Books From Before Blogging

I haven't done a Top Ten Tuesday in a really long time. This week's topic grabbed me though. This week, the bloggers from The Broke and the Bookish wanted to know the top Ten Books That Have Been On Your Shelf (Or TBR) From Before You Started Blogging That You STILL Haven't Read Yet. Since I recently started looking back at my blogging past, having passed my 10th blogging anniversary, I started to wonder, what books have been sitting on my shelf, unread, for over 10 years? My posts on Suicide Squad and The Humans are going to have to wait, because I need to know this now.

1. Appointment with Death, by Agatha Christie - I own 4 of Christie's books, why did I stop reading at 3?

2. It, by Stephen King - What is wrong with me? King is one of my favourite authors and I've read loads of his other books, but not It?

3. The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton - I picked it up on the cheap after having reading Ethan Frome and it's just sat on my shelf.

4. Fury, by Salman Rushdie - Again, I got it on sale, after having read Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and it has just sat there.

5. Jacob's Room, by Virginia Woolf - I took a class on Woolf, but Jacob's Room was not one of the books we read. I bought it anyway.

6. Almost all of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles - My Hubby and I were both reading these books. I was also reading Rice's Mayfair Witches books. Somehow I have never made it past Tale of the Body Thief. I will soon though (maybe).

7. A Perfect Pledge, by Rabindranath Maharaj - I read Maharaj's short story collection The Book of Ifs and Buts and loved it, so I picked up this novel... and it's followed me for years.

8. War and Peace, by Leo Tolsoy (can we include Crime and Punishment & Ulysses here?) - They're long and scary. Based on length alone, I'm more likely to read Crime and Punishment than the other two.

9. The Tiger Claw, by Shauna Singh Baldwin - I don't know why. It just hasn't been read yet.

10. From Ink Lake, edited by Michael Ondaatje - It's a collection of Canadian short stories. Seems like my kind of thing, but nope. It's sat on my shelf as long as the rest of them.

I thought there would be more, but last year I started making an effort to read the books that I've had for a long time. That's part of the reason I got around to reading Tale of the Body Theif. Seeing this list has reminded me how much I wanted to read each of these books when I bought them. Hopefully, I get to at least one of them soon.

Why Have I Read Only One Book By So Many Authors?

I recently started asking myself the question that is the title to this post, why have I read only one book by so many authors?  There are authors, who after reading one of their books, I say I'm going to read more by them, but don't. They range from classic to contemporary, from serious literature to genre fiction, from very famous to lesser known.  I decided to compile a list:

Nick Hornby - A Long Way Down

Hanan Al-Shaykh - Only In London

Zora Neale Hurston - Their Eyes Were Watching God

Anna Davis - Cheet

Jeanette Winterson - Weight

Edith Wharton - Ethan Frome

Carol Shields - Dressing Up For The Carnival

Salman Rushdie - Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Audrey Niffenegger - The Time Traveler's Wife

Rohinton Mistry - Family Matters

Rabindranath Maharaj - The Book of Ifs and Buts

Stieg Larsson - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Elizabeth Hay - Small Change

Francesca Lia Block - The Rose and the Beast

Karen Armstrong - A Short History of Myth

There were more, but these were the ones that stood out the most.  I liked all of these books, loved some of them. I intended (and still do) to read more by these authors.  Why haven't I yet?  I'm not sure. For many of these authors, I already own another book by them. Why are they still unread?  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first book in a trilogy and I have the other two books!  It's embarrassing. Why haven't I read Salman Rushdie's Fury or Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry or Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth?  Can someone tell me?

I own a lot of books. An insane, bordering on hoarder, amount of books. Are they too distracting?  I don't know if I lack focus; I have read Family Matters and Their Eyes Were Watching God. Do I want to read ALL the authors, even if I can't read all the authors' books? Maybe something like that. 

I recently read The Last Policeman, by Ben H. Winters. Will I be reading more by him? 

It's Gotten A Bit Chilly: Top Ten Books On My Fall Reading List

I'm really hoping (more than usual) to actually stick to My Top Ten list for Fall books.  Can I read these 10 books by December?

1. Allegiant - Veronica Roth

2. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

3. The House of Mirth - Edith Wharton

3. The Thousand Orcs - R.A. Salvatore

4. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

5. Champion - Marie Lu

6. Fool - Christopher Moore

7. The Last Policeman - Ben H. Winters

8. The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater

9. Horns - Joe Hill

10. Carrie - Stephen King

Can I get all ten of these books read in three months?  Probably not, I never do, but I'll try.  There are definitely a few that are more of a "priority" than others, series conclusions, must-read-before-seeing-movie, but I do want to read all of them.

Thanks to The Broke and The Bookish for hosting.

I Will Be Reading....

4!

4 was the number of the Classics Club Spin.  That means, from the list I posted on Thursday, I will be reading The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.  It was a late addition to the list and honestly, I can't tell you what it's about right now.  I just remember thinking Ethan Frome was a great book and wanting to read more by Wharton.  I know The House of Mirth isn't nearly as long as my last Spin book, which I did not finish on time.  I'm looking forward to reading a book that's been sitting on my shelf for years and hopefully I'll finish it before October 1st.  

(Can I tell you a secret?  I was honestly hoping for Cat's Cradle.)