August TBRCAT - Book purchased with great excitement and with plans to read right away that is somehow still on my tbr

I do this all the time. I purchase books with great excitement and plans to read right away, and then let them hang out unread for years. This thread is for books that are on your thread more than a year later.

How many others do this?

Have fun reading! Here's the wiki:

https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2019_TBRCAT#July:_-_Theme:_Book_by_an_au...

Well, my book will be Colson Whitehead's Underground Railroad. I bought it brand new, AND got two copies of it for Christmas that year. Go figure.

So, for this month I have *ahem* literally hundreds to choose from.

>3 RidgewayGirl: Same here! I'm pretty sure we're not alone...

I'm going to read Cheer Up Love by Susan Calman - bought with so much enthusiasm that I managed to hit @rabbitprincess with a BB for it even though I hadn't actually read it! I'll see how much time I have for other reading later in the month, I might be able to fit in another book for this category too.

Ok, I have two that I came up with. One is super-short, so if I'm lucky I'll get to both:

What Pet Should I Get / Dr. Seuss
Into the Water / Paula Hawkins

>4 Jackie_K: Haha! Good times :D And that was my choice for the "book bullet" TBRCAT!

My choice for this CAT is Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters, by Malcolm Hulke, which, like all my Doctor Who novels, was most certainly bought with great enthusiasm. I hoard them like Smaug hoards his gold.

I too have a great many to choose from. I pick one that fits one of the other Cats and double-dip.

I'm going to read Varina by Charles Frazier which I bought exactly one year ago. I've planned to read it a couple of times but ended up letting it sit on the shelf.

I just realized another book I've planned for another Challenge The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart also went into my catalog in August of 2018 so that will count too.

This might be a good category for my challenge next year...to check my catalog for books bought that month in previous years and choose one to read.

>3 RidgewayGirl: LOL, I think we all do this! For me, it's often that I'll buy a book when it's hot off the press, but I deliberately wait until the hype has died down. Unfortunately, I'll sometimes pull a book off the stacks and wonder, "What was I thinking?!"

As I was preparing to go to the annual Newberry Library book sale this week, I started thinking about the books I bought last year. Last year someone donated a large collection of books by Miss Read, and I was ecstatic, picking up 13 books! I had just started reading the Miss Read series, and this was a great find! And how many have I read in the last 12 months: ZERO. So I will be reading a Miss Read book, bought with great enthusiasm (and many hours combing through 150,000+ books to find them) last July.

I also have a lot of books I could chose for this theme. I have decided to readThe Face in the Frost byJohn Bellairs which was a book bullet that I took and was planning on reading immediately, a year or so later it is still sitting on my shelf. I am also hoping to fit in Shift which I picked up immediately after reading the first book in Hugh Howey's series.

I have a book that almost fits this category, but is off by a couple of months, as I bought it on September 30 last year. I also have many, many other books purchased well over a year ago. Would anyone object if I snuck the newcomer in?

Hello fellow reading enthusiasts. I am new to this but I like this challenge. So I think I shall begin with Field of Valor by Matthew Betley. Purchased it last year at a book fair after meeting the author(great guy) but just haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Probably something to do with the more than 300 books in my TBR pile. However this challenge has inspired me so here goes

Yup, I know this feeling! There's certainly choice this month.

>12 NinieB: I certainly wouldn't object - all unread books on our (real and virtual) shelves are TBRs, it's just that some have longer roots than others! As far as I'm concerned with all of these challenges, there's plenty of room for interpretation!

>13 ColinMichaelFelix: Welcome, I hope you enjoy the group! Happy reading! (also, if it makes you feel better, my TBR is sitting at just under 440 at the moment, and that's pretty puny compared to some here) (mentioning no names!).

I've finally decided on a book. I bought Beach Music by Pat Conroy back in 2010 at a library sale with great enthusiasm because I liked Prince of Tides so much. Yet it still sits on the TBR pile. But it also happens to be my book club summer read for our meeting in Sept so a good push to read it.

Like others, I have too many to choose from, but I'm going to plan on Stealing Fire by Jo Graham and Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters by Jack Halberstam.

I think the title of this month's challenge describes my entire TBR,

Pretty much any book I read this month will count but I'm intentionally reading Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. I specifically asked for it for Christmas two years ago and still haven't actually read it.

