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    Book Suggestions

    The book you’ve owned the longest.

    I want to read recommendations based on the book you’ve owned the longest. I want that book you’ve loved so much for so long that it’s survived multiple moves and “making space” purges. It might not be your favorite anymore, but it probably was once. Or maybe it reminds you so strongly of a time in your life that you can’t bear to let it go. Is it your emotional support novel? I want to read some books that inspire lifelong love. Bonus points if you open your copy and something interesting is stuck between the pages.

    Mine is a signed copy of *Martin the Warrior* that I’ve had since I was twelve. I opened it last night and found a little flier for the bookstore where the signing was held.

    by gizmodriver

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    34 Comments

    1. Ireallyamthisshallow on

      *War of the World’s* by H.G. Wells is my longest held book. I got my current copy almost 30 years ago, and the copy itself was held by a close family member for a decade or two before that.

    2. Crendrik on

      Technically the answer is My Car by Byron Barton, which was given to me as a baby. It is falling apart because all 5 of my younger siblings and many cousins and friends have used it over the years.

      But the oldest that I might actually read for myself is a book of selected stories from the Jungle book that I was given when I was 5 years old. I remember not being allowed to read or hear a few of the stories for a few years because they were too intense.

      I haven’t had to pare down my collection yet and these ones may not survive if I have to cut much in the future but if not I do think they would be good ones to keep to read to kids if I ever have them.

      Thanks for making me think about this! Unfortunately I didn’t find anything in then when I looked.

    5. justatriceratops on

      I’m on my 3rd or 4th copy of Watership Down. The first was my dad’s copy. Now I have a fancy illustrated hardcover

    6. Betty0042 on

      I have 3 from childhood. 2 red leather-bound collections of fairy tales. 1 Hans Christian Anderson and the other Grimm. And the Secret Garden. My gram gave me all of them and I’ve read them so many times.

    7. MySpace_Romancer on

      The Phantom Tollbooth was given to me when I was around 4. There is an inscription in it from the babysitter who gave it to me. When I read it I still hear her voice.

    11. tinybutvicious on

      Summer Sisters by Judy Blume and The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. I’ve been reading them annually since the mid 90’s.

    15. ye_olde_green_eyes on

      Either:

      The Coachman Rat — David Henry Wilson

      or

      Amnesia Moon — Jonathan Lethem

      I can’t recall which I got first but it was the same year the latter came out in paperback. I loved the former as a 6th grader and still re-read it from time to time for nostalgia. Jonathan Lethem has been a fixture in my reading life ever since and I’ve read Amnesia Moon a few times now. It got me into Philip K. Dick when someone told me it was inspired partly by Solar Lottery. I’ve managed to keep both books in remarkably good condition somehow.

    17. unlovelyladybartleby on

      When I was 8, I got my great grandmother’s copy of Anne of Green Gables. It’s a second edition and she used to take it to school with her

    18. anxiousanimosity on

      Well does replacing the same book about five times count? If so The girl who loved Tom Gordon. If you mean owned the longest then It or Webster’s.

    19. Sylvermage on

      Ha! I was going to say *Mossflower*! That book has been reread so many times, the spine is a disaster, and I had to repair the front cover, it was a wreck.

      Honourable mention to Tamora Pierce’s *First Test*, though.

    20. Illustrious_Dan4728 on

      I wanna say Chicken Soup For The Teenage Soul: Tough Stuff. I’ve had it about 18/19 years. Bookmarks are all still there too

    23. bocachicalounge on

      I have 2 – currently in tatters and in a ziploc bag. The Cheerleader by Ruth Doan MacDougal and Avenging Angel by Helen Biachin (a Harlequin Romance classic). All from the 70’s

    25. SwimmingWaterdog11 on

      A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It’s a copy my Grandmother gave me when I was a girl.

    26. suhoward on

      I received a copy of The Works of Lewis Carroll from some friends of my parents on my 13th birthday. I’m 66 now. That book has seen some things…

    27. ncgrits01 on

      The paperback set of LOTR that my mom bought me in 1978 or so. They’re falling apart, so I have a newer set that I actually reread, but the old ones have a place of honor on my bookshelf.

    28. Mehitabel9 on

      I have had a four-volume Winnie-the-Pooh set (*Winnie-the-Pooh*, *The House at Pooh Corner,* *When We Were Very Young*, and *Now We are Six*) since it was given to me as a Christmas present when I was six years old. I won’t say how long ago exactly but let’s just say it’s been a while.

    32. we_gon_ride on

      The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy. I was a super broke college student when it came out but I scrounged up the money to buy it in hardcover. I’ve read that actual book at least 20 times

      ETA: I bought it in 1986

    33. Designer-Audience-38 on

      Snow Treasure
      Was one of my Dad’s favorite stories and it was also one of mine as a child. I now have his copy from the 1960’s.

    34. quik_lives on

      The Sandman graphic novels that I shoplifted from the bookstore I worked at when I was 18.

      Now I have two copies, bc I have a signed recent printing too.

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