Books in waiting

[mrissa]

the_red_shoes posted a list of books she wants this morning, and I thought it was interesting to read, but I couldn't do a list like that myself because my birthday is coming in less than a month, and I couldn't see any way not to make it sound like, "And this is what you should buy me! Everyone buy me things! All for meeeee!" what with the fuss I make over birthdays. (My birthday fuss is aimed at time with people and/or communication with people. Don't get me wrong, I like presents. But that's not the point of it.) (the_red_shoes doesn't make birthday fuss, so she doesn't have to worry about being misread.)

But! Then loupnoir asked about three fiction and three nonfiction books you have waiting for you, and that I can do with no fear of feeling grabby.

The nonfiction makes me sad, because I haven't been able to read nonfiction very well since the vertigo got bad. I'm hoping that'll ease up any day now, but in the meantime, I'm tearing through the fiction on my library list and ignoring the nonfiction completely. Three of the pieces of nonfiction that have been languishing on my book pile are The Wars of Louis XIV 1667-1714, A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians from Their American Homeland, and The Regional Roots of Developmental Politics in India: A Divided Leviathan. Sigh.

On the fiction piles, we have elisem's anthology Glass Bead Games, which has stories by truepenny and matociquala and other things by kalmn and casacorona and others. And there's Pat Barker's Double Vision from the library, and there's Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind for when I need something lengthy and portable, because I have it in paperback, nearly as deep as it is broad. And there are lots of others, owned and library, some whims and some recommendations and so on.

How about you? What books are waiting for you?

Comments

[lotusice.livejournal.com]

Still in the midst of A Prince of our Disorder, which really is that good, with the rest of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City waiting for me to finish it, although... I dunno. Interest waning.

Then I've got Mallory to reacquaint myself with, along with some chunks of the Golden Bough and The White Goddess, just to set the mood.

What I need is a decent of the Y Gododdin I can mark up (I'm about to just print one off the web), and am sort of slogging around in various books of Welsh epic poetry trying to decide which one to order... whenever that arrives it'll go to the top of the list, likely.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I know almost nothing about T.E. Lawrence. And I'm pretty sure this is nothing like the time I thought I didn't know the first thing about German history and it turned out I knew the first three or four things about German history.

I also have no information about which translations of Welsh epic poetry are good for what uses, but if you end up with opinions, I'd be interested.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

Nonfiction: just started She's Such a Geek. I also have the Tiptree bio, a Dawkins book, a couple Christmas presents from Santa concerning environmentalism, and The Girls Who Went Away.

Fiction: I think Ink has been on that shelf for longest. To Reign in Hell, by Brust, is there, but... pretty much the second I got it home, I thought, "No, I am tired of anything remotely Biblical, and I would like a break." Since then, a few Biblical things have snuck in, each time eroding my tolerance a little more. There are also a few recommended books, which are tougher. A lot of what I read is automatic-- "Ooh, Author X has a new one!"-- and what I buy is generally the same. But with buying, especially with folks who write pretty widespread things, there's always a chance I won't actually want to read them yet. It can take me months to years to get in the right mood for a book I bought the day it came out. If the book's recommended by a friend, it can languish quite a while because I don't look as closely at those.
Which means one of my Wiscon purchases will wait a loooong time, another will wait until I can handle Literature, and Jonathan Strange et al... I haven't peeled off the shrinkwrap on that one. It's not even *on* the to-read shelf.

My to-read shelf really shrank during Flood Week. I had to reorganize the rest of the bookshelves to deal with it.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

My fiction pile has been replenished by a couple of things, notably markgritter's birthday. But it's still not comfortably large; much reliance upon the library needed. Especially because two of the things on my pile are in a series I'm trying to read in order, but they're not next in that series.

[biguglymandoll.livejournal.com]

I made, in all earnestness and pith, a new year's resolution (my first in many moons) this past new years to NOT BUY ANY MORE BOOKS for myself this year. This would provide me, in theory, time to read all those collecting dust on my to read shelf.

It has very nearly mostly worked, in that I have not bought more than 4 books, and SOBUMD tells me I may consider those to be father's day gifts that were simply late and self-selected (they were all bought at once - I don't get to NYC's Strand bookstore too often).

Barring those, I am planning to declare only one other "resolution holiday" this year - Jhegaala. You know as well as I that it needs no other introduction, and I pre-apologize for the style and manner of my post, but I have only just finished re-reading Paarfi's Romances, and cannot help it. ;-)

Wishing you all the best. May I Friend you?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Of course, and welcome!

I had to make myself a rule last year that I was not going to any more library book sales. There were just too many things that were worth 10c apiece to me but were not worth the shelf space. I finally got through the pile of things I'd bought for myself at the last library book sales, and so now my "to read" pile is composed completely of things I *gasp* actually want to read soon. It's astonishing.

But yah, I'd make an exception for Jhegaala, too. It comes out before my birthday, though, so I might not have to. It's September/October that will be dangerous for me: no holidays immediately forthcoming, lots of good books coming out. But then, I don't make New Year's Resolutions, just general intentions.

[biguglymandoll.livejournal.com]

NY Resolutions: Exactly, in much the same way the I stopped the craziness when I gave up Catholicism for Lent several decades ago.

On the books: Between the library sales, the friends and family deciding "oh, I need to downsize my shelves and I know *you* like books", and eBay... Well, I've actually heard the words "You can't get more books until you get more shelves" - and she wasn't trying to be funny.

Now, I've read but I confess I've lost track - have you been published yet? I haven't, but I'm keeping at it.

Also, we have Omaha in common - when were you there?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I haven't been published at novel length, just short fiction (and longer nonfiction). Some of the stories are available online, with links from my bibliography (http://www.marissalingen.com/bibleo.html). (Reading material without shelf space!)

I was in Omaha from 1978 to 1989 and 1990 to 1995. Since I turn 30 this year, the math comes out clear there: my childhood except the sixth grade. Went to college just after turning 17 and have only been back to Omaha for short or long visits since. I still have family and a few friends there, although most of my friends have also moved on.

[biguglymandoll.livejournal.com]

Ah, I just missed you! ;-> We left in '77 after being there 5 years - Dad was Air Force. We lived in Papillion; I still remember Tara Heights Elementary.

Re: Reading material w/out shelf space - very cool! I'll be reading!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I know exactly where Tara Heights Elementary is. We were the Ralston district -- Blumfield Elementary, Ralston Middle School, Ralston High.

Papillion has changed a lot in the last 30 years, especially in the last 10. I think up until about 1997 it would have looked mostly like the Papio you remember, but since then housing and businesses have just gone nuts out there.

omg

[biguglymandoll.livejournal.com]

I feel like I lose 20 years just typing the letters "OMG", but... LOL - that's hilarious. Last year I met a woman from Omaha who knew one of the few people I remember from those days (we're talking about 1st grade, so you know she stood out...) Too funny. We lived on the middle of Leprechaun Lane, a block down from the Tara Heights school.

I can imagine change, but it's hard to visualize. Does the watertower still have the huge butterfly painted on it? Donna Reid did the first one, when we were there - she used to babysit for me and my sister.

Sheesh, I'm geezing all over your blog! Sorry, I'll shut up. ;-) Anyway, nice to meet you!

Re: omg

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I know where Leprechaun Lane is. And yes, last I saw, there was still a butterfly on the water tower, though I didn't go to Papio the last couple of times I was in town.

Nice to meet you, too!