>15 Jackie_K: Thanks Jackie! I think I will read it as it was a standout purchase for me.



Kentucky by Design: The Decorative Arts and American Culture is about a WPA project to document decorative arts, in this case from the Bluegrass State. It is full of beautiful pictures as well.

>19 LittleTaiko:, I adore that book! A reminder that I need to look and see if the author has anything else come out in the meantime...

I'm a big fan of Geraldine Brooks so when I saw The Secret Chord in a second- hand bookshop I pounced even though it was a hardcover (my least favorite physical format). And on my TBR pile it's sat ever after.

>21 whitewavedarling: - I know she also has To The Bright Edge of the World as well. I ended up with two copies of Snow Child for Christmas so exchanged one for her other book. Have I read either of them? Nope. :)

As others have said, I have soooo many that fit this category. I will probably try to double dip with this category too. I was thinking of When Books Went to War since I have it on my Kindle and in print.

I too have a ton of books that would work. Right now I'm planning on Portuguese Irregular Verbs by Alexander McCall Smith, which has been sitting on my shelves unread since 2012. But hopefully I'll read several more books for this CAT!

The first book that popped into mind is Charles Stross' Neptune's Brood. I have no idea why I haven't read it yet. I have, of course, plenty of other options....

I was planning to read Precious and Grace by Alexander McCall Smith. I thought I had two in the series that I did not read in order, and they were languishing on my Kindle.

However, as I got into Precious and Grace, it started to seem familiar. I found that I read it for 2017 Category Challenge! Does anyone else ever have this happen? Now I need to pick something else for this challenge!!

What Pet Should I Get? / Dr. Seuss
4 stars

This was a book that Dr. Seuss started, but never finished. It was found later and published in 2015. The main part of the book consists of two kids in a pet store, trying to pick out which pet to bring home, as they are only allowed one. The second part is a publisher’s note that addresses how the book was found and a bit more of the background, and also a bit about Dr. Seuss’s personal life (and pets!), along with photos.

I was going to give the book itself 3.5 stars (good). I was initially disheartened when they were in a pet store and not adopting from a rescue… then I had to remind myself that it was originally written decades ago. The publisher’s note did address this, to my relief. I also didn’t like the rhyming as much as his other books, as it didn’t seem to flow as well, in my opinion, but I upped the rating for all the extra, really interesting, information provided in the publisher’s note. The story itself – I did like the ending. Which pet did they get?

I finished Der zweite Reiter for this. I bought this when I was reading another mystery also set in post-WWI Austria, just to compare, but didn't get around to it. This one was a much more solid mystery and much more gritty in its depiction of the post-War chaos and misery.

Just finished Vicious Circle by C.J. Box which I bought in 2017 when it was brand new and was quite excited to read it since I love that series. However, I somehow kept putting it off until this year. I immediately picked up the next book in the series from my shelf and should finish it in a couple of days. Love these challenges for the motivation!

Finally decided - it came to me while thinking about what to read for the ScaredyKIT (gothic horror is the theme) - I'm going to read The Other which when I found it in a store in 2009(!!!) I was so excited to read it because I remember a movie I saw as a kid that was soooo scary, based on this book.

I'm wondering, since I don't buy too many books, I usually ask for ARCs from NetGalley, if a book that I requested and downloaded "with great excitement and with plans to read right away" but was still waiting would qualify?

>32 cyderry: Personally, I'd count it!

I finished Cheer Up Love by Susan Calman and loved it.

I bought Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley because it's one of those books that I thought should be read. Then it languished on the shelf for a long time, completely forgotten among all those other books I bought with great excitement. I enjoyed all the flowery, dramatic, over-the-top prose.

>32 cyderry: I would count that one.

Finished The Disappeared by C. J. Box and The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey - two books that I bought a couple of years ago and fully intended to read immediately.

I finished The Market Square by Miss Read, and hope to get to at least one more Miss Read this month. Enjoyed this book which covers two families in the fictional English market town of Caxley circa 1901-1930. The next book covers 1939-1945.

