Not A Drop To Read
My TBR Pile was once four or five books stacked on my "nightstand" (tv tray beside the bed). Then it was a tottering dozen stacked in a column on the floor. I am now convinced that the books are some form of smythe-sewn/permabonded tribble. They're everywhere.
No matter how many I read, I never reach the end. The library has joined in the conspiracy, and like a histrionic stepsister, they must be dealt with first at all times. Those books have places to go, people to entertain. My bought-on books are the long-suffering spaniels, who wait patiently for their turn of the page. Arthur Schoepenhaur said "To buy books would be a good thing if we also could buy the time to read them." Wise, witty, wonderful Arthur! What pith! And yet I'm still afflicted with this curious disease.What's worse than the disease itself is this most awful side-effect which I like to call "ungrateful malaise" or "um" for short. "Um" is the sound I make as I sit in front of the shelves and try my darndest to pick the next read. Do I feel like ingesting the humourous travails of a single woman in her midthirties as she tries to date a rock star? Um.... Would I rather find out who is chopping up Catholic redheads in the Lake District then summarily dumping their body parts in rubbish bins? Um... How about a period tale about the early days of the Stock Market? Um...how about something serious so that I will sound erudite when someone asks me what I am reading?
(Does this happen to anybody in real life? Are others wont to come up to them in supermarkets and shoe stores to ask what they're reading? "Since you've asked, I've been tucking into The Rise And Fall Of The Roman Empire these days, Jerome!")
I am currently stuck in an UM phase right now and it's frustrating as all hedoublehockeysticks. I can only read the Harry Potter series twice a year–May for my Birthday, October for Halloween–and if I read another Atlantis-is-really-hidden-under-Lake-Titicaca book I might just beat up the next ruggedly handsome archaeologist/freediver I meet.
Does ANYBODY have any book recommendations? I'll even go out and buy another one. Heaven knows it'd have company.
Image (c) Colin Thompson
posted by Kat Coble @ 10:07 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
When I last ran out of books to read I started in on everything Raymond Chandler had ever written, which is a manageable eight or nine novels and a collection of short stories. Noir/pulp fiction may not mix well with Harry Potter, but I loved them.
Mmmm. Chandler. I've actually never read any Chandler (although I have seen the movie of The Big Sleep.)
I might give those a try.
Why on earth do I always get Raymond Chandler mixed up with Dashiell Hammett?
Ha! You come to the king of the book-a-holics and ask for a recommendation on a book...heh, heh, heh...
If you've not read Laura Lippman's Every Secret Thing, trust me...it's good. It's a stand alone. She usually writes novels with her protagonist Tess Monagahan, all of the ones I've rea are good.
Then, there are the mysteries of Elizabeth George. Start at a Great Deilverance and trust me...you'll like them.
Of course, I have to recommend Dune, Ender's Game...there's a reason they're classics.
Dude. Michael.
Thanks, but I have read every one of those recommendations, including all of the Tess Monaghan books.
My life is over--the king of the bookaholics has failed me.
Okay, I take that back. I haven't read ALL of Elizabeth Georges
How do you feel about Georgette Heyer?
Last week was James Ellroy week at Casa de Sarcastro.
Try the "American Tabloid" and "The Cold Six Thousand" for a nice ugly look at the fallen heroes of the baby boom generation.
Katherine...
If you've not read the last Lynley and Havers novel, it is a MUST READ.
Arrgh...I can't even begin to tell you why without ruining it all..
Michael
PKN-Never tried Georgette Heyer. Which do you recommend first?
Sar-LOVED American Tabloid. Except the part about Ruby's dogs. That made me just--ick--I dunno. That's a good idea. I'll revisit some Ellroy. (I've only read AT and LAConf. oh. And Black Dahlia and White Jazz.) Wonder why I didn't read Cold Six right after AT, cause it sounds like they go together.... I'll grab that one.
Michael--That's just plain mean. I've got about 10 Lynley/Havers books between where I'm at and the last one. BTW, if you like those types of mysteries, have you gotten into Carol O'Connell's Mallory series? Those are about the single best mystery series books out there right now.
For Jane Austen-y romance, Cotillion or Sylvester (the latter being a paragon of bickering romance).
For mystery, A Blunt Instrument.
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