Last Book Given to You?

[Dori]

I was just thinking (strangely enough!), if we have a "last book you bought" thread, why not a "last book given to you" thread? So I started one. :D The topic is self-explanatory, but I will insult everyone's intelligence for just a moment. What was the last book given to you? And from whom did you receive it?

Just this evening my youth pastor gave me a brand new Bible (NIV - New International Version). I had only previously owned the King James Version of the Bible.

[EricP]

My ex-girlfriend gave me a copy of Jonathan Safran Foer's "Everything Is Illuminated" last year when we were still together. The movie didn't impress me, but maybe I'll read it at some point.

[Dori]

My ex-girlfriend gave me a copy of Jonathan Safran Foer's "Everything Is Illuminated" last year when we were still together. The movie didn't impress me, but maybe I'll read it at some point.

Last year!? :eek:

I probably get free books bi-monthly.

[Dark Muse]

Acutally the last book that was given to me was by one of the members of this forum. djy78usa saw me mention how I really wanted to read A Clockwork Orange, but could never find a copy when I looked in my local bookstores, and so he offered to send me a copy of the book.

[Bakiryu]

My other gave me a novella about a week ago.

[Logos]

The one that is mentioned in my sigline :D

[thelastmelon]

My boyfriend gave me Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood just a few weeks ago. It was a Birthday present, just a little late. :)

[papayahed]

The last time someone gave me a book to read and return? or the last time someone just gave me a book to keep?

read and retrun - a couple month ago a coworker gave me 3 Star Trek books written by Shatner.

gave to keep - Last Christmas I received the Portable Dorthy Parker and Von Braun something something something.

[slobone]

I got the Noel Coward Diaries and the latest volume of Richardson's Picasso biography for Christmas (needless to say, I asked for them)...

[PeterL]

Christmas of 2006, a relative gave me a copy of endymion by Dan Simmons. It was horrible.

[patrickbeverley]

My gran gave me Seven South African Poets a couple of weeks ago.

[kelby_lake]

I was lended Rebecca

[kasie]

Cranford - Elizabeth Gaskell - in March for my birthday. My friend knew I had enjoyed the splendid BBC adaptation of it and must have surrepticiously scanned my shelves to see if I had a copy. Or perhaps I told her I had read it years ago but had borrowed it from the library (and so couldn't lend it to her, which was possibly why she asked in the first place!)

Do book tokens count? I was given Amazon tokens by someone who knows better than to second-guess which books I've read/would like to read. I used them to buy a copy of the RSC Complete Works of Shakespeare - the old one was falling to bits.

[Erichtho]

Last year!? :eek:

I probably get free books bi-monthly.

Lucky you.

I think the last book I was given was an encyclopaedia by my grandparents as Christmas present. More than people giving new books to me I really would like to receive a few books back that I lent.

[LadyW]

The Interpretation of of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld
My teacher has lent it to me for a while; does this count? :)

[Dori]

In starting this thread, it was my initial intention that people list the books that were given to them as gifts or just for free to keep. However, for the sake of this thread's survivability, I suppose borrowed books count as well. Who am I to make these judgements anyway? :p

[Sarasvati21]

My father gave me an online gift certificate to Amazon.com for my last birthday, and I still hadn't used all of it. So, with it, I got "Hal Leonard Pocket Music Theory: A Comprehensive and Convenient Source for All Musicians" and "Music Theory: A Practical Guide for All Musicians" the other day. I suppose that he didn't give them to me directly, but close enough, yeah? ;)

[kasie]

... More than people giving new books to me I really would like to receive a few books back that I lent.

Oh, oh, that sounds like the regrets of a sadder and a wiser man! :D

[Loike]

The last book that I received was The Orange Girl by Jostein Gaarder, from a man I'd met at a party about a month before. I haven't read it yet. Haha.

And I don't really like that book being listed as the last one I've received, so I'm going to pretend that it isn't - "hurrah!" for self-delusion - and that The Brothers Karamazov is, which I received as a Christmas present in 2005 - wow; that was so long ago! :( - from a tutor at the high school I attended at the time.

I love that book.

*Sigh*.

xx

[grace86]

The last book I was given was quite a nice surprise. Last week I checked my mail and the post man left a card saying a package was left for me in my manager's office. I hadn't been expecting a package so I went to the office...and it was a book called "In the Field," a devotional book on missions trips by Foursquare members. The woman in charge of my Guatemala trip sent it to me. It was all wrapped in brown paper and addressed with Sharpie. What a nice surprise!

[kiki1982]

The last one I received was the last one of Saramago The Siege of Lisbon. Is that right? Because it was in Dutch as I am a dutchspeaker... From my parents for my birthday. I don't get often books from other people and I rather don't actually, because they never buy anything nice... The people I know anyway. They just pick up the first and most popular book in the shop... How dissapointing...:(

A student gave me something earlier, though, which was very thoughtful! He's marketing manager and gave me a book his company (health insurance) gives to people who are pregnant. A baby, how does it work? I was really chuffed with it. :)

[ctalerico]

Encyclopedia of Urban Legends by Jan Harold Brunvand. New York: Norton, 2001 (paper). Given to me by life-long friend and frat brother, Steve, when he visited last month.

[Trystan]

It was a book about Nietzsche by Walter Kaufmann that I had for Christmas.

