Katharine Graham's Biography. My sis gave it to me, about five years ago. I try it because I think I should read it and find myself turned off (I don't do bios well). It still sits ther.

Oh, T.R. Pearson? Love his books. Like DuFresne, I always imagine Pearson's narrator sitting on an old rocker on the porch, beer can in hand, telling stories as only the southerner story teller can tell. Speaking of which - I wonder if DuFresne has a new one out.....

Shakespeare?

I've had a full set since I was at University, and I think I've read only two or three of his plays.

So that would be over thirty years on the TBR list.

Come to that, I've had a Bible (the same one!) since I was eleven, and I haven't read all of that either - that would be over forty years.

But perhaps that's cheating.

I think what you mean is a book you buy, with real intentions of reading it - and it never quite suits you. Then suddenly, you realize you've owned it for several years and never opened it. I had a copy of Gone With the Wind on my shelves for about ten years (but that's a guess!). I'd picked it up in a second-hand book shop and thought "I must read that!". Finally, I did - and I loved it!

Nearer, My God by Buckley. This was on my Christmas list the year it came out...1997...and my son bought it for me. I read a page or two...but that was a busy family year and it was much too erudite to squeeze in between graduations, weddings and a first grandchild.

I have books in my TBR pile that I don't even remember buying, and now there are so many of them I'd be hard pressed to figure out which one has been there the longest.

I did just pull A Wrinkle in Time from the depths of the pile, and I know that's been there since before my DS was born, so easily a decade.

Martin, I also have a lovely Shakespeare, red leather bound with gilt edges that I've never opened. The plays and sonnets that I have read were read from paperbacks in college. It's just nice to know I have a copy should I suddenly decide I have to read it :)

Ok, Cindy, I'll give T.R. Pearson a shot. I just needed a little encouragement, thanks!

Moby Dick is the winner in my TBR pile. I bought it at least a dozen years ago, not once but twice. Why I thought having two copies would help me read it, I don't know.

To be honest, I'm so afraid of touching my TBR stacks in case they fall over that I'm not sure what's been there the longest, and I'm scared to look.

I faithfully kept my college lit textbooks, including the Complete Works of Shakespeare, and they are nicely put away on shelves. It's been nearly 30 years now, but at any moment I may decide to continue to improve my mind. That's opposed to entertaining it.

Dictionary of the Khazars: A Lexicon Novel by Milorad Paviæ since 1984.

carolyn I have you beat. Not really 'to be read' shelf because I had to read them many years ago, but I have some of my high school text books. I graduated 33 years ago...One in particular is The Western Experience which I used to pull down now and then for basic info on a new topic. Haven't touched it in years. I also have a drama text Commedia del Arte, and a English AP text Language in Thought and Action by SI Hiyakawa; I keep both because they really influenced my way of thinking (btw I abhor Hiyakawa's politics, but this book I read before I knew that, and honestly its one of the best books about how the use of language influences your thought that I have ever read.)

I finally got rid of all of my college textbooks, some 30 years old. Kept them on the idea that I might still get some use out of them . Finally realize that that only use I'd get is some very outdated knowledge. Out they went.

I just gave my high school Latin books to my daughter-in-law to teach my homeschooled grandchildren. Don't know why I have kept them for 42 years, but they were certainly unread.

I have no idea which book might be the oldest but I do have 3 bookcases with different assortmens of TBR's. The one by my bed has the most likely to be read next IF I don't have library books to read. That's a very rare occasion because I always find too many books at the library. In the 2 bookcases here in our computer/project room are our favorites that we never want to be without. (We both actually sell and give away most books after we read them.) There are a good 20- 30 books mixed in there that we mean to read someday, but not anytime soon! And in the guest room are a large number of hardbound books that were gifts or that one of us had to own when it 1st came out. The other one of us MIGHT read them so we didn't give them away, and now the bookstores don't want the hardbound. I doubt they will ever be read again.

Like some of you, I have entires shelves of TBR books, on all subjects. I am amused to not be the only one hanging on to college text books! I dare not get rid of my art history books, and once in a while I use them for reference. But even funnier (to me) is that I cannot bring myself to part with my old, beat-up high school Latin text book. I had 3 years of Latin and forgot most of it, but somehow, it does not seem like a "dead" language to me....

Veronicae - Your comment about giving your highschool Latin textbooks to your DIL gave me pause. A couple of years ago my grandson (he was 8 yrs old at the time) asked his Mom if he could please learn Latin. DD was totally surprised by his question and asked him "Why?". He said he had been reading about the Romans on line, and it said many languages were based on Latin. "So I figured, if I learn Latin, then I'll know all the other languages, too."

Unfortunately, there is no one in their liitle rural town who teaches Latin. I KNEW I should have kept those darn highschool books!
Does anyone remember this little ditty?

