Elmore Leonard said: I have a character in one of my books tell how she used to write historical romances ''full of rape and adverbs.''

Wednesday 26 September 2007

Beast of Burden


My TBR pile is overflowing; quivering on the verge of insurmountable. It stares at me accusingly, an ungainly presence on my troubled conscience. etc.

This (sideways) pile is by no means exhaustive. There are books I own that I can’t even begin contemplating at the moment (Moby Dick, anyone? What was I thinking? That is definitely one for a long vacation). There are also the two books currently weighing down my bag - Murder on the Leviathan by the Russian writer Boris Akunin and Voices of the Night, by Lydia Joyce.

Now, I must admit I have seen worse piles, but not in my house. Never have I spent so expansively and read so slowly. I blame the blogs. There are so many great books out there, read and recommended by all and sundry, that I simply can't resist. Combine this with my trigger happy internet shopping 'problem' and there is no saving me from my own folly.

This is the list as far as I can tell:
  • Demon Angel
  • Demon Moon (These books have come sooo highly recommended I don't know why I keep putting them off. Anticipation? I think I'm waiting for the third to come out, so I can read all in a happy, gluttonous haze.)
  • Kafka on the Shore (Murakami)
  • Dead Sky (Hoag)
  • Duke of Sin (Ashworth)
  • The Devil to Pay (Carlyle)
  • Theft (Carey)
  • Cold Comfort Farm (Gibson)
  • Slightly Married (Balogh)
  • Simply Love (Balogh)
  • Slightly Wicked (and again)
  • Simply Unforgettable (I've never read a Balogh and went a little mad here...)
  • The Victorian House (Flanders)
  • Midsummer Moon (Kinsale)
  • For My Lady's Heart (Kinsale)
  • My Sweet Folly (Kinsale)
  • The Crimson Petal and the White (Faber)
  • If his Kiss is Wicked (Goodman)
  • Special Topics in Calamity Physics (Pessl)
  • The Inheritance of Loss (Desai)
  • Skylight Confessions (Hoffman)
  • The Editor's Wife (Chambers)
  • Absurdistan (Shteyngart)
  • The Plot Against America (Roth)
  • Consuming Passions, Leisure and Pleasure in Victorian Britain (Flanders)
Also - but not pictured
  • The Tin Drum (Grass)
  • Lady Audley's Secret (Braddon)
  • Not Quite a Lady (Chase)
  • Disobedience (Alderman)
  • Jane Eyre (one day...)
  • The Dream Thief (Abe)
  • Bliss (Cuevas)
  • Dance (Cuevas)
  • Moral Disorder (Atwood)
  • The Tent (Atwood)
Gah!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a good problem to have :)

I've enjoyed a couple of the Balogh Slightlys. Really liked Special Topics in Calamity Physics. Thought the Abe was decent (everyone else loves it). I've never read Kinsale, but I'm very curious to try her. I can't seem to get through The Tin Drum--I think I've read the first half three times. Parts of Jane Eyre are riveting--it's worth the read.

BTW, I see a Kelley Armstrong in your library--I like her newest book, with the hitwoman. Like you need more in your pile!

Meriam said...

The worst thing is, I don't know where to begin! The sheer size of it cripples me with indecision.

Candy from Smart Bitches is a real Kinsale fangirl and it was through her Amazon list ("romance novels that aren't total crap" - very funny) that I came across Kinsale.

I've only read the Shadow and the Star, Shadowheart and Seize the Fire and enjoyed all three. She writes really angsty, emotional, heart-in-mouth stuff. All three are written in different time periods/ locations yet they're all well-researched and the tone is true to the time (particularly The Shadow and the Star).

Tone/ dialogue can make or break my enjoyment of an historical but Kinsale is pretty flawless.

Exit Strategy - it's on my mental tbr pile. There's something strangely readable about Armstrong. I don't know why, but she's broken me out of two reading-droughts. I feel as though I ought to like her less than I do.

I'm really looking forward to Calamity Physics. (Maybe I should start there...?)

Joanna Chambers said...

Ha ha! I share your problem. I order way too much off the internet and in fact your TBR pile contains about 10 books that are either in mine or which I've read very recently. We've been picking up the same recommendations...

I've found one good way of dealing with some of the books I'm finished with that don't qualify as Keepers - greenmetropolis.com - a site from which you can buy and sell books. Almost every books costs £3.75 (which includes postage and packing) and you can list your own books for 'sale' (for which you get a credit of £3.00 towards future purchases). Worth checking out.

As for your list, I'm a bit of a Balogh fangirl. I adored Simply Love so I'd suggest you move that one to the top of the pile.

Kate said...

The older Baloghs (the traditional Regencies) are my favorite. I love Edith Layton, too. Have you read her?

Right. Enough avoiding the work by haunting you and Tumperkin.

Meriam said...

I've just finished two of the Baloghs - Slightly Married and Simply Love. Astonishing how mature and sensible and - adult her characters are. I can't remember the last time I read about two people behaving in a mature and adult fashion between the covers of a romance. It was quite disconcerting.

I keep hearing how everyone loves Simply Love. I didn't love it. It was a leetle bit too depressing for me. I think I need a little more sturm and drang in my romance, more fire and brimstone. More of a kick. Simply Love was a bit too gentle for me.

Have you read Sweet Everlasting, Tumperkin? I noticed it in your tbr pile a while ago. Whilst this is a very sweet romance, it also has that bit of melodrama mixed in. I *really* like that one. But I love practically everything (historical) by Gaffney.

Edith Layton - not yet. Should I add it to my monstrous pile?