I spotted an interesting Book Meme over on Incurable Logophilia the other day which isn’t just one of those “tick which of the following books you’ve read ones” but has a little more to it than that.

The book that has been on your shelves the longest

The book that I have owned for the longest, and still own, is a copy of Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway tree, which I got when I was 5. It was the first book I ever read for pleasure.

a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time, etc.)

This one is a little trickier: when I think about books I tend to think about the stories in them, rather than the circumstances surrounding them. However, I think that The Belgariad, with the adventures of Garion, Ce’Nedra, Silk and the others, probably has to be the one — during my wife’s pregnancy with our first child, I read this series aloud to her.

a book you acquired in some interesting way (gift, serendipity in a used bookstore, prize, etc.):

Victoria Beckham’s autobiography ‘Learning to Fly’. I was watching an England match in 2002 which, as it turned out, England needed to at least draw in order to qualify automatically for the World Cup. Three minutes into injury time at the end of the match, England were losing 2-1. They got a free kick 30 yards from goal, and as David Beckham stepped up to take it, I said to the pub in general, “listen David mate, if you can score this one, I’ll buy your wife’s book”. He did, so I did.

the most recent addition to your shelves:

It was a book called somethiing like “The biggest book of rude adult jokes” which was in one of those discount bookshops, and it only cost £2. It’s actually been a few weeks since I’ve bought any books, which is somewhat unusual for me. I’ve actually been forcing myself to read the stuff that has been sitting on my shelves that I’d not yet got around to.

the book whose loss would traumatize you the most

Does this mean “if I lost my copy of X” or “if X was deleted from history”? The “if I lost my copy” answer relates to an old family Bible (printed around 1810 if I recall correctly) as this is the only book I can think of that has sentimental value in that copy; and I wouldn’t know where to begin on the “deleted from history” one…

a book that’s been with you to the most places:

Well, this could be stuff that I’ve taken on holiday, or something I’ve otherwise carried around with me a lot. I’m not really sure, but my best bet is probably the Lord of the Rings, as I know I took that on honeymoon, I’ve taken it to the lake district, and every house I’ve lived in since about age 8 has had a copy of it.

a bonus book that you want to talk about but doesn’t fit into the other questions:

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, for two reasons. Firstly, I reached around behind me and placed my hand on the bookshelf and, without looking, extracted this book. Secondly, once selected by this manner, it struck me as noteworthy anyway as one of my favourite books —
The Riddle and the Knight — is a book about this book.