Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Ten Books Sitting On My Shelves Unread


Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted at The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is Ten Books That Have Been On Your Shelf (Or TBR) From Before You Started Blogging That You STILL Haven't Read Yet. I started blogging in 2007 and I honestly have no sense of time, but I doubt I have many books still sitting around that long because I don't tend to keep books. But I do have some unread books on my shelves that I really should have read by now so I'll list those!

1. The Winds of War and War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk
I'm listing these first because I know I've had them since 2000-2001 which is definitely pre-blog. They were a gift from a boyfriend and I read about half of The Winds of War and stopped for some reason even though it was very good, and I don't know how to come back from that. It's like 900 pages and I'll have to start over and that's a lot to re-read. I keep thinking these books would be great fodder if I were trapped somewhere for a long period of time.

2. The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
I bought this whole series for my mother and after she died I took them back. I've read two and just need to read the third. I loved the first two and I have no idea why I wait so long between them.

3. House of the Dead/Poor Folk by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
I was on a Dostoyevsky kick once, and got as far as buying this volume of two short novels but still haven't read it.

4. No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah Maclean
I snagged this from the library book sale after reading Never Judge a Lady By Her Cover. Then I also bought the ebook of A Rogue By Any Other Name and read that first. Then she released a new book called The Rogue Not Taken, which starts a new series and now I want to read that next.

5. Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix
This was an impulse buy on a trip to St. Louis a couple of years ago, but I still kind of want to read it so I can't manage to give it up. I keep thinking I'll read it in October, as if that's the only time to read horror.

6. Moral Disorder and Other Stories by Margaret Atwood
I put this on a table and then set a taxidermied mounted fish on top of it and forgot it existed. When I picked up the fish to return it to my sister, there was a whole pile of books, including this one. (What? You don't borrow taxidermied animals from family members?)

7. How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran
A gift from a friend, not that long ago actually. This past Christmas, I think? The point is that I was really looking forward to reading it very soon and now it's August.

8. Inbound 4: A Comic Book History of Boston
I picked this up on a whim at Hub Comics a few years ago, and it's ridiculous that I haven't read it yet because it's a very thin comic book. Come on.

9. Grandville by Bryan Talbot
Also from Hub Comics, I grabbed this the moment I saw it because I love Bryan Talbot and I was still on an Alice in Sunderland high. I'm really looking forward to the day that I eventually crack this one open.

10. Pioneer Girl: the Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Pamela Smith Hill
The difficulty with this one is that it's a large, heavy, oddly-shaped hardcover that is not the sort of book you carry around. Or the sort you read comfortably in bed. So I need to have some sort of a plan for when or how I manage it.

And a shoutout to F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night, which I eventually got rid of even though I still want to read it. I know I've been wanting to read this one since pre-blog and I even had it on a TBR Pile Challenge list once and still failed to read it. Why can't I read this book?

So that's my list of shame for the week! Do you have any books that have been sitting on your shelves unread for an embarrassingly long time?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've heard How To Build A Girl is great! I hope you get around to these books soon :-)

Runwright said...

How To Build A Girl. Interesting title. I might check that one out.
See my list here https://runwright.net/2016/08/23/11364/

Barb said...

I just grabbed Horrorstor from Book Outlet and am excited to read it - maybe around Halloween. Hope you enjoy all of these.

Susan said...

I haven't read any of these, but I'm very interested in the Tea Rose series and the autobiography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I hope you get to them sometime soon-ish!

Anonymous said...

How To Build A Girl is also on my TBR!

3goodrats said...

I think How To Build A Girl is my top priority on this list. I loved Caitlin Moran's book How To Be a Woman. Susan, the Tea Rose series is really, really good!