Your Recommendations – A List

Ten days ago, I presented you all with a special request : recommend me some adult books, or books that are different than the ones I have been reading recently. You answered my cry for help with even more recommendations than I had hoped for and it was exactly what I needed.

Because I am always looking for a reason to make lists, I had to make one for your recommendations (including my own, and excluding those for books I have already read). I was pleased by the number of recommended books that are already on my shelves; I identified those with a (s). In some cases, when I don’t have a specific book from an author I added another that I do have. I don’t need more reasons to buy books, do I?

• If You Follow Me by Malena Watrous (s) (read this week)
• Undress me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman (s)
• Life of Pi by Yann Martel
• Jigs and Reels by Joanne Harris
• Chocolat by Joanne Harris
• Holy Fools by Joanne Harris (s) (not a recommendation, but it’s the only one from the author I do own)
• I Thought you Were Dead by Pete Nelson
• Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
• The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls (s)
• A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson
• The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist (s)
• The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
• Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin
• The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
• Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
• The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (s) (added this week to my shelves!)
• A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (s)
• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (s)
• Modoc by Ralph Helfer
• Wesley the Owl by Stacey O’Brien
• Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (s)
• 100 Heartbeats by Jeff Corwin
• The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte
• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (s)
• Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marian Keyes
• Anybody Out There? by Marian Keyes
• Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes
• This Charming Man by Marian Keyes (s)
• The Human Bobby by Gabe Rotter
• Red, Black, White by Ted Dekker
• The Circle by Ted Dekker
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
• The Likeness by Tana French
• In the Woods by Tana French (s)
• The History of the World in Ten and a Half Chapters by Julian Barnes (s)
• The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
• One Day byDavid Nicholls (s)
• Sepulchre by Kate Moss (s)

So, that should keep me busy for a while! 🙂

I thank you all for your help, and if you have any more recommendations, please share them with me! 🙂

Another kind of TBR pile

I have two TBR piles at home, two different kind of piles I have often enough talked about. The most well known is, of course, my “To Be Read” pile. The second one is my “To Be Reviewed” pile which, despite my best efforts, isn’t getting any smaller.

(click on the picture to see a bigger view)

As you can see, it’s mostly YA lit, and a lot of speculative fiction. It’s not that I don’t know what to say about the books : I have taken notes for each of them, so writing the reviews is more about putting together all the facts in order to present a review with some meaning.

So, what should I review next?

And what about you? Do you also have a “To be reviewed” pile, or are you quick on writing down your thoughts?

Comic : The highest thing built by man

What can I say? I have no willpower!

BTT + What’s on your desk?

Today I was tagged by Biblioaddict, with the famous “What’s on Your Desk Wednesday?” (hosted by Alternative read) I think it’s such a fun idea and I’ve had so much fun watching other people’s desks that I was happy to oblige.

Grab a camera and take a photo of your desk! Or anywhere you stack your books/TBR pile. And no tidying!
Tag at least 5 people!

Or, if you’re digital camera-less, you can:
List at least 5 BOOKISH things on your desk (I’m thinking your TBR pile or books you haven’t shelved…)
List at least 5 NON BOOK things. (I’m thinking some of some of the more unusual items on your desk/table?)
Tag at least 5 people to do the same.

Come back and leave your link, so we can come and visit your blog. Or add your answers in the comments.

This week’s Booking through Thursday is about unread books :

Give me the list or take a picture of all the books you have stacked on your bedside table, hidden under the bed or standing in your shelf – the books you have not read, but keep meaning to. The books that begin to weigh on your mind. The books that make you cover your ears in conversation and say, ‘No! Don’t give me another book to read! I can’t finish the ones I have!’ “

In my case, it’s perfect since my TBR pile IS on my desk!

The proof :

Yes, those are almost all books to be read! And yes, there is a pile hiding behind my second screen of which you can only see the top of, under the photos on the wall. (My main screen is hidden by the books). Now you know, I wasn’t joking when I said I am building a wall of books around my desk!

There is also another pile that you can’t see, against the wall, in the same rown as the pile with the yeti plushie : it is as high as the pile with the Hello Kitty on top!

The ones that are not “To be read” are in a pile behind the glass of water : those are to be reviewed (so basically, my “To be read pile” doesn’t get smaller, it just moves around my desk). And behind the “to be reviewed” pile, there is… another pile of books to be read! Although, in my defense, those are mainly photography books, knitting books and my huge Oxford Classical Dictionary. Look here, I even took another picture!

The piles have no particular order : mainly, I just try to build them so they don’t fall on my head. But, I’m a little obsessive compulsive, and I have a few specifications : books of the same series must be together, but books of the same color cannot be side to side! Also, I cannot have a smaller book under a larger one (even if the difference is the smallest one). Oh, and the most important : each pile must have an even number of books (I don’t like odd numbers…) It’s not really something I think about a lot, it’s just something I do. Okay, now can laugh at me all you want! 🙂 I live really well with my little quirks 😉

If you look at my desk, you can find out a few more things about me :

• I keep an old nametag from my last retail job, to remind myself why I am going back to university. When the pressure is too hard, a single glance at that memento and I’m back on tracks!
• I used to be a Hello Kitty collector. Now I only buy a few special items from time to time, like this leather one made for MAC cosmetics (love!)
• I love plushies, too, especially if they are unusual animals! Like my yeti plushie, sitting on a pile of books (see first picture)

As for the books to be read, I am not going to make a complete list; but, I have part of it listed here, on the Paper Brick Wall page.

Finally, I present you Omgr, also known as the “Bear of Borrowed Books”. Under his arm are the books I borrowed and that are to be read, and on his lap the books that are read and/or read to be returned. You should also know, that Omgr is wearing an old sweather of mine!

My main objective now is to clean my bookshelf so I can : a) put more books in it and b)take a picture of it and share it!

I really didn’t plan on a post this long! I hope that by now, you didn’t fall asleep (or you will wake up with “YTREWQ” stamped on your forehead!)

NOTE : I didn’t tag anyone, because I can’t remember who did it or not! If you haven’t yet and would like too, do it and leave me the link! 🙂

You know your TBR pile is too big when…

It is taller than you are.

Proof :

The scary thing is, what you see here is only part of it. Half of it, to be honest. I really couldn’t do a complete pile without risking my life.

And yes, it did ended up with me being crushed by a pile of books! 😛

So it’s your turn, reader! You know your TBR pile is too big when…

Musing Mondays; the infamous TBR pile! (2)

This week’s Musing Mondays question (see more answers here) :

How many books (roughly) are in your tbr pile? Is this in increasing number or does it stay stable? Do you ever experience tbr anxiety in the face of this pile?

Oooh, the dreaded number!

Last time I tried counting the piles of books sitting on my desk, I stopped at 100. There were a few left to be counted, but knowing I had over a hundred books sitting there made me dizzy. Considering my reading speed, it would take me around 2 years reading them all! And that’s not counting the new books that will join those with time (I blame you for that, book-bloggers!) An untrained eye would think my TBR pile’s number is pretty stable, but in fact, it is getting bigger with subtlety. I read one, then buy two. I read two, I buy three! 

Here’s a picture I took of the West wall of the Paper Brick Wall, almost a month ago. The front pile has already gotten bigger by about five books since. The rest of the books are on my right, 4 piles on the edge of my desk, counting the biggest part of the complete TBR pile (around 80). 

Finally, as you’ll notice, I don’t really have a “system”; mostly, I just try to keep the piles stable. The last thing I want is to die crushed by a pile of books I haven’t read yet! 😛