I love lists and nothing inspires list making more than facing a New Year.
Since we’ve already revisited the books I read in 2012 (tl;dr* version: 32 total, all on Kindle but one), let’s discuss what’s on my list of “to read” books for 2013, shall we?
Over the last few weeks I have been on a bit of an ebook purchasing spree. I’ve downloaded at least six books for my Kindle, almost none of which were originally on my “someday / maybe fiction” list. They were all impulse buys based on recommendations and price reductions. My recent purchases:
- Close to the Machine: Technophilia and Its Discontents
- Howl’s Moving Castle
- Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
- The Color of Magic
- Glaciers
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower
I think all of these selections, with the exception of Mr. Penumbra, were being offered at a reduced price. This brings the total of “to read” books on my Kindle to sixteen. That is half the total number of books I read in 2012. Something tells me I won’t get through all of those before getting sidetracked on another reading path.
In addition to the substantial virtual “to read” stack I’ve been gathering, I still have this physical stack of books waiting for me. Most were pass-along books from my mom. Two (the Asimov trilogyand Bel Canto) were books I picked up from the cast-away stash at the entrance to the houseboat community. One (Phylloxera) has been in this pile for at least five years. And the one at the bottom of the pile (Boneheads) was written by our downstairs neighbor.
Given that my reading time is mostly limited to my commute, and I prefer not to pack any more weigh in my bag than absolutely necessary, it is probably going to be a while before I get to these. Ideally, I could bring them along on a vacation to a beach or cabin in the woods, where I could then “free them” into the wild for the next visitor to enjoy once I’m done reading them.
My intention is to finish all of these in 2013. Any bets on how many of these nine books I’ll finish? Or maybe I should be counting the Foundation Trilogy as three separate books… that would make it twelve, total…
* tl;dr = too long didn’t read
UPDATE 12/31/2013: I ended up reading 4 of the 6 Kindle books and 2 of the 9 print books this year (see reviews on my Reading page). One of those Kindle books ended up on my “top five” books read in 2013 list (Mr. Penumbra…). I started and abandoned The Billionaire’s Vinegar — I just couldn’t get into it. The other 2 Kindle books and 6 print books remain on my TBR pile for 2014.
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