Do you ever look at your bookshelf and get so excited about all those books you have got to read? There’s some books I’ve got sitting around that I’m dying to read but just never seem to get around to it?
I’ve had books for years and years and just never read them. I really need to get on and read them. Maybe I’ll kick myself for not having read them earlier.
Here are some books that have been gathering dust mites for at least five years:
Otherlands – Tad Williams
I first started this one oh ages and ages ago – probably about ten years ago or so. Being who I am, I went out and also bought the rest of the series but naturally never actually finished the first one. I was a bit of a book juggler back then, only rather then actually finishing books I kinda put them down and forgot about them…
I do remember enjoying this one, but it has multiple storylines going on and each time you finally started getting into one it then went and changed to another. I really must make an effort to read this one and get it and the others off my shelf. They’re bricks so will free up a lot of room if I can do this.
The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi
I remember getting this in my town’s old bookshop (since closed down, very sad) thinking it was so different from anything I’d read before (being mainly YA, fantasy etc) and then it just never got read.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley
This is another one of those that I started, actually quite liked and then put down probably half way through. Weirdly I picked it up before I’d even learnt exactly who he was. I wish as a kid I read books properly, I might be a lot more well read by now!
Journeys to the Heartland by William Horwood
This is by the same author as Dunstan Wood, about the moles – which is probably what this author is more famous for. I don’t think I’ve actually met anyone who has read these books yet though. I got them because I loved wolves back then… just never really got around to reading it.
Sophie’s World by Jostien Gaarder
Well I’ve had this for a good thirteen to fourteen years I reckon and I just never managed to get into it. Perhaps at the time I was just too young.
I’ve read another one of his recently (Maya) so I really ought to give this one another go.
I wonder what has for so many years, stopped me from picking up these books? Most of the books now in my collection (unread) are probably only two or three years old but that’s only because that’s the time I’ve been buying and acquiring the most books.
I was in a bookshop just after last Christmas and I overheard someone say “I have to stop buying books, I already have six waiting to be read on my nightstand…” I immediately felt guilty as I carried around my little stack of six books I was going to get with my book token.
So, do you buy books and then not read them for years, or are you the kind of organised person who likes a small manageable TBR?
Sophie's World has its interesting bits, but I didn't love it. It's been so long, though.
ReplyDeleteI've seen some very mixed reviews of The Icarus Girl and look forward to hearing what you make of it!
If a book sits on my shelf unread for too long I pass it along to someone else. Usually my mom. I have a window of opportunity per book, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI've really only let my stacks of unread books get out of control in the past couple of years. I think I would feel a little more organized if I could get back down to a tidy stack of 6 or 7 unread, mostly library books, but that's not realistically going to happen any time in the next several years. It is nice to walk into my office to choose my next book and realize how many I own that I just can't wait to read!
ReplyDeleteI would like to get my number down to below 400 personally but I don't see that happening either.
ReplyDeleteMore realistically I'd like to read the ones I've had sitting around for ages.
I'm reading Journeys to the Heartland at the moment, after inspiring myself in this post. So I can't wait to review that - so far it's really good.
I have been the kind of person that leaves books unread for ages and ages in the past, but I'm really getting a lot better. Giving myself a personally imposed limit of 10 library books, and 1 e-book checked out at a time is really helping. I also semi-recently did a huge cull of my TBR list that I keep as an Excel file... let's be honest, some of those titles that looked intriguing in 2006 just aren't going to get read by this point, you know?
ReplyDeleteI have an Excel spreadsheet of my TBR as well - it's so fun watching it go down and then inevitable up.
ReplyDeleteI have got rid of a lot of books every time I re-organise my shelves. But there are still loads of books, more then I've mentioned here that I do really want to read - more now actually, then before when I acquired them.
Journeys in to the Heartland so far is really good... and yeesh if 2005 is 5 years ago I have had this probably nearer 10 years ago. I can't believe that.
And it's good, I don't know what stopped me for 10 years reading this. Maybe I wouldn't have liked it so much back then... my attention span was a lot shorter, I don't think I would have.