Of course, sometimes I don’t want to read anything new and fantastic because I am, you know, writing. And that means a new and fantastic book will be too distracting and might also give me an inferiority complex, and you know that’s never good.
So my personal To Be Read pile is pretty darn high right now. I’ve thought of switching to a kindle or nook to save space, but then there wouldn’t be any physical constraints keeping me from buying every book in creation, so I don’t know. Maybe that’s not such a good idea.
Anyway! I really am eager to get to lots of the books down there – there’s about fifty or sixty on the pile right now, I thnk, which is pretty normal – but I can’t because I’m also trying to finish chapter 2 of my current project, so there you go. Borrowed vampire romances aside, just not reading much right now, especially not books I hope and expect will be really outstanding.
But, hey, let’s take a look down there and just see what’s waiting, shall we? Just to build the anticipation, right? Not a complete look, but the ones I really, truly want to get off the pile first chance I get – the top ten out of the Most Anticipated section, as it were. Counting only books I actually have right this minute, nothing that’s on my wishlist or just due out later this year or anything or even in the mail.
In no particular order:
THE SCORPIO RACES by Stiefvater, that’s one. It’s got a great review by The Book Smugglers and it sounds just right for me.
NAME OF THE WIND but Rothfuss. I know, I know, I’m the last person on Earth who hasn’t read this, but I was waiting to have time and then I was waiting for the sequel and now I’m waiting to have time again. It moved up to the top when the sequel finally came out, so I’m sure I’ll finally get to it this year sometime.
THE GIRL WHO etc, by Valente. Amazingly, I have never read anything by Valente. Everybody loves her books. I bet I will too, the very next time I take a major break from writing. Which, granted, may not be for a while.
DESERT OF SOULS by Howard Andrew Jones, which I know nothing about except the SFBC makes it sound good (sometimes they fool me, I admit). Neat cover, great Arabian Nights look. Looking forward to trying it, but not quite as confident that I’ll love it.
THE FETCH by Laura Whitcomb. Loved loved loved her book A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT, which btw I hear has a sequel coming out this year. I’ve kind of been putting off reading THE FETCH just because I sometimes enjoy drawing out the anticipation. I’m sure it will be great!
PARTIALS by Dan Wells. Really loved I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER and the sequels. I bet he’s done a fabulous job with this YA dystopian novel.
GATEWAY by Sharon Shinn, because, hey, Sharon Shinn!
DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE by Taylor, which I’ve heard great things about just here and there.
SILVER PHOENIX by Cindy Pon, because ditto – just heard good things that make me think it’ll be right up my alley.
ROSEMARY AND RUE, because I thought FEED was really good – well, plausibility issues, but still – and it’s really the same author, and because I’m looking forward to finding another paranormal author I really love.
Also on the pile, still in no particular order, by no means a complete list, but pretty representative:
CITY OF DRAGONS by Hobb – thought the first two books were pretty good
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EMBASSYTOWN by Mieville – really loved THE CITY AND THE CITY
DEMON’S COVENANT by Brennan
DEMON KING by Chima
AN INSTANCE OF THE FINGERPOST by Pears – this one as highly recommended by people at last year’s World Fantasy Convention.
SHIPBREAKER by Bacigalupi, though Ecological Doom novels usually don’t do it for me – I know way too much about real ecology – that was my area in grad school, you know – so I find eco-doomsday scenarios usually VERY unpersuasive and annoying. Nevertheless, I’ve heard so many good things about this that I’m willing to try harder than usual to suspend disbelief.
THE PASSAGE by Cronin. Whoa, with a review like that at The Book Smugglers? Gotta try it.
NAMAH’S KISS by Carey.
MIDNIGHT NEVER COME by Brennan, partly because I like her essays at Swan Tower.
TOADS AND DIAMONDS by Tomlinson, partly because I love the cover so much.
DRAGON’S PATH by Abraham, though I’m not really in the mood for Modern Epic Fantasy, so it’s not on the short list.
SOMEWHERE TO BE FLYING by de Lint, because everybody says he’s got a very lyrical style and I want to try it out.
There’s a good sample of my current TBR pile! What’s on yours?
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THE SCORPIO RACES was amazing–I loved every line of it, and promptly pushed it upon my sister, who called me at 10 p.m. to enthuse for half an hour over how much she’d loved it, too. And I’m a huge fan of THE NAME OF THE WIND, so I hope you enjoy them both! SILVER PHOENIX had some elements that really appealed to me (like a main female character who loves food, and delicious descriptions of said food) but relied a bit too much on Stupid Decisions pushing the plot forward for my taste. I’ll be interested to hear what you think. And I’m snagging a lot of these books from your TBR pile for my own!
Wincing at the stupid gas afflicting Silver Phoenix. That is so not awesome . . . but I hope the rest of the book will make up for it. It was the comments about food in the book that made me grab a copy, so looking forward to that.
EVERYONE is a huge fan of The Name of the Wind, I think. I really need to pick a time when I have the leisure to give it the attention it deserves.
The Scorpio Races . . . I’m thinking that’s the very first book I’ll pull off the pile. REALLY looking forward to it!
Waves hand – I’m not a huge fan of NAME OF THE WIND. When I started it I was sucked in, but somewhere along the line it lost hold on my attention. I haven’t picked up the sequel, although I may still, if I run out of reading material – I am mildly curious about where Rothfuss is taking the story. Should you like it a lot, you might want to wander over to Tor’s website where Jo Walton was leading an in depth, chapter by chapter read of it and the sequel. I think she just finished.
I’ll be interested in your take on TOAD AND DIAMONDS. Most of it was excellent, but I had a couple nits to pick with it. And the Marie Brennan, which was excellent (no nitpicking).
I haven’t read de Lint in years, but once liked him very much. He puts words together very well, I just started noticing a dreary (to me) sameness to the stories he told with them.
Really? Well, I’m glad you said so. I don’t want to go into Name Of The Wind with expectations that are way too high for any book to meet., so it’s best to hear a negative comment or two. But hopefully I’ll find it more compelling than you.
Now I’m even more interested in Toads And Diamonds. Which has a beautiful cover, doesn’t it? And Midnight Never Come is one of my favorite titles ever — a good cover and/or a good title never hurt anything, that’s for sure.
I still have Name of the Wind on my TBR list also. I don’t want to start it until the third book is out. Same with A Game of Thrones, I don’t want to start that series until it is finished.
Oh, yes! I am NOT touching any Game of Thrones novels until the whole series is out. I hate waiting, especially waiting, you know, a decade or whatever instead of just a year.