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Booking Through Thursday – Book Gluttony!

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Mariel suggested this week’s question
Book Gluttony! Are your eyes bigger than your book belly? Do you have a habit of buying up books far quicker than you could possibly read them? Have you had to curb your book buying habits until you can catch up with yourself? Or are you a controlled buyer, only purchasing books when you have run out of things to read?

I think the best way of demonstrating my book buying problem is to show you my TBR pile:

tbr3

It is quite hard to see, but all the books are double stacked, so there are probably nearly 400 books there…..plus…

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…..over 100 here, stacked very precariously!

Apart from the 5000+ books I have for book business, I also have another couple of hundred books in the garage,  which although aren’t technically in my TBR pile often migrate into it!

On the positive side I am very disciplined when buying new books, especially hardbacks. If I splash out on a newly released book then I am very good at reading it straight away, and then selling it on as quickly as possible, so I don’t lose much (any) money on it. For example, I have already sold my copied of The Thing Around Your Neck, Little Stranger and Burnt Shadows, which I read earlier in the month.

My TBR pile consists almost entirely of books bought second hand, whenever I happen to come across a book I’d like to read cheaply. It is expanding much faster than I can ever read them, normally at a rate of 5 – 10 books a week.

Does your TBR pile look anything like mine?

How quickly is your TBR pile expanding?

Do you see any books in my TBR pile that need to be read immediately?

Or any that need to be culled?

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Book Awards III Challenge

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I loved the Book Awards Challenge so much, that I had no hesitation in signing up for this one. I think it is very appropriate to sign up on the day I finished the Book Awards Challenge II.

The Book Awards III Challenge is slightly different to the previous award challenges. First of all, it will only last for 5 months, from July 1 through December 1, 2009. That is because Book Awards 4 will be from February 1 through December 1, 2010. 

The challenge is to read: 5 books from 5 different awards

This itself is too easy for me, so I’m going to try to make it more difficult by seeking out some of the lesser known awards, and banning myself from including Bookers, Pulitzers or Orange Prize winners in this challenge.

My plans so far are:

1. The Long Goodbye – Raymond Chandler (Edgar, 1955)

2. The Secret Scripture – Sebastian Barry (Costa, 2009)

3. The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman (Newberry, 2009)

4. Sabbath’s Theatre – Philip Roth (National Book Award, 1995)

5. TBD – any suggestions?

 

Can you recommend any award winning books from the more obscure prizes?

Or forgotten winners from the more well known ones?

Wish me luck!

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Book Awards Reading Challenge – Complete!

I’ve completed the Book Awards Reading Challenge, and also managed to complete my self imposed challenge of ensuring each book was a winner of a different award.

BINGO!

TEN DIFFERENT BOOKS FROM TEN DIFFERENT AWARDS!

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  • The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood  stars3
    (Winner of Booker Prize, 2000) completed 29th October 2008
  • Out Stealing Horses – Per Petterson stars3 
    (Winner of IMPAC Dublin Prize, 2007) completed 20th November 2008
  • The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay – Micheal Chabon stars4
    (Winner of Pulitzer Prize, 2001) completed 27th November 2008 
  • The Fingersmith – Sarah Waters stars51
    (Winner of the CWA Ellis Peters Dagger for Historical Crime Fiction) completed 14th December 2008 
  • We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver
    (Winner of Orange Prize, 2005) completed 14th January 2009 
  • Blindness – Jose Saramago stars51
    (Nobel Prize, 1998) completed 5th March 2009
  • The Secret River – Kate Grenville
    (Winner of Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, 2006) completed 19th April 2009
  • Theory of War – John Brady stars4
    (Winner of Costa/Whitbread Award, 1993) completed 11th May 2009
  • Mudbound – Hillary Jordan 
    (Alex Award, 2009) completed 8th January 2009
  • The Giver – Lois Lowry
    (Newberry Medal, 1994) completed April 11th 2009 

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    I love reading prize winning books, so this was my favourite challenge. The books were of a very high standard, and I can recommend all of them (even though Out Stealing Horses and The Blind Assassin weren’t my favourites I think I’m in the minority, so wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to others). I rarely give five stars to books, so  please note that Fingersmith and Blindness have both been given this special accolade, and ensure that you get round to reading them at some point, if you haven’t already.

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    Have you managed to complete this challenge?

    Which is your favourite challenge?

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    Look what the postman has just delivered!!!

    I’m so excited!! I have just received Sarah Water’s new book, The Little Stranger! I was going to say how impressed I was that it made it all the way from America in just 6 days, but the even though I ordered it on Amazon.com it was posted second class from the UK.

    Despite the fact I am half way through reading two books at the moment, all other reading is going to stop until I have read all of Sarah Water’s new book!

    I’ve noticed that a few other people are reading it at the moment – I look forward to comparing notes with you!

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    Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 Read-along

    Steph and Claire are hosting a read-along for the highly acclaimed book, 2666, by Chilean author Roberto Bolaño. The novel is 900 pages long, and divided into 5 parts, which Bolaño intended to be released in separate volumes. Unfortunately, Bolaño died, and the publishers decided to release all the books together. This means that it’s length is quite daunting to people like me!

    The read-along aims to address this issue by reading one part a month, for the next five months:

  • May ~ Part 1: The Part About the Critics, pp. 1-160
  • June ~ Part 2: The Part About Amalfitano, pp. 161-228
  • July ~ Part 3: The Part About Fate, pp. 229-350
  • August ~ Part 4: The Part About the Crimes, pp. 351-634
  • September ~ Part 5: The Part About Archimboldi, pp. 635-894

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    This seems very achievable, and as there are quite a few people taking part in this read-along I am really looking forward to it.

    The read-along might not be the end of the book though, as it has recently been reported that the sixth part of the book has been discovered amongst his papers.

    I’m really looking forward to reading it, especially after seeing this quote:

    Readers who have snacked on a writer such as Haruki Murakami will feast on Roberto Bolaño
    …vital, thrilling and life-enhancing.
    ~ Christopher Goodwin, The Sunday Times Culture

    Are you interested in reading this book?
    Do you plan to join us for the read-along?

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    Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on the Internet

    My Half of a Yellow Sun read-along started yesterday, so I thought I’d have a quick look for some information on the Internet, in the hope it will increase my reading pleasure!

    Here’s what I found:

    The Official Half of a Yellow Sun website contains everything you’d want to know about the book. There are excerpts, reviews, and an interview with Chimamanda about the story behind the book which is particularly interesting.

    The Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Website contains a biography, an interview with her, and links to lots more facts about her on the Internet.

    If you feel you are missing out by not being able to read The Thing around Your Neck yet then there are links to almost all the short stories contained in it here. After reading that lot, you probably don’t need to spend the money on the book!

    There are also links to lots of essays that she has written, and I think I’ll make an effort to read them. I don’t normally read essays, but as I love her writing so much they are probably a great place for me to start.

    This little exercise has taught me to google authors more often! There are so many interesting facts out there, and I am especially pleased to have found all the links to the short stories and essays.

    How often do you google authors?

    Have you found any sites which are particularly good for author facts?