21st Century Literature discussion

Which book(s) have you had the longest in your possession? Which book(s) have you had the shortest in your possession?
(It's about how long you've had the books, not when they were published.)

Hard to tell, but the longest is probably one of these:
Tom Reamy, San Diego Lightfoot Sue and Other Stories
James Tiptree Jr, Warm Worlds and Otherwise

I read very little science fiction in recent years. But these two are all-time favorites that have been in my library since the 80s. Tiptree is justly celebrated, but Reamy really deserves more love. I see a volume of his complete stories will be out soon, yesssss.

If we don't count e-books, the shortest is
Tim Tate, Pride: The Unlikely Story of the True Heroes of the Miner's Strike

I loved the movie, looking forward to this.

Doctor Dolittle: A Treasury by Hugh Lofting, gifted to me by my grandmother (who couldn't read) in 1967.

I have a few books from childhood. I think the oldest might be a "customized" Peter Pan book where my aunt had mine and my cousin's name inserted into the story (I believe the books were all the same, but the text could change so that the characters were named after whomever you chose). I also have a Robin Hood book my stepmom brought back from England when I was younger.

Shortest time in my possession is easy as the set of new McCarthy books just arrived in the mail yesterday (The Passenger and Stella Maris).

Tiptree is a name I'm familiar with, but not Reamy.

What a prized possession, Lark!

It hadn't occurred to me before this thread started, but I suppose everyone's "first book" (whether still in their possession or not) was likely a gift (or supplied by a school or library). This makes me smile.

I don't have anything left from early childhood, but I got interested in Wainwright's Guides to the Lakeland Fells when I was very young, and I still have the ones I was given as birthday and Christmas presents between 1974 and 1978. The complication is that the GoodReads records for those are a mess, and are mostly just the recent editions - the originals were published in the late 50s to mid 60s and were never really out of print.

The newest are the two from my Womens Prize order that arrived on Saturday: Homesick and I'm a Fan.

Mother Goose: A Collection of Nursery Rhymes. I’ve had it since I was born, and it’s the book that taught me to read at age 3.

My newest just arrived today: a pair of crowdfunded accordion books by Jackie Morris called Otter and Fox, published by Unbound. They’re beautiful and going in the same special place as the Mother Goose.

Longest in possession is likely Pookie by Ivy L. Wallace, although I have probably a hundred childhood books, maybe more.

Most recent joiner is July's People by Nadine Gordimer, recommended to me just last week by a GR friend and entered the house Saturday.

Longest in possession is Maurice Sendak's Nutshell Library, a tiny collection of 4 of his books, of which 'Chicken Soup with Rice' was my favorite. Judging by the date it may have been purchased for my older brother before he was even born, but I definitely appropriated them as one of my first acts of possessiveness.

The oldest gifted specifically to me in (call back to Lark), The Hobbit, from my Grandmother in 1971.

Most recent is Gothic: An Illustrated History, (unless you want to count ebooks, in which case it's Little Eve)

I've had a copy of Asimov's Chronology of the World: The History of the World From the Big Bang to Modern Times in my possession forever, it seems like. I can't think of many books I've owned longer than that one.

Ok. My oldest books are :
Alien Landscapes : It used to be by moms
Hallelujah Anyway : A christmas Gift from my mom when I was in High School
The Book of Morgaine : I have had this and Moon of Three Rings since high school.

My newest book is : The Fisherman.

Jennifer wrote: "Ok. My oldest books are :
Alien Landscapes : It used to be by moms
Hallelujah Anyway : A christmas Gift from my mom when I was in High School
[book:The Book of Morgain..."

How lovely to have those books from your mom Jennifer!

And I read your newest book recently. The mythology has a unique and genuinely ancient feel, and for me, it has human depth that elevates it within the genre. Hope you enjoy it!

Probably longest: Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever. I adore Richard Scarry. I remember being given this book when I was 2 1/2 years old by a friend of my parents at Christmas. He came to celebrate with us & I still remember him carrying a present wrapped in green foil paper. It was this book & he sat & read it to me after dinner. Wonderful memories.

This Richard Scarry quote is so true: “I'm not interested in creating a book that is read once and then placed on the shelf and forgotten. I am very happy when people have worn out my books, or that they're held together by Scotch tape.”

Most recent: Burning Patience, which I picked up from a Little Free Library last week.

Probably not that old compared to some of the other posts here, but I have a copy of The Canterbury Tales from my early college days in the early 90s after high school. I wished I could have kept my "choose your own adventure" novels from grade school that first got me into reading. Interesting posts all around here!

Stacia wrote: "Probably longest: Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever. I adore Richard Scarry. I remember being given this book when I was 2 1/2 years old by a friend of my parents at Christmas. He..."

I like to joke that Richard Scarry got me into doing data/infographics with all those illustrations and the labeling of everything. I don’t know what happened to my copy of Richard Scarry's Best Storybook Ever!, but I made sure our son had one when he was little.

All my choose-your-own adventure books are gone, too, Franky. [sigh]

Marc wrote: "Stacia wrote: "Probably longest: Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever. I adore Richard Scarry. I remember being given this book when I was 2 1/2 years old by a friend of my parents a..."

My childhood books are gone as well. My Dad probably got rid of them all in one of our many moves. I had these amazing encyclopedias. that I used to read and look at daily. They were about all of the ancient cultures. They were amazing and I have never been able to find them.

I have kept all the books I got for my son.