Inspired by Litlove and BooksPlease I thought I would share my own top ten books that I absolutely had to have when they were published but still have not read. When I first read Litlove's post and thought of my own situation I initially thought, what, only ten? And since Margaret shared not only her list but a photo as illustration I decided to take a look at my own TBR piles. It wasn't hard to pull books and think of the situation that spurred me on to buy them.
There's a certain amount of guilt attached to a few of these as I prefer to buy paperbacks to hardcovers due to space constraints (to say nothing of cost), but since I've got them now I can at least hope this in some small way has supported the authors (though I expect they would have liked me to have read them as soon as I bought them). I don't mind hardcovers if I read them right away, but when they still sit unread when the paperbacks are released I do get annoyed with myself. As Margaret mentions, maybe this will spur me on to read a few of them now? If you notice a few do have little post its peeking out of the pages, as I did start a few but just didn't finish them.
Camilla Lackberg seems to have gotten lots of press and as soon as reviews came out for The Ice Princess I had to have it. At least I waited for the paperback but it's a UK edition, so there wasn't as much patience involved as you would think. However, in the interim the US edition has been published, and I still have not read the book. It still sounds good and I can't wait to read it.
Like Litlove and a previous Booker list of books, last year's Orange Prize longlist was filled with so many potential good reads for me I went a little crazy ordering a number of the books--like Amanda Craig's Hearts and Minds. I won't admit to how many I've purchased, but I've yet to read a single one (including last year's winner, which I also own. Ahem.). This year I've bought only two from the longlist and any other books on it I am dying to read will come from the library.
A year or two ago a group of book bloggers chose several books to read and discuss and invited others to join in and read along, and Philippe Claudel's Brodeck's Report (in the US is simply called Brodeck) was one of the books chosen (unfortunately I grabbed the wrong Claudel book from my shelf, but I've not yet read By a Slow River either). It sounded (sounds) so good and I did try very hard to get it from the library. Only they were so far behind in processing books, even when I asked specifically for it, I was told I would have to wait. Wait? Okay, fine, I'll just buy it. And I did. And it came in after the discussion and so I decided to wait to read it. And wait I have.
I loved Deanna Raybourn's first couple of mysteries and was so looking forward to her third, Silent on the Moor, but now her fourth book is out. I've not read either of the new books, but I keep telling myself I will when I need a nice entertaining comfort sort of read.
When Justice Picardie's Daphne came out and there was so much buzz about it I wanted to read it, too. I love Daphne du Maurier and was curious about this fictionalized story so I broke down and ordered it (in hardcover) from the UK. As a matter of fact the next four books all came from The Book Depository (thank heavens for free shipping at least). So along with Daphne there is Joanne Harris's The Lollipop Shoes (loved Chocolat and count it as one of my all-time favorites), A.S. Byatt's The Children's Book, David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet, and Erin Kelly's The Poison Tree. I started the Byatt but it is a book that requires time and concentration and also happens to be heavy to drag around with me. I do want to read it, but when I know I can give it the proper attention it deserves. I heard many, many good things about the Mitchell and the Kelly was compared to Barbara Vine, who I love.
Kate Morton's The Distant Hours is the most recent addition to the pile of 'must have now even though it is still in hardcover' books. I had it for a while sitting on my night stand ready to start reading but it got bumped for something else. There's still hope for it. I don't think it comes out in paper for a while yet?
What can I say. So many books, and so little self control. As long as I keep reminding myself these are part of my personal library and I can read them whenever I like, I can stave off most guilt. I'm still excited to read each and every one of them, so that's what counts.