There are only one and a half months left in my Year of Reading Deliberately and I find myself with quite a few books left that I haven’t read. Not overall unreads – but books that I went into 2010 certain that I wanted to read this year, or which I acquired very early on in the year and haven’t actually gotten to yet. The worst part? None of them are even in my immediate TBR stack, which is making it look increasingly unlikely that I’ll get to them. Clearly, if I want to read them, I’ll have to make them a priority over the next month and a half.
I didn’t really have a list when I originally set out on my goals – I just had broad priorities. One I’ve definitely achieved – I’ve read more non-fiction. In fact, it feels like I’m reading loads of it, and I love that! I’ve also managed to get my reading plan going with 1/3 library books, 1/3 review copies, and 1/3 own books. So overall, I’m not doing too badly, but there are still a few books on my shelf staring at me, telling me that I was supposed to read them months ago! Here are just a few of them:
1. Warbreaker, Brandon Sanderson – I’ve had this book since it came out, and purchased it in hardcover no less. I love Brandon Sanderson and I actually was convinced I’d read it right away. Yet here we are, with the book out in paperback, and no less than three new books out from Sanderson (including his WoT books), and I still haven’t read it. If anything, this book seriously proves that I’m turning down long books, because I still really want to read it. This is going on the immediate TBR.
2. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon – I got this one for my birthday right at the beginning of the year and was so excited – I finally had a copy, I could finally read it! Once again, didn’t happen, despite the fact that it’s now been recommended by far more people than it had been when I originally bought it, and I’ve really wanted to read something by Chabon. And it’s another long book. I’m prioritizing this, too, by pulling it off the shelf and putting it in the stack.
3. Generation A, Douglas Coupland – I didn’t actively seek this book out, I won it, but after that it received boatloads of praise in every review I found. I even mentioned on Twitter that I wanted to read it soon. And still I haven’t – even though I’ve owned it for just under a year.
4. King’s Shield, Sherwood Smith – I persuaded myself to read the second in this series over a year ago, and finally found myself so wrapped up in it that I bought this one, number 3 – and number 4 in hardcover! – convinced I wanted to know what happened next so badly that I’d read it ASAP. Did I? No, of course not; as you might expect, this is another long book that I’d probably love.
5. The Tea Rose, Jennifer Donnelly – Even loving A Northern Light and heaps of praise didn’t convince me that I wanted to pick up this massive chunkster. But it’s another book I’m sure I’ll adore, once I pick it up. I’m so sure that I even have the sequel! Sensing a pattern yet?
Anyway, just because I’ve left those unread doesn’t mean I’m not getting to books that have been waiting equally as long. I’m in the midst of A Company of Liars by Karen Maitland, a book that has been on my shelves for two years, and I’ll be reading The Book Thief soon, a SantaThing gift from two years ago. It just seems that there isn’t enough time to read all the books that I’d aimed to read. I get interrupted by the vast amount of new books available to me, and it’s certainly gotten worse since I picked up the Kindle. I’ve been downloading books from Netgalley like there’s no tomorrow, and then reading them instead of my physical TBR pile. I have loved all but one of those, but that doesn’t mean I won’t love the books I have, too. To top it all off, I just purchased no less than 11 new books, my last “hurrah” before a buying ban that should last me until Christmas.
But these five are coming out of hiding. I’m putting them in a spot where I can’t miss them and making it a goal to read them before 2010 is up.
What books were you certain that you were going to get to this year? Have you read them yet?
I think that’s half the battle — if the books are out where I can see them, I am much more likely to read them. But so often new books come along and grab my attention and the older books I really, really want to read are somehow lost.
Beth F´s last post …Weekend Cooking- Soft Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
I have the same problem. There are books in my TBR stack that have been there for years. At the end of the year I will cull the TBR stack. I started doing this a couple of years ago, it’s something I can do during my winter break that doesn’t cost anything.
At this point in my life, I must admit that if a book has been in the TBR stack for several years, I’m not ever going to read it. So I trade it or donate it and move on.
cbjames´s last post …TSS- NYRB Reading Week- Dueling Westerns- 5 Bucks a Bag Book Sale and 47 Years
Generation A was a lot of fun! I have The Gum Thief that I have been meaning to read forever…
Lenore´s last post …A Classic Monthly 2011
I also have Tea Rose and Amazing Adventures on my TBR. It seems like I’ve had them for years :)I completely understand your feelings about reading long books. I love them but it does sometimes take me a long time to actually pick one of those chunksters up and read it.
lilly´s last post …2-in-1- The Right Hand of Evil by John Saul & Blood Games by Richard Laymon
Isn’t A Northern Light the sequel to The Tea Rose? Or did I get that wrong?
