Thursday, June 6, 2013

Found Around the Shelves: Unread Books

While reorganizing my bookshelves recently, I realized that I may have a teensy book hoarding problem. In an attempt to put off doing something more constructive with my time, I decided to take stock of how many books I've managed to accumulate without ever reading them. Why do I buy books, stick them on a shelf, and then forget about them? I don't have a very good answer for that one. Well, I do go to the library often, especially since I live so close to it, so maybe if I could stay out of there, I'd be more attentive to my books at home. Then again, maybe not. Quite a few of these were must-haves when I bought them, which makes me feel even worse about leaving them unread for so long. All of the pictured books were acquired before this year, so this little inventory doesn't take into account a few 2013 book purchases which are floating around.

The YA Pile

I bought Divergent shortly after it was released, so yes, it's been hanging around on the shelf for that long. As you can see, I also have a mini-stockpile of Melina Marchetta books to read.

The Grown-Up Pile

I was surprised to see that the adult book pile almost matched the YA stack, and that there was so much historical fiction in there.

The Classics Pile

I enjoyed Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South (and LOVED the BBC miniseries adaptation with Richard Armitage as John Thornton), and wanted to check out her other works. Alas, I still haven't gotten around to these two. I've always wanted to read Henry V, but now I'm thinking that I should read Richard II, Henry IV, Part 1, and Henry IV, Part 2 first, since they're a tetralogy.

The "Owned These Before I Moved" Pile

These are some of the last books I bought as a New Yorker, and they got packed away, sent to storage for a month, and unpacked in the new house without me ever cracking them open. It's been five years since I moved, and these poor things are still waiting for me to read them.

And the Oldest Unread Book I Own Is . . .

This one. It was a Christmas gift from my parents about 25 years ago, and for whatever reason, I never read this book. Since I started blogging, I've seen Anne of Green Gables mentioned often as a favorite, so I really ought to read it, at last.

I'm planning on tackling some of these unread books as part of the upcoming Summer Lovin' Read-a-thon. I don't have a set goal in mind; I'm just going to read as many books as I can during the week, and with any luck, get quite a bit of reading done during the 24-hour reading marathon on July 6. Now all I have to do is avoid the temptation to go the library that week . . . .

28 comments:

  1. I'm sure my piles would be bigger than yours. I would be afraid to do a post like this.

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    1. I figured that looking at the evidence would motivate me to get some of these read in the near future, lol.

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  2. Wow, that Anne of Green Gables book is darling! I've not read it either, but I have it on my Classics Club list. And I'm such a big fan of the North and South miniseries too! :)

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    1. I remember a whole bunch of classics came in editions like this one. I wish that I'd been more of a classics reader back then because I would have loved to own a few more of these.

      I haven't watched North and South in quite a while. Definitely time to dig out the DVD!

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  3. Wow, that's a lot of books. I also have a lot of books at home to read. You really need to read Divergent. It was really good and is going to be a movie sometime at the beginning of next year, April last I heard. Insurgent was great also, can't wait to read book 3, learned something very interesting at the end of book 2.

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    1. I keep telling myself that I'm finally going to sit down and read Divergent, and then I end up picking up a different book. I feel like one of the last people on the planet who hasn't read it yet.

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  4. The Anne of Green Gables book is so cute! The book is SO good so you have to get to it! I read all the books up until the fifth one when I just felt tired out by all of them. I don't know, she's such a charming character that I'll probably go back to her and maybe reread all of them!

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    1. If I hadn't seen so many bloggers gush about the book, I probably never would have given my copy a second glance. Now I feel really terrible about all the years I've let it sit on a shelf!

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  5. That happens to me a lot! I can probably find 5 or 6 or 10 books on my shelf that I bought when it was a must-read and now they're just sitting there!

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    1. I'm so bad about desperately wanting a book, buying it, and not reading it for months and months. I think I need to set a new policy for myself where I only buy books that I plan to read right away!

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  6. Wow! What a stack of books. I'm actually scared to go through mine and see what I've got. Since they are e-books I don't see them collecting dust and they are a lot easier to hide. I hope you get to them sometime soon! Jaclyn @ JC's Book Haven.

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    1. Not having to dust them is a definite upside to eBooks! It took me a good hour last week to dust all of my books plus the shelves and then put everything back in order.

