorstop. I struggled with a lot of the poems, especially the earlier ones. But I am proud to have accomplished the task of finally finishing it.
GREED: a book you own in more than one edition
Officers and Gentlemen by Evelyn Waugh. I love Waugh, Graham Greene, and Kingsley Amis and have several duplicate editions of their books because I pick them up when I find an unusually nifty edition. Same goes for Agatha Christy, Charles Dickens, Alexandre Dumas, and a few other classic authors. And I confess to owning several copies of Wind in the Willows.
LUST: a book you bought for its cover
A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict by John Baxter. I didn’t actually buy this myself, but my friend saw the lust in my eyes when I found it and she bought it for me as a surprise.
WRATH: a book you did not enjoy
The Magus by John Fowles. I have enormous tolerance for most books, but this one – NO! I always identify it as my least favorite book. Pompous nitwits running around a stupid island playing games with each other! And all the time spouting humanistic gobblygook about the death of God, or whatever they were prattling on about. I was shocked to find it hiding on my shelf because I thought I gave it away years ago.
GLUTTONY: a book you would reread
The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. I’ve only recently started rereading and have so many I’d like to revisit. This one is near the top of my list and was first to hand. My book club read it about ten years ago, on my suggestion, and most people didn't like it. I did and it is a classic Golden Age mystery. I'd like to read it again.
ENVY: a book you’d want to live in
All in One Basket: Nest Eggs by Deborah Devonshire. Debo was the youngest of the Mitford Sisters and my favorite. Ever since I read her memoir, Wait for Me! I've wanted to be her. I have this one and a couple of other book by or about her to feed my fantasy.
SLOTH: a book that’s been on your TBR shelf forever
The Country Girls Trilogy by Edna O’Brien. There are over 2,000 books on my TBR shelves, so I didn’t even try to find the one that’s been there the longest. There are some that have been there since I was in college in the 1980s! This one calls the loudest to me.
NOTES
If you like the idea of this challenge, please play along, on your blog or social media. If you've already done it, please let me know. Either way, please leave a comment with a link to your post so I can find it.