I also have a lot of trouble picking up chunksters and getting through them. I don’t know why! I think it requires a lot of time, perhaps, but also… well, why can’t authors just be more succinct sometimes?! Though a REALLY good, detailed and beautifully-written chunkster can be magic
Aarti´s last post …TSS- How important is PLOT to you
I was going to say that I didn’t have anything like that in particular, but that’s not at all true, because I asked for a few specific books for Christmas last year – 3 of them in hardcover – and I’ve gotten to exactly 1 of them. Sorry, “Waiting for Columbus,” “Olive Kitteridge,” and “The Lacuna!”
It is sort of odd, actually, that the one I got through was “Wolf Hall,” the longest and densest of them all.
Jen – Devourer of Books´s last post …The Sunday Salon – Did I Tell You…
I saw The Winter Rose on remainder at Barnes & Nobel so I got it, even though I don’t have The Tea Rose, because I too figured since it was Donnelly it had to be good! The Amazing Adventures of K&C is long and dense, in the sense that every sentence is just packed with lyricism and allusions and aptness that you don’t want to miss, but because of all that, it is totally worth it, to me. But definitely not as easy to plow through as a YA book of the same length!
I have books that have been on my shelves for years that I just haven’t managed to get to yet.
If you like Victorian sagas, then you need to read The Tea Rose. I liked it a lot, but loved the sequel, The Winter Rose and can’t wait for the final book in the trilogy to come out next week.
Marg´s last post …Weekend Cooking- Baumtorte from Mr Rosenblums List in English by Natasha Solomons
I wasn’t reading deliberately this year, thank god, or I’d be failing at it!
Great post! I have a bunch of books that I thought I would definitely read this year (might have to borrow this idea for a post!) but somehow didn’t. The temptation of new books from the library have been my downfall (and going every week to the library with DD.)
Melissa´s last post …The Sunday Salon
Do read Chabon, I really enjoyed that one
blodeuedd´s last post …Review- The Conquest – Elizabeth Chadwick
Kavalier and Clay is so so good! And it doesn’t feel half as long as it is, you’ll see!
Nymeth´s last post …Shelves- I haz them
Good luck! I didn’t have any specific titles I wanted to read this year, so I don’t have any I haven’t gotten to. lol
I loved Kavalier & Clay, but it took me awhile to get into. I went in unsure as to whether I’d even like it or not, so Chabon did win me over in the end!
Eva´s last post …Sunday Salon- the Relieved Post
Ahh, this has happened to me as well. There are some books that I bought in hardcover when they were first released, just knowing that I would read them right away, and as of yet, it just hasn’t happened. I am thinking particularly of The Passage and Wolf Hall. I really want to read them, I do, but I just haven’t made the time for them like I should have!
zibilee´s last post …Salvation City by Sigrid Nunez — 288 pgs
I’ve really been trying to read more off my own shelves, and it seems to have worked. I’ve gotten to some stuff that has been on my shelves for a long time, though I often tend to pick up books that I’ve recently gotten, rather than ones that have been waiting for a long time.
S. Krishna´s last post …Book Review- Haroun and the Sea of Stories – Salman Rushdie
I hate how hectic the end of the year is when it comes to reading. I have some challenges I am far behind on and some books that I swore I would read this year . . . I am getting stressed just thinking about it!!
Stephanie´s last post …The Sunday Salon 11-14-2010
I would definitely Fail, if I read deliberately.
Veens´s last post …Theodore Boone- Young Lawyer by John Grisham
Love this post, makes me feel like I’m not alone with my guilty book secrets. There are too many to list, but I really thought I’d read The Selected Works of T S Spivet this year, in fact my mum bought it for me because she knew I really wanted to read it. It’s still on the shelf.
I can’t wait to see if you enjoyed Company of Liars – very satisfying I thought.
Jodie´s last post …My Lovely Horse
I get where you’re coming from! I had a series of books I absolutely wanted to read this year, that are very far at the bottom at my TBR pile. Warbreaker is one of those, too, as is The Way of the Kings.
I think you did great with your goals, though.
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