Fall Reading Shortlist

My attempt at a summer shortlist was a moderate success. I only read about half of the books I was planning to, even giving myself an extra month’s worth of summer in which to accomplish it. Still, I liked having a box of books by my bed where I could keep my “to be read next” pile. The only problems were a) finding something else on the shelf that appealed more, and b) getting books from the library instead of reading my own!

So, whether or not I stick to it is thoroughly up in the air, but I thought I’d at least make a shortlist of what I’d like to get read in the next few months. Some of these are my own, some are coming from the library, but hopefully having a list will keep me somewhat on track and not too distracted by other shiny new books at the library and/or bookstore. (Hey, I’m trying to be optimistic, here. Really, it could happen. Hey, seriously, stop laughing!)

	Finish: – Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin. It’s a big anniversary year, and I’ve been “currently reading” this since March… and the Beagle hasn’t even made it past Brazil yet. Time to get on it. – Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: 1997 ed. by Terri Datlow & Ellen Windling. I don’t even remember when I started this, but I think it’s been over a year. I’ll commit myself to a story per night – and that usually last for two or three nights, and then I don’t pick it up again for ages.
	Re-read: – Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan. I can’t help myself. I have to read the new one, so I’m going to have to re-read this one too.
		New Releases: – An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon. I think I am juuuust past the halfway-point. – Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger – Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia by Brandon Sanderson – And Another Thing by Eoin Colfer. New Hitchhiker’s book! – The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson – The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
	TBR non-fiction – Write Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day by Joan Bolker. It’s getting to be about that time… although I’m afraid it’s going to start “how to write your dissertation in fifteen minutes a day… starting in your first year of grad school.” – The Secret Lives of Lobsters by Trevor Corson. Kim’s making her sister read this book, and since I mooched it on Kim’s recommendation, I thought I might read along. – Stiff by Mary Roach. ‘Tis the season.
		TBR fiction – Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. For review in the next week or so… it might actually make a good break in the middle of the Gabaldon tome. – The Bigamist’s Daughter by Alice McDermott. My advisor walked over to my desk and said “You like novels, right? I think you’ll like this one.” – Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliott. I won a copy last spring, spent all summer hearing good things about it, now I really need to read it. – Ship Fever by Andrea Barrett. It’s boats! And short stories! And sciency-related! – In the Woods by Tara French. Maybe it’s just the cover design, but this feels like an appropriate fall read. – The Vintner’s Luck by Elizabeth Knox. I always feel bad if I don’t get one year’s Christmas presents read by the time the next year rolls around. – The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay. Aww, Guy, it’s been too long. – Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch. Before I forget everything that happened in The Lies of Locke Lamora. – The rest of the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris. So addictive.