Latin is a dead language
As dead as it can be
First it killed the Romans
Now its killing me

Not that I think Latin is a dead language, but I certainly remember chanting that verse with gusto in highschool.

The "in" thing to do with our Latin textbook...be it First, Second or Third Year Latin, was to cross out Latin and write Confusion.

thyrkas If your grandson is still interested, there are a lot of books on Amazon for teaching Latin to children... although speaking it might be hard...many have pronounciation guides, and the opportunity to learn the vocabulary would be a great asset. (One daughter-in-law was a Greek/Latin major at a Jesuit university...so I guess we probably, in this day and age, have one of the most Latin saturated families in the US!)

I recently bought a Latin crossword puzzle book...part of my Programming of keeping my mind sharp as I approach the "elder"years

I have just finished The Whistling Season by Toig...and the young boy is learning Latin - tutored by the teacher in his one room schoolhouse. "Go to the root." the teacher keeps saying. Three of my four children took Latin...and I feel it really helped their vocabulary. The fourth chose Russian as he was in the honors program and had that choice. But living in a house with 5 who had studied Latin, I think he picked up the vocabulary benefit by osmosis.

whoops

I took Latin in HS for one semester, in hopes that the vocabulary would help me in science, as I wanted to be a nurse. One week as a candy striper kicked that dream out the window, but I stuck with the class. What I learned has helped me all my life in reading, in figuring out words. Its also helped me with later Spanish classes. So it wasn't a waste of time.

Karalk,
Ugh... this is a touchy subject! I am a "stocker". I cannot just have one or two unread books in the house. No. I must be prepared for a Cat 5 hurricane or a major Nor'easter to strand us for weeks on end. I've got STACKS and BOXES and PILES and storage containers under the bed of unread books. The oldest have been there for about 20 years, but I've been adding to these reserves exponentially in the past few months. It's touchy touchy touchy... because for every one I read, I end up adding a few more and DH is not a reader. Sometimes, as he views the growing piles, he is not DH, but rather, he becomes GH (grumpy husband) or VGH (VERY grumpy husband). But I gotta be me...

PAM

Cindy, my daughter took Latin her last year of HS because she planned to be a nurse, which she is, and she also says it has helped her a lot in daily life.

She could also figure out a little Greek when we went on a trip there, saying it was amazing that being a little sister to a fraternity had paid off language-wise.

twobigdogs.....When I asked this question originally I was for some reason assuming that everyone could glance at their TBR pile/shelf and come up with an answer. (I can, I only have about 50, which fill 2 small shelves.)
Now I see that, when some of you venture into that beloved pile, you have to tie a rope around your waists to make sure you come out again! This has given me this wonderful vindication to BUY MORE BOOKS!

karalk...I have at least 100 books on my TBR shelves, and then others randomly spaced around the house. I am working through the pile...but I keep buying, so I think I am just barely keeping my head above water! The real beginning of the pile was when I used to go to the library, and I had to read those books before their due date, and the bought books just got put aside. And if I am bad about buying books, you should see what I bring home when they are free.

karalk, the number of books on my TBR shelves is small compared to most readers I know! But then I try not to keep them long. I go through them a couple of times a year. If I haven't picked it up or even considered it for a year, its in the trade pile. If I look at it and just know I want to read it, back it goes. Which is why the Grahm bio just sits there.

Pam, my DH reads, but no where near as much as I do, and he doesn't keep his books. So the books on our shelves are mine. He doesn't care. He has his own passion - he has a few collections that take up considerable space. So if he has anything to say about my books, I know what I'll be pointing at...

>saying it was amazing that being a little sister to a fraternity had paid off language-wise.

Ha! One of my best friends was a little sister when we were in college. I never had interest in the Greek stuff, but I did go with her to a few functions and because I was with her, and they treated her like a queen, it was tons of fun!

"So if he has anything to say about my books, I know what I'll be pointing at... "
cindy, I like your attitude! My husband has a boat... same deal. I just point to that "hole in the water where people dump money".

"And if I am bad about buying books, you should see what I bring home when they are free. " Veronica, that is so funny that I had to wipe the coffee off of my computer screen when I read it! I am WITH YOU ON THIS ONE.

Another HUGE "problem" is when the $5 a bag day at the library book sale. I have a BIGGGG bag.
PAM

Mt. TBR is scattered on shelves throughout the house, and I've lost track on how long some have been there. They vary from a few weeks to several years. Just a few months ago I finally read Evangeline Walton's retelling of the Mabinogion quartet, that had been sitting unread for over 30 years! since I bought it in 1975 for its Bob Pepper covers during Ballantine's fantasy craze. Now I'm reading another from Mt TBR that's been there about 15 years. I'm trying not to buy anything else until I wear that mountain down, but I'm weak! weak! I broke down and got a new shipment from Amazon a few weeks ago.