1. “The Holy Barbarians” by Lawrence Lipton – This book was mentioned in an episode of Gilmore Girls.  It wasn’t an easy book to find at the time, especially since I was living in Korea, but I tracked a copy down through a used bookseller that didn’t have a problem shipping to an APO.  I was a bit obsessed with the Beat Generation and majorly obsessed with all things Gilmore Girls; otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble of finding it.

   

2. “Memory Mambo” by Achy Obejas – After my Abuelo passed away, I began finding and buying any book that might bring me a little closer to the Cuban part of my family.
3. “Skin Trade” by Laurell K. Hamilton – I bought the hardcover when it first came out in 2009.  I was only a book or two behind in the series at the time.  Now there are 25 in the series (“Skin Trade” is #17), with the 26th due out in June of this year.  I’ve got a lot of catching up to do!
   

   

4. “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne – This book, and the next three, were bought free on my brand spanking new first generation Nook right before I deployed to Iraq in 2009.
5. “Madame Bovary” by Gustave Flaubert
6. “The Hunchback of Notre” Dame by Victor Hugo
7. “The Woman in White” by Wilkie Collins 
8. “Book Lust” by Nancy Pearl – Always a fan of books about books, as soon as I saw this offered on Nook, I snatched it up.
9. “Hiking Alone” by Mary Beath – I purchased this while on a road trip in 2011.  I had stopped for the night in Albuquerque, NM and when I got up the next morning, I realized my hotel was just across the street from the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.
10. “The Old Curiosity Shop” by Charles Dickens – I bought this from a little independent bookstore and coffee shop in Utah during that same road trip.  Their largest cup was “The Hagrid” and I’ve wished that coffee and tea shops everywhere offered “Hagrid”-sized drinks ever since.

It is now a goal of mine to clear these off my TBR this year.  What are some of the oldest books on your shelf?