{"id":18781,"date":"2013-03-19T22:54:10","date_gmt":"2013-03-20T02:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=18781"},"modified":"2013-03-19T23:38:15","modified_gmt":"2013-03-20T03:38:15","slug":"top-ten-tuesday-top-ten-books-i-had-to-buy-but-are-sitting-on-my-shelf-unread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=18781","title":{"rendered":"Top Ten Tuesday – Top Ten Books I HAD to Buy…But Are Sitting on My Shelf Unread"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Today I just had to join in on this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted at The Broke and the Bookish<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Because, Aaaargh, buying books I desperately want to read — and then not reading them — is my undoing.<\/p>\n

I wasn’t bad until I started working in a library. Once I worked at a library, I got much much better at not blowing my budget on books. I only bought books I really really wanted to read. Then I didn’t read them, because they didn’t have a due date!<\/p>\n

Sometime around 2010, I finally had a clue and made myself a new Reading Rule: I would alternate reading library books with books I owned. By then, I’d started getting Advance Review Copies, and it seemed unethical to have taken so many at ALA conferences but not read them. Not to mention the books I’d bought. So I started alternating between books with a due date and books without a due date.<\/p>\n

That was good, and worked well for me. But it wasn’t complicated enough for this Lover of Rules. So last year, I made myself a much more complicated system<\/a>. As far as books I’ve bought, it boils down to I read one of those every sixth book. But at least I get to them! Eventually.<\/p>\n

So, currently, these are my Top Ten Books I HAD to Buy…But Are Still Sitting on My Shelf Unread:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>1. The Far West<\/em>, by Patricia C. Wrede<\/p>\n

Don’t you hate it when you actually preorder book…and then don’t get around to reading it until a few months after it comes out. But this one is next up when I am ready to read a book I’ve bought.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>2. The Fox<\/em>, by Sherwood Smith. And The King’s Shield<\/em>. And Treason’s Shore<\/em>. And Banner of the Damned<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Sherwood Smith is unquestionably one of my favorite authors. She’s had Sonderbooks Stand-outs 12 times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But here’s what happened: I read Inda<\/em> and made it a 2007 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>. But that was the year I was finishing my MLIS, looking for a job, and trying to get my life together. I never got a review written. When the sequel came out, I eagerly ordered it. But then I thought I really should reread Inda<\/em> first and write a review. Now there are four hardcover books waiting for me. They are large books. I know that if I tackle them, it will be a long time before I get around to library books again. Aaargh! I’m actually hoping, sometime soon, to make Inda<\/em> the next book I reread in my six-book cycle. Then to get to the others….<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>3. Bewitching<\/em>, by Alex Flinn. Also Cloaked<\/em><\/p>\n

I loved Beastly<\/a><\/em> and A Kiss in Time<\/a><\/em>. Just haven’t gotten to these ones yet.<\/p>\n

4. Alchemy of Fire<\/em>, by Gillian Bradshaw. And The Elixir of Youth, The Somers Treatment, The Sun’s Bride, Bloodwood, Dark North,<\/em> and The Land of Gold<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I bought these long before I made any rules about alternating with library books. And after there got to be a certain number, some kind of critical mass built up. I love Gillian Bradshaw! One of her books was in my very first issue of Sonderbooks<\/a>! Must get these read!<\/p>\n

5. Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel<\/em>, by Baroness Orczy. Also League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, I Will Repay, Sir Percy Hits Back, Pimpernel and Rosemary<\/em>, and The First Sir Percy<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I bought these with much delight when Amazon was relatively new. You could find books that had not been in print! Books in public domain now reprinted! I didn’t have to find the Scarlet Pimpernel novels in used bookstores any more! I read some, I admit, and I still mean to read them all. But somewhere around the fifth or sixth book, I lost steam.<\/p>\n

6. Stewards of the Flame<\/em> and Promise of the Flame<\/em>, by Sylvia Engdahl<\/p>\n

Another author I adore. Bought them, but they didn’t have a due date….<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>7. Seven Basic Plots<\/em>, by Christopher Booker<\/p>\n

This one’s particularly annoying. Because I had this checked out from the library. It’s a big fat book, and it was incredibly good, incredibly insightful. So I decided to buy my own copy, so I could read it at my leisure and really get a lot out of it. Well, then it didn’t have a due date….<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>8. Od Magic<\/em>, by Patricia A. McKillip. And The Bards of Bone Plain<\/em> and Ombria in Shadow<\/em><\/p>\n

Another good author.<\/p>\n

9. 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel<\/em>, by Jane Smiley<\/p>\n

This looked so fascinating. Haven’t cracked it open.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>10. The Pinhoe Egg<\/em>, by Diana Wynne Jones. Also House of Many Ways<\/em> and The Game<\/em>.<\/p>\n

There you have it! The perpetual problem: So many books, so little time. Sigh.<\/p>\n

Bummer! Making this list did not make me feel better about these neglected books! Because I still<\/em> really really want to read them! Sigh.<\/p>\n

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