Climbing Mount To-Be-Read

[mistymassey]

Yes, I'm talking about that mountain of books beside your bed or near your desk, the one that's made of books you keep buying even though you know you already own more books than you can read in a month. Mine is much smaller than usual, because we curtailed frivolous spending last month in order to finish paying off philipmcavery's hospital bill. But the check has cleared, which meant we could go to Joseph Beth and buy books again.





Okay, the pile on the floor and the top shelf of the case constitute the mountain - all those Tim Powers books in the middle are my prized ones, and are next to the bed so that I can rescue them in the event of a fire in the night. :D


The Ascension of the Magdalene (Unknown Armies) - Neal
Foucault's Pendulum - Eco
The Death of the Necromancer - Wells
A Feast For Crows - Martin
Lud-in-the-Mist - Mirrlees
Living Next Door to the God of Love - Robson
The Last Witchfinder - Morrow
Embracing Jesus and the Goddess - McColman
The Shakespeare Stealer - Blackwood
The Sea Change - Bray
Those Who Walk in Darkness - Ridley
The Darkness That Comes Before - Bakker
Night Echoes - Lisle
Carnival - Bear
The Chalice and the Blade - Eisler
The Cthulhu Mythos - Derleth
Jack of Eagles - Blish
Homeland - Salvatore
Mary Magdalene - Haskins
The Birth of Venus - Dunant
The Elegant Universe - Greene
The Fabric of the Cosmos - Greene
The Tyranny of the Night - Cook
A World Full of Gods - Hopkins
Vampire Stories of the American South
Liberating the Gospels - Spong
Nightlife - Thurman
Night Lost - Viehl
Of Saints and Shadows - Golden
The Gormenghast Trilogy - Peake
Islam - Armstrong
A Secret History - Gentle
The Dancing WuLi Masters - Zukav
Esoteric Christianity - Besant
Master and Commander - O'Brian

They're not in any sort of order other than size, because I tend to choose a book from the pile rather than reading what's next in line. I love my mountain, though - having plenty of books at hand is almost a security blanket for me. What about y'all? Do you have a mountain?

Comments

[beatrizwench.livejournal.com]

Sadly at the moment I am mountainless. I need a trip to the bookstore, but I get overwhelmed because I'm "out" of authors. Well, except for you. And I need to read Faith's books.

I'm going to copy your mountain list, though, because almost all of the things you suggest to me are wonderful!!

[madkestrel.livejournal.com]

You might like Louise Cooper - she wrote The Time Master trilogy, which is one of my all-time favorites. I don't know if they're still in print, but it's worth a look around.

[aqeldroma.livejournal.com]

I have a box instead of a stack :P

I'd suggest moving Of Saints and Shadows to the top of that heap. It's worth the read.

[madkestrel.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll take that under advisement! :D I'm finishing up The Nimble Man right now, and liking it a lot.

[kaeleigh-faire.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh! I knew I shouldn't have read this because, guess what? Now I have more titles to add to my mountain! :) Some of the titles are the same as in my mountain, but I have just finished THE LAST WITCHFINDER and it was great. It's become one of my "protect at all costs" items!

[madkestrel.livejournal.com]

I had heard of The Last Witchfinder, and wanted to read it for a while. So I'm pleased to hear it impressed you that much!

[cellymcfae.livejournal.com]

Leave plenty of time for Foucault's Pendulum. It's wonderful, but extraordinarily dense. I read it this winter/spring and have put it BACK in the ToBeRead pile. Just so much to absorb there! The Dancing WuLi Masters is another dense one.

[strangertides.livejournal.com]

I try to work through my mountain almost as fast as I build it up, so it doesn't get too large, although it tends to accumulate books on the bottom that are looking more and more like I'm not gonna get around to them.


So at the moment the bedside table includes kind of a strange mix...

Two "Being Read" books:
Red Seas Under Red Skies - Lynch (library)
The Children of Hurin - Tolkien

One "Recently Read" book:
Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon - Dennett

The following "To Be Read" books:
Map of Bones - Rollins
Four and Twenty Blackbirds - Priest
Orient Express - Greene
The Girl with the Long Green Heart - Block
999 (that horror anthology with the Powers story in it - I've read maybe half the stories)

And the following "Not Likely to Be Read Any Time Soon" books, since they have yet to appeal to me, but are on the stack because someone either gave, lent or otherwise recommended them to me:
A Civil Action - Harr
The Voyage of the Narwhal - Barrett
Creative and Mental Growth - Lowenfeld/Brittain
Wild At Heart - Eldredge
Ordering Your Private World - MacDonald

On your mountain, I can highly recommend The Elegant Universe and Death of the Necromancer; the only other one I've read is Lud-In-The-Mist (as you know highly recommended by Powers, but I'm afraid I wasn't impressed).

A pic of my Powers shelf is posted elsewhere, but it's in another whole room, so if there's a fire, I guess I'll be wandering all over the house what with rescuing my daughter from her room and the cats from wherever they are. ;)

By the way I finally replied to you finally replying to me via NaNoMail, so check back when you have a chance!

[madkestrel.livejournal.com]

You know, Lud didn't really do it for me either. I've actually started it once, and gave up, which is why it's still in the mountain. You'll enjoy the Lynch book, though - I was pleased with it. (That is, when I wasn't stressing about his plot points that might have been similar to mine.)

I'll read your Nano message as soon as they reopen the logins. *grin*

[teddystutz.livejournal.com]

fingle and I read Lud and felt the same way. It was cute but it certainly didn't rock our worlds. Maybe you have to be a kid for it to make a big impression.

whooooooaaaa!

[faithhunter.livejournal.com]

Your mt. is even bigger than mine!
I am impressed!
Faith Hunter