The Last Ten Books Tag

With a long weekend stretched out before me like a glorious ocean of freedom (that takes only three days to cross — it’s not a perfect analogy), I decided to work on this tag, which has been on my to-do list since May, when Jordyn of Birdie’s Book Nook did it. It looked like so much fun, I knew I wanted to do it, too… eventually. And now it’s eventually!

THE LAST BOOK I BOUGHT

I just picked up a copy of Last Dance on Starlight Pier by Sarah Bird. It’s set in Galveston, TX during the Depression and follows a woman who gets drawn into competing in the dance marathons that were popular at the time. I’ve always found the phenomena fascinating, so I’m excited to read!

THE LAST BOOK I REREAD

That would be Anne’s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery. I’m rereading all the Anne books, and it’s so good for my soul.

THE LAST BOOK I GAVE UP ON

Annika Martin’s Return Billionaire to Sender. The other books in the series are soooo much fun, but this was a stinker, no two ways about it.

THE LAST BOOK I SAID I READ BUT DIDN’T

That would probably be something I was assigned in college. I was an English major, and I love reading (obviously), but there just wasn’t enough time in the day to read everything!

THE LAST BOOK I WROTE IN THE MARGINS OF

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke! I led a book club discussion on it for work recently, which was a welcome opportunity to reread, and I made a few notes.

THE LAST BOOK I HAD SIGNED

I received a signed copy of Rose Szabo’s We All Fall Down with my Illumicrate box this month! I hadn’t heard of it before, but it looks like a great story (and the Illumicrate edition is gorgeous).

THE LAST BOOK I LOST

I don’t think I’ve actually misplaced a book since I was 10. I did, however, “lose” Embassytown by China Miéville when I loaned a couple books to a former roommate. She gave back The Three Musketeers, but she didn’t give back Embassytown! It wasn’t worth fussing over when I moved out, but I still think about it sometimes.

THE LAST BOOK I HAD TO REPLACE

Because the above didn’t teach me my lesson, I loaned Jane Austen’s Emma to a coworker a year later, and within a week, the pandemic was in full force and we were all in lockdown. After almost another year, I still didn’t have it back and bought a new copy. She did return it eventually, but it took months for the smell of her dog to leave the pages. (Seriously, pet owners are blind to it, but dog smell gets into everything in the house. Gross.) So, yeah. I’m not loaning books anymore.

THE LAST BOOK I ARGUED OVER

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Who can keep up?! I live for a good book fight! I think the last skirmish I had was with a friend about Professor Bhaer in Little Women (I love him; she doesn’t). But we didn’t go as deep into the issue as we sometimes do.

THE LAST BOOK I COULDN’T FIND

Hm. I’m pretty good at finding a book if I really want it, so… none? Sometimes my library doesn’t have one, of course, but there’s always used book sellers. I have my ways.

This is a really fun (and easy to complete) tag, so if you want to join the fun, consider yourself tagged! Prompts are listed below.

—b

PROMPTS

• The last book I bought
• The last book I reread
• The last book I gave up on
• The last book I said I read but didn’t
• The last book I wrote in the margins of
• The last book I had signed
• The last book I lost
• The last book I had to replace
• The last book I argued over
• The last book I couldn’t find