May Wrap-Up: Books and Reviews
Ye Grande Olde TBR(e) Challenge Update
I started May with 235 unread books sitting around my house. And I ended with … *drumroll* … 242!
Gosh, it felt like I did nothing this month but read and post, and still that number went up… but I guess most of my reads were either audiobooks or books from the library, which don’t affect the TBR pile… and a large chunk of my posting was me still playing catch-up from April. We’ll see if I can do better in June.
Let’s take a look at the breakdown:
Neutral books – Read, but don’t affect the TBR pile
Audiobooks
– The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones
– A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett
– Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett
– Persuasion by Jane Austen
Read but not owned
– Jack of Fables, Vol. 3: The Bad Prince by Bill Willingham
– Jack of Fables, Vol 4: Americana by Bill Willingham
– Ghosts of the Abyss: A Journey into the Heart of the Titanic by Don Lynch & Ken Marschall
– Death: The Time of Your Life by Neil Gaiman
Re-reads
– The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
– Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams
– So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams
– Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams
– A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Changes to the TBR pile
Cleared from my TBR pile (huzzah!)
– Palace Circle by Rebecca Dean
– Zenith by Julie Bertagna
– The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
– Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik
Added to, then promptly cleared from my TBR pile (um… huzzah?)
– An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage
– The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Other removals from my TBR pile (meh?)
– Blindness by José Saramago is getting the boot. I tried a few pages of the paper version and could tell the punctuation (or lack thereof) was going to drive me batty. Anybody want my copy?
Added to my TBR pile (shame!)
– Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel
– Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
– The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
– Guinevere’s Gift by Nancy McKenzie
– Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon
– Booth’s Sister by Jane Singer
– The Wet Nurse’s Tale by Erica Eisdorfer
– Priestess of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
– The Ha-Ha by Dave King
– Tomato Rhapsody: A Fable of Love, Lust & Forbidden Fruit by Adam Schell
– Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
– Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson (yay!)
Other Non-TBR Book Acquisitions
– Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
– 7-Day Afghans by Jean Leinhauser & Rita Weiss
Fyrefly's Book Blog 
Well, at least the new books in your TBR pile look great! =)
That’s kind of funny, that you ended up with more books! I can absolutely relate to your TBR situation: I’ve often said I am certain that my books multiply themselves when I am not looking! I read one, I buy two… I borrow two instead of buying, and I feel proud, but then I go and buy four more!
Is there hope for us?
You have great new books though! My man and I are specially jealous of your Brandon Sanderson copy of Warbreaker!
Not to taunt the both of you, but Warbreaker *is* pretty great… at least the first 80 pages, which is what I was able to get through last night before I forced myself to go to bed. :)
Ooh, I’m jealous of your WARBREAKER! I’ll look forward to your review.
I can’t believe you mentioned 7-day afghans, here’s what I had to say about it on my blog,
http://blog.newsok.com/okiereads/2008/12/09/cold-outside-and-in-best-afghan-ever/
I think of it as the best afghan book ever, even with 70’s colors in the first edition.
I’m so envious of your copy of Warbreaker! I loved Elantris, Brandon Sanderson’s other standalone fantasy, and really want to read Warbreaker. I’m hoping an ARC magically appears tomorrow. (Not that I need to add any more books to my TBR list.)
I’m so proud of you for putting aside a book that you didn’t like ;D Now go to wikipedia and get the gist.
Memory – It should be up in a few days – it’s fat, and while it’s not a slow read, it’s not something that I want to tear through at top speed, either.
Kitty – I have several other of their afghan books, and have made some from those patterns… but I’m always looking for new ideas.
Ruth – Oh, I hope an ARC magically appears for you too!
John – I… actually kind of already did, during the “how much worse is it going to get” phase of the process. :)
You had a great May! I wish I hadn’t looked at your list of additions to your TBR, though – now I’ve got more on my wish list. You’ve got some interesting titles there.
Belle – Hee, sorry! Which ones did you add?
Haha – I love that title of Neutral Books! I’ve given up on fighting the TBR pile. I hope you let us know how 7 Day Afghans is – I’m always on the look-out for good crochet afghan books. Someday I will learn how to knit them too because there are so many beautiful knitted afghans out there :)
Joanne – A few years ago I bought myself one of the “teach yourself to knit” kits that had a book, two pairs of needles, and some accessories, and I was making an afghan within a few days. My problem is finding “knit and crochet” afghan pattern books that aren’t 90% crochet patterns… because while I crochet as well, I much prefer knitting for big projects.
I’ve seen those kits around, maybe I will have to grab one. There was one especially for girls 10-13 and you learned to knit a pink and purple scarf – hopefully that would be easy enough for me :)
I’m sure it would. Knitting is as easy as crochet, really. The hardest part of learning, I thought, was learning how to cast on – how to get the stitches on the needle in the first place. Everything else was pretty straightforward.
Another option would be to pick up a pair of needles and a ball of cotton, and check to see if your library has a learn-to-knit book, and make a few dishcloths. They’re quick, easy to practice on, useful, and if your first few aren’t pretty, what the heck, they’re going to be used for scrubbing dirty dishes anyways. :)
I always end up with more books. That’s why I don’t count!
and, yay, Priestess of Avalon. I am in love with Marion Zimmer Bradley’s books!
Kailana – I’ve only read two of her books (Mists of Avalon and one of the other prequels), but based on those, I definitely will pick up more of her stuff when I get the chance.