[Dori]

As a part-time worker at my own school (I'm a janitor for the summer! :D), I was able to take advantage of acquiring several books that were going to be discarded by the High School Library. I came out with my arms full--in my arms were:

The Riverside Shakespeare (his collected works)
The Passions of the Mind: A Biographical Novel of Sigmund Freud by Irving Stone (one of my favorite authors!!!)
The New Webster Deluxe Reference Library (4 volumes)
Representative American Speeches ed. by Lester Thonssen (2 volumes: 1960-1961 & 1962-1963)
The Age of Louis XIV by Will and Ariel Durant

:D

[Tersely]

My husband bought and gave me a hardback collect of George Orwell. He's been on my I-need-to-read-this list for awhile.

[djy78usa]

My grandmother recently gave me a first edition of "The Winged Horse Anthology" and The Player's Illustrated Edition of "The Histories and Poems of Shakespeare" that she found while cleaning her attic. "The Winged Horse Anthology" has since become one of my favorite poetry collections. It covers many of the most beloved poets in history going back as early as Chaucer, and ending with Léonie Adams.

[papayahed]

I was given four books for Christmas:

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
The Heroin Diaries A year in the life of a shattered Rockstar by Nikki Sixx
I wanna be your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert
American Lion Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham

[Akeldama]

My parents bought me an Amazon Kindle for my birthday this October. So, in a way, they've given me the gift of thousands of books (besides the "paying" part of it all...blech).

[Dori]

Masters of the Battlefield by Julian Thompson, given to me by my grandma.

[Dr. Hill]

Seven books.

A book of Love Poems by Lord Byron
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
The American by Henry James
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

All at the same time so I can't discern which was first (or last, rather).

[Dark Muse]

For the Yuletide I just got The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie

[Alexei]

One of my Christmas gifts was "A History of Advertising" by Stéphane Pincas and Marc Loiseau, it's one of Taschen's editions. I've almost started collecting them :D

[prendrelemick]

"Shakespeare" by Bill Bryson. A Christmas present from my daughter.

[Jeremiah Jazzz]

My love gave me Pnin and Look at the Harlequins both by Vladimir Nabokov for Christmas. I gave her Stevenson's Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde hehe

[Caspa]

For Christmas I received a signed copy of Irvine Welsh's new novel, 'Crime'. Not too sure when I'll get around to reading it though, my reading list is already massive and ever expanding. Think I'll save it for a holiday read this Summer.

[Caspa]

One of my Christmas gifts was "A History of Advertising" by Stéphane Pincas and Marc Loiseau, it's one of Taschen's editions. I've almost started collecting them :D

That's a great book!

[Remarkable]

The last book that I received was The Orange Girl by Jostein Gaarder, from a man I'd met at a party about a month before. I haven't read it yet. Haha.



Actually,it is a wondeful book!I absolutely adore it,it's what I tell everyone to read:D!You should definitely read it the soonest possible...

The last book I recieved is "The Institute of Time Regulation" by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpynar.My uncle gave it to me:he said it was a very good read.Maybe that is because he translated it in our language,but I'm loving that book this far.Eastern literarture is undoubtely rising fastly and beautifully...

[Pecksie]

Tolstoy's correspondence, my Mum's Christmas present to me :) Seems such a gorgeous book, I'm saving it for my holidays!

[thelastmelon]

For Christmas, my boyfriend gave me Tales Of Beedle The Bard by J.K. Rowling, which I was very happy about. And my aunt gave me Till dess din vrede upphör by Åsa Larsson. It's in the Rebecka Martinsson series (the fourth book), and came out in Sweden during 2008, so there's no English title yet. And she also gave me This Is All: the Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn by Aidan Chambers. :)

[xlxlauraxlx]

I got quite a few books given to me at once including the women in white by Wilkie Collins, which I am looking forward to reading :)

[Alexei]

That's a great book!

I definitely agree with you :D I haven't given it the attention that it deserves yet, but I've taken a look. The result was: :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:

[Zee.]

For christmas, because i love American History,
" The significance of the Frontier in American History " = Frederick Jackson Turner - it's a penguin, "great ideas" book.

[sixsmith]

A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole.

[Remarkable]

I got three books this far for New Year and more are on the way,or so I have been told...

"Masses and Power"(both volumes)by Elias Canetti

"A Short History of the Future" by Jacques Attali

[twilight661]

The pukeworthy Eragon.

[Vincent Black]

For Christmas I was given the Art of War.

[faithalina]

I received On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan for Christmas...beautiful book...distressing, but beautiful none-the-less.

Also, Tales of Beedle the Bard, Collector's edition - from my beloved.

[Joreads]

I received On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan for Christmas...beautiful book...distressing, but beautiful none-the-less.

Also, Tales of Beedle the Bard, Collector's edition - from my beloved.

Is that a new Ian McEwan?

[*Classic*Charm*]

Is that a new Ian McEwan?

No, that's J.K. Rowling's latest HP spinoff for charity.

My cousin gave me Shakespeare on Love for Christmas. It's a compilation of selections of the best verses on love.

[faithalina]

Is that a new Ian McEwan?

On Chesil Beach is McEwan's latest. A very quick and engaging read. I really enjoy his writing...he's very honest and real, about horrible things, but in a very elegant manner.

[S.MacConmidhe]

A friend gave me Cat's Cradle recently. I started reading it the other day, would have finished it if life didn't interupt me. Anyway, it is much as expected and on par with other Vonnegut work I've read, ie. very good.

[OzBlackman]

I got Tree of Smoke, by Denis Johnson, for Christmas this year from my sister.