Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Books I’m On the Fence About

My daughter-in-law was surprised when she visited yesterday. "What happened to the books?"

When she last stopped by, I had twelve huge stacks of books along the wall of our back bedroom. Now the books were gone.

"Gone?" she asked.

My face reddened. "No," I admitted. "I put some on the shelf in the closet. I put others on the nightstand. Some are under the bed."

Here are books I'm thinking about reading, but haven't yet. Thoughts?


The Eight by Katherine Neville (keep or give away?)
Before the Fall (keep or give away?)
Courage for Beginners (keep or give away?)


The Tin Drum (keep or give away?)
Round Rock (keep or give away?)
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley (keep or give away?)


Dear Mrs. Bird (keep or give away?)
A Little Life (keep or give away?)
Love & Luck (keep or give away?)


Strange the Dreamer (keep or give away?)
Perdido Street Station (keep or give away?)
Battle Magic (keep or give away?)
Before I Fall (keep or give away?)
Cinder (keep or give away?)
The Elite (keep or give away?)
City of Bones (keep or give away?)



Story's End (keep or give away?)
Book Scavenger (keep or give away?)
The City of Dreaming Books (keep or give away?)



The Nest (keep or give away?)
Sous Chef (keep or give away?)



Turtles All the Way Down (keep or give away?)
Salt to the Sea (keep or give away?)
The Night Circus (keep or give away?)


D-Day (keep or give away?)
Yoga Wisdom and Practice (keep or give away?)


I'm ridiculous. Where am I going as soon as I finish this post? A library book sale!


Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.


18 comments:

  1. Oh wow! That's a lot! The only one I see here the I read was Cinder! While I liked that one, it was really Scarlet (the second book) that won me over with the series!

    Here's my Tuesday Post

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't like for people to see our bedroom because of the stacks of books so I can relate. I've only read An Absolutely Remarkable Thing - I enjoyed it but it wasn't a favorite.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my word, Deb! You're as bad as me. Don't even look in the closet of my office. Maybe I should share a picture one day. Ha! The ones from your list that I've read and liked are:

    CITY OF BONES
    DEAR MRS. BIRD
    THE DEATH OF MRS. WESTAWAY
    A THOUSAND ACRES
    BEFORE THE FALL

    All were good, but I probably liked the Mrs. Bird book best. Very charming.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The only one I read was The Night Circus. Everyone went gaga about it. I didn't like it, maybe because it was actually in audio, and I thought the narrator's voice was too old to fit the characters.
    If you decide to give The Death of Mrs Westaway, we could try a swap

    ReplyDelete
  5. I really liked A Thousand Acres and would recommend reading it.

    This is my Top Ten Tuesday post.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I really liked Salt To The Sea, so I would recommend giving that one a chance, but wasn't that keen on either Before I Fall or Cinder. The rest I haven't heard of or haven't read yet!
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2019/02/05/top-ten-tuesday-197/

    ReplyDelete
  7. I loved Turtles All the Way Down so my vote is to keep it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I would definitely put A Little Life out of the stack.
    Before The Fall was entertaining but lackluster. You could get rid of it and not miss anything.
    Night Circus was good visually if you like to imagine fantastical things. Or if you like the circus. But the story itself was just okay. I was sure it was going to be a move but it never happened.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh my, I have my own challenge lately to sort through my stacks of books that I don't think I can rightly say which ones for you to keep or give away. Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ok. Here are my thoughts on your "on the fence books" that I have read. Definitely keep and read: 1,000 Acres; Little Life (but give it time to get into); and Salt to the Sea. Keep and read if you want a YA to entertain you: Before I Fall. I am also on the fence about Turtles All the Way Down. I only saw the movie of Tin Drum and it is WEIRD! Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  11. This looks so familiar, with the stacks of unread books! I would keep every one of them. ☺ Mine are all still gathering dust, as well, but someday...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks for all the thoughts, friends. It's very helpful.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I say you have to decide if you're even curious about some of these books. If not, give away and move on to other books. Love that you're off to a book sale. Can't wait to hear about what you find!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I enjoyed The Night Circus, but I listened to the audio, so maybe go that route? Before the Fall was just ok.

    ReplyDelete
  15. There are so many, many books in this world, only keep and read those that truly interest you or grip you from the beginning. Otherwise you are spending time you could have spent on something you would have enjoyed more.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi - I don't have a Google account so I am sending this via your email account.

    Your most recent blog entry concerns books to read or give away, I don't know about any of the other but do keep:

    The Night Circus

    I have read it several times. It is magical. It is a keeper!!

    Reta Kenter
    AKA
    Bufalogirl@aol.com

    P.S. I am a constant reader but due to your connection with Google - I am not a member - I can't leave comments - RK

    ReplyDelete
  17. Deb, as I looked over your list, the one that jumped out at me was A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley. I went back to my blog to get this link to my Book Pairs ~ his 'n hers post from March 2007, where I paired A Thousand Acres with King Lear by Shakespeare, asking, "What do these pairs of books have in common?" My readers added other pairs in the comments. I had started blogging just over a month earlier on January 30, 2007. Though I read the book more than a dozen years ago, it's still a favorite.

    ReplyDelete

I hope you will leave a comment so I know you have visited. If you stop by my blog, I will always stop by yours.

Note: Disqus commenting is only available on the web version of the blog. Please switch to the web version if you are using a mobile device.