BTT: What’s Sitting on Your Shelf?

A day early, but it’s Thursday here anywayz, well almost. Only a little more than an hour to go.

Okay–here was an interesting article by Christopher Schoppa in the Washington Post.

Avid readers know all too well how easy it is to acquire books — it’s the letting go that’s the difficult part. … During the past 20 years, in which books have played a significant role in both my personal and professional lives, I’ve certainly had my fair share of them (and some might say several others’ shares) in my library. Many were read and saved for posterity, others eventually, but still reluctantly, sent back out into the world.

But there is also a category of titles that I’ve clung to for years, as they survived numerous purges, frequent library donations and countless changes of residence. I’ve yet to read them, but am absolutely certain I will. And should. When, I’m not sure, as I’m constantly distracted by the recent, just published and soon to be published works.

So, the question is his: “What tomes are waiting patiently on your shelves?“

I am very stringent when it comes to giving books away even if they are the ones I don’t like. But I am working on it.

Every once in a while I rearrange my TBR list. I remove books I think I won’t read. But there are some books that are always there because I think I’ll get to them some day. So they remain in my list for months, even years.

One such book, until recently was Gone with the wind. I always dreaded reading it considering the size. But then one day I took the plunge and loved it.

Recently my TBR pile has been increasing because of all the new books I buy, all the books I refuse to remove from it and also because of the ARC’s. The ones that come to my mind are…

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse: This is not really my kind of book, but I have heard a lot about it. It’s my sister’s book actually. I want to see what the hype is about, at least read 10-15 pages and decide for myself if I want to read the entire book or not.

Blood and Sand by Frank Gardener: I read about this book in The Times of India. I went to a bookstore and there it was staring at me. I like the subject of this book.
Book Blurb: On 6th June 2004, in a quite suburb of Riyadh, BBC security correspondent Frank Gardener and cameraman Simon Cumbers were ambushed by Islamist gunmen. Simon was killed outright. Frank was hit in the shoulder and leg. As he lay in the road, pleading for his life, a figure stood over him and pumped four bullets into his body at point-blank range…
See? I told you it sounds interesting.

People’s act of Love by James Meek: I bought this book in a sale. I want to read this one because it is set in Russia and I haven’t read many books with that premise.

Malgudi days: I got this book as a gift around 3 years back. It’s a short story collection and of course very popular. As a kid I remember watching the televised version of it. I loved the title song and sometimes, even after all these years, I can still hear it as a ring tone on somebody’s cell.

Legends of Pensam: I bought this from a small bookstore near my house long back. Part of the reason this is in my TBR list is because I remember the twinkle in the sales girls eyes when she urged me to read it.

A tree grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith: I found this in a second hand book store. What caught my attention were the name and the cover. Of course later I got to know it was a classic.

It was five past midnight in Bhopal by Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro: I read almost half of the book. I liked what I read but I really don’t remember why I didn’t read any further.

Love in the time of Cholera: I am a sucker for romance novels. And I heard this one is one of the very best. The font of the edition I have is really small and somehow that puts me off.

There are many more. I am surprised how I can remember where I got each of my books, well almost all of them. Someday, my darling books, someday, I will read you all.