I’m pretty sure I’ve gone over to the dark side. I’m looking at my TBR shelf and thinking “the only way I’m going to read half of these is if I get the ebook.” My last…several…book purchases have been e-books, with the exception of one that’s on its way that wasn’t available to me in e-book (and which I have the first book in print and signed), and I’ve replaced a few with e-books at this point. And there are several more on this list that, realistically, if I’m gonna read them, it’ll be by replacing them in e-format.
I’m starting, honestly, to have the horrible feeling that my TBR shelf is more of a Never TBR Shelf. I’m finding that if I don’t read something pretty much immediately on purchase, it goes on the shelf and becomes…well, something of a burden, at this stage. And the lovely thing about the e-books is I can put together a wishlist and go buy something from it when I have a moment to read, and then bam, I’m reading it and all is copacetic. Furthermore, if there’s a sequel available, I then tend to buy them up on e-book and read them while my enthusiasm is still hot. So…yeah. I think I’ve gone to the dark side.
Last year the goal was to read all the books on the TBR shelf and anything left at the end of the year was going to the used bookstore unread, but last year sucked and I’m not holding myself to that line. I may give it another go this year, especially as I’m starting to realize an awful lot of the books on these shelves aren’t actually *mine*. I should, frankly, be able to get through the 20 or so fiction books on my physical shelf without straining myself too much this year.
The non-fiction shelf needs some active effort as well as updating. I suspect there, as well, that e-books would be read more quickly, but I’d…have to really change my habits to buy history books in e-format, so I’ll just try to work with what I’ve got right now. (Mneh. I see I could replace Ben Wilson’s DECENCY & DISORDER with an e-book, which is…extremely tempting, because a significant part of the reason I haven’t continued reading that is it’s a big fat book with small leding and margins which makes it physically difficult to read. And that’s not just because my eyes are getting older, as I’ve had the book for several years now and it’s only in the past year my focus point has changed! It’s just not a well designed book….)
I need to make a graphic novels list, too, just to remind myself there’s stuff I haven’t yet read.
Fiction TBR:
Berg, Carol: DUST & LIGHT, ASH & SILVER
Brin, David: EXISTENCE (e)
Caine, Rachel: FADE OUT (e)
Delaney, Joseph: THE SPOOK’S DESTINY
Friedman, Celia: LEGACY OF KINGS (replace w/e)
Hambly, Barbara: RAN AWAY, GOOD MAN FRIDAY, CRIMSON TIDE
Harkaway, Nick: ANGELMAKER (replace w/e)
Kay, Guy Gavriel: RIVER OF STARS
Murphy, C.E.: HEART OF STONE, HOUSE OF CARDS, HANDS OF FLAME (e)
Richardson, Kat: POLTERGEIST (e)
Robinson, Kim Stanley: AURORA
Sagara, Michelle: CAST IN HONOR, CAST IN FLIGHT
Schwab, V.E.: A CONJURING OF LIGHT (e)
Sperring, Kari: THE GRASS KING’S CONCUBINE
Tchaikovsky, Adrian: THE BEAR & THE SERPENT (e)
Watt-Evans, Lawrence: ABOVE HIS PROPER STATION
Non-Fiction:
Adkins, Roy & Lesley: THE WAR FOR ALL THE OCEANS
Clements, Jonathan: A BRIEF HISTORY OF KHUBILAI KHAN
Emmerson, Charles: THE FUTURE HISTORY OF THE ARCTIC
Foulkes, Nick: DANCING INTO BATTLE
Garfield, Simon: JUST MY TYPE
Goldstone, Nancy: JOANNA
Harvey, Robert: WAR OF WARS
Hickman, Katie: COURTESANS
Leon, Vicki: 4000 YEARS OF UPPITY WOMEN
Maffeo, Steven E.: MOST SECRET & CONFIDENTIAL
Nicholson, Adam: MEN OF HONOUR
Porath, Jason: REJECTED PRINCESSES
Weatherford, Jack: SECRET HISTORY OF THE MONGOL QUEENS
Weir, Alison: ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE
Wilson, Ben: DECENCY & DISORDER (replacing with e)
Vanhoenacker, Mark: SKYFARING
Graphic Novels:
HELLBOY, Library Editions 5 & 6
LAZARUS, v2
EAST AND WEST, v1
Are you planning on writing another Negotiator story? Seems the usual reason to plan a reread of your own stuff.
Very perceptive. :) I’m going to be writing KISS OF ANGELS, the Grace O’Malley story, pretty soon. And I need to write another couple post-trilogy short stories (probably) to fill out the collection that KISS OF ANGELS will be the backbone of. :)