WG: Books that have been on my shelf for far too long
Sunday, 23 August 2009 01:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yatiWeekly Geeks questions for this week made me eye the to be read shelf suspiciously:
I have a number of books on my shelf I still haven't read, but I'll go with two of them that stick at the forefront of my mind:
House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewsky
The book has been sitting on my shelf for ages. Years, actually. I think I've had it since sometime in 2005? It orginally was a recommendation from someone I knew on the internet, and in the intervening years, I have lost contact with said person. (Yes, it has been that long.)
I'm not entirely sure why I haven't read it -- I think it's partly because I'm afraid that I'll scare myself reading it (not that I'm entirely sure what the book is about) and partly it looks like it needs some brainpower to try to digest the book. Just look at the odd stuff scribbled in it. And the blue house. Please tell me I'm not the only one scared of a book that has one word consistently in blue. Also it's a large book and fairly thick, so it's a bit difficult to lug around.
The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
Ah, this book. I guess I was being patriotic, to an extent. The writer is Malaysian, and the book is set in Penang Island, where I grew up, so I felt like I had to read it. It also ended up being in the 2007 Man Booker longlist (and the first book by a Malaysian writer to get into a Booker longlist) so that just added more mystique to it, at least for me!
Somewhere along the way, I got tired of World War II stories (and this book seems to be about a lot of things, but is set during the wane of the British occupancy of Malaya) so this book got stuffed at the very back of the the to-read shelf and I have yet to dig it out. Hopefully that will happen sometime soon!
--
OK. Not directly connected to Weekly Geeks, but here's what I am up to right now: rearranging my bookshelf, because the one shelf I was using for the to-read books is getting a bit too full and it does look like I will run out of space if I don't mitigate this problem!
Well. Admittedly I do nothing to mitigate this -- in fact I go out and get even more books, because I'm crazy like that.
New books added to the shelf:
I'm slowly chipping at the shelf. I've finished Douglas Adams's Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (bizarre, in the usual Adams fashion) and Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey, which I liked but had problems with the narrative because it changed POVs a bit too often for my tastes.
Currently re-reading: The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett (oh shut up) and am thinking of starting Dunnett's Scales of Gold in a bit and maybe throw some science fiction in between.
This week, tell us about a book (or books) you have been meaning to read. What is it? How long have you wanted to read it? And, why haven't you read it yet?
I have a number of books on my shelf I still haven't read, but I'll go with two of them that stick at the forefront of my mind:
House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewsky
The book has been sitting on my shelf for ages. Years, actually. I think I've had it since sometime in 2005? It orginally was a recommendation from someone I knew on the internet, and in the intervening years, I have lost contact with said person. (Yes, it has been that long.)
I'm not entirely sure why I haven't read it -- I think it's partly because I'm afraid that I'll scare myself reading it (not that I'm entirely sure what the book is about) and partly it looks like it needs some brainpower to try to digest the book. Just look at the odd stuff scribbled in it. And the blue house. Please tell me I'm not the only one scared of a book that has one word consistently in blue. Also it's a large book and fairly thick, so it's a bit difficult to lug around.
The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
Ah, this book. I guess I was being patriotic, to an extent. The writer is Malaysian, and the book is set in Penang Island, where I grew up, so I felt like I had to read it. It also ended up being in the 2007 Man Booker longlist (and the first book by a Malaysian writer to get into a Booker longlist) so that just added more mystique to it, at least for me!
Somewhere along the way, I got tired of World War II stories (and this book seems to be about a lot of things, but is set during the wane of the British occupancy of Malaya) so this book got stuffed at the very back of the the to-read shelf and I have yet to dig it out. Hopefully that will happen sometime soon!
--
OK. Not directly connected to Weekly Geeks, but here's what I am up to right now: rearranging my bookshelf, because the one shelf I was using for the to-read books is getting a bit too full and it does look like I will run out of space if I don't mitigate this problem!
Well. Admittedly I do nothing to mitigate this -- in fact I go out and get even more books, because I'm crazy like that.
New books added to the shelf:
- Naomi Novik's Empire of Ivory and Victory of Eagles. I am pleased I found these books! I was stuck at Throne of Jade for so long. Also my brother will love these books (I think he's read the first book, Temeraire/His Majesty's Dragon but not the others, so I'm looking for books two and three as well), so I'm keeping them safe for him.
- The Owl Service by Alan Garner
- Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser (this came highly recommended by the Dunnett list, so why not)
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (Will I ever finish this? Questionable. It is so absurdly long.)
- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (. . . more WWII-related fiction)
- Court of Air by Stephen Hunt (I can't say no to steampunk, can I)
- The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell (I have fallen into the trap of popular historical fiction. This is not familiar stomping ground!)
I'm slowly chipping at the shelf. I've finished Douglas Adams's Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (bizarre, in the usual Adams fashion) and Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey, which I liked but had problems with the narrative because it changed POVs a bit too often for my tastes.
Currently re-reading: The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett (oh shut up) and am thinking of starting Dunnett's Scales of Gold in a bit and maybe throw some science fiction in between.