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  7. I loved Anne of Green Gables when I first read it. Well worth a read, and toward the end of the series there's none of the MG tone to the books, and instead Anne has to make a choice which really reflects the expectations society had of women to 'yield' and self-sacrifice in those days. Each choice to sacrifice our own wants and needs is such a personal choice and I kept wondering what she'd do.

    Think I'll join the Read-a-thon!

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    1. My mom was a big fan of the TV series adaptation of the books, and I have a hunch that was a factor in me being gifted that particular title (don't know if she ever read any of the books). I'm really intrigued to read it now, and I'm going to push it up on my TBR.

      I hope you decide to join the read-a-thon! It's going to be my first, and I'm really looking forward to it. I think Ally and Melissa are going to sign up, too.

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  8. you should definitely read Divergent, it's really good!

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    1. I feel pretty guilty about leaving that one unread for so long. I hope I love it as much as everyone else seems to!

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  9. The Other Boleyn Girl made me realize I would forever be a historical fiction fan.

    As for Easy, it's the only New Adult book that has been amazing to me. There are some other decent New Adult books, but nothing that impacted me like Easy. Or maybe it's because it just seems like everyone is copying Easy as it was one of the earlier New Adult books that became popular.

    Good luck on your list this summer.

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    1. Thanks! I'm excited about the read-a-thon, but with my luck, it'll be a busy week and I'll get little to no reading done, lol.

      I haven't checked out the New Adult genre yet, which is why I bought Easy a while back. The market does seem to have exploded with NA titles; Goodreads has been trying to recommend a ton of them to me for the past few months.

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  10. Definitely read Divergent and Slammed as soon as possible! Anne is such a loveable classic you should give in and read that as well.

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    1. Yes, I do think it's time for me to read Anne of Green Gables and see what I've been missing out on all these years.

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  11. Ohh I remember getting Anne of Green Gables when I was a kid. But at the time I was too young to read it, I remember trying and figuring out there were too many words on the pages hahaha. When I picked it back up a few years later I remember the last half of the story went over my head... I may pick it up again at some stage in my life.

    Ohh I am totally a book hoarder too! I have quite a few unread books on my shelf that I bought ages ago and have yet to get too. They too are books that were a huge deal when I first bought them. I think my problem is the same as yours, I keep going to the library instead of reading what I have...

    I hope you get to these books someday soon!

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    1. My library constantly gets new books in, so every time I go, there's something there that I've been dying to read. Then I forget all about the books I have at home, and the cycle repeats the next time I go back to the library, lol. The last few times I've returned books (including today!), I've left my card home so maybe I can get to what's on my own shelves very soon.

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  12. haha I just loved this post, it's funny how we hoard books we desperately *need*...only to let them sit on the shelf!! Grave Mercy, Angelfall and the A Discovery of Witches books are all ones we share, but I'm hoping to read all of these this year *crosses fingers* I can definitely recommend Divergent & Anne of Green Gables to you though :) And I'd be curious to compare 'Anne' notes with someone with similar tastes to mine (like you) you hasn't grown up with the story (like me) LOL Thanks for sharing Lee!!

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    1. I'd love to compare thoughts on Anne of Green Gables once I've read it! All of the love it's gotten in the comments has made it a priority read. It's been a while since I've read a classic, so I think it'll be a nice change of pace.

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  13. Every time I make a dent in my unread pile, I get excited about that dent and rationalize that it means that I can probably buy some more books! It's a vicious cycle, haha

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    1. That's how I usually am with my library pile- when it gets low, I run back to the library to restock. I've been trying to be good since the start of the year, though, because I ended up having too many books out at a time and having to return them unread.

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  14. I just ran across this post. I have a lot of books, too, that I have purchased but never read (both hard copies & ebooks). I seriously need to read them soon. Also, Divergent is really worth your time, it is by far my favorite dystopian series. (That's saying a lot b/c dystopia is one of my favorite genres. I truly love dystopia.) I hope you like it when you finally read it. My suggestion would be to read it first before seeing the movie. :)

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    1. I read 2 books from my shelves this week, which I'm pretty proud of, lol. I still have to get to Divergent, though- soon, I hope!

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