I just finished Oath: An Anthology of New (Queer) Heroes, which I'd picked up at FlameCon I think 2 years ago? Fortunately, I've finished just in time to go to this year's FlameCon and find another pile of new comics ;)

Kentucky by Design lived up to my hopes. I didn't expect to learn as much as I did about everyday life in 19th century Kentucky, either, so it actually exceeded my expectations.

I was very disappointed with Shift by Hugh Howey which is unfortunate as I loved the first book, Wool. Now I am not sure whether I will bother with the third, Dust.

>41 DeltaQueen50: I read all three and Shift was very different from Wool, but I would still give Dust a chance; I'd say it was more like Wool.

>42 LisaMorr: Thanks Lisa, since I already have Dust on my Kindle, I am relieved. :)

The Other was excellent and I'm glad I finally got to this book that was purchased with much excitement!

I have completed The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs, I was very excited to read this YA Fantasy when I first got it but somehow it got pushed to the bottom of my reading pile. I enjoyed this one alot.

I've just started The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, which I bought back in 2016 because I'd heard really good things about it.

Into the Water / Paula Hawkins
4 stars

There’s a body of water that has been claiming women’s lives for centuries. In 2015, within a few months, 15-year old Lena’s best friend Katie, then Lena’s mom, both end up in that water. It appears to be suicide for both. Lena’s mom, Nel, has been writing about the deaths and that water. Nel was estranged from her younger sister, Jules, who has now come to look after the niece she’s never met.

It started off a bit slow, but I thought it picked up as it went on. A bit confusing, especially at the start, with not only a lot of characters, but each chapter being told from someone else’s viewpoint. Of course, it wasn’t a different character for every chapter all the way through, but it was difficult to get used to who was who at the start, and it seemed more so with the differing viewpoints, but it might just have been the number of characters overall. The chapters are short, which helps it feel faster to read. In any case, I quite liked it in the end. A few twists, but not too many, mostly at the very end.

I read The Lost Words which I must have bought last summer after seeing an exhibition of some of the images illustrating the book. Finally read it, and it is a beautiful book in every way.

Here's my pick for this month - I can't believe it took me this long to get round to it!



The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
A cool twist on the traditional zombie thriller, with nods to ancient Greek and Roman literature? Yes, please. Equal parts fascinating, terrifying, and surprisingly touching, this one had me rooting for and horrified by every character, and racing to turn every page to get to an ending that is hugely satisfying. Highly recommended.

Oh! I ove this book! I listened to the audio narrated by Finty Williams and, she became a go-to narrator for me afterward as well! :-)

>50 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I'm glad you loved it, too! So good, right? I didn't listen to it, but I'll keep an eye out for Williams on my future audiobooks.

I decided to read Forbes Field by David Finoli and Tom Aikens after buying a duplicate copy nearly two weeks ago when on a trip to Pennsylvania. I asked my husband whether or not we had a copy, and he said no. I discovered it as a dup when I entered it into LT and got a message of a duplicate ISBN. I'm sure I was excited when I first bought it since my husband was at library school at Pitt when the last Pirate game was played, my father used to talk about it, and my brother and sister-in-law have lived in Pittsburgh for years. I never attended a game in Forbes Field, but several in Three Rivers Stadium, which has also be replaced. This book is in the Images of America series, and, therefore is primarily photographs with a little text (which got repetitious). It was fun to see pictures of baseball men I was familiar with as announcers, managers, etc.; they looked much younger and slimmer in their playing days.

Alien: River of Pain (Alien #3 or #4 depending on which index you consult) by Christopher Golden; performed by Anna Friel, Philip Glenister, Colin Salmon; Alexander Siddig, Marc Warren, Michelle Ryan and William Hope) - This is the back story of Newt-- so there wasn't much of Ridley in this installment of the Alien series. The Alien series is a trilogy of books that serve as interstitial tales between the movies. In this one, the colony on LV-426 is caught up in the fight for survival on a hostile moon and the corporation that has undue influence with the whole operation. Now, a Pandora's Box of xenomorphs has been opened... This audio drama is not as cleanly produced as the first one Audible Studios produced: A couple of odd pauses, alien sounds that don't quite terrify, Newt's brother inexplicably having an Irish accent, not being able to distinguish characters in a couple of places and, overall the pacing seems a bit off. I was so excited to pick this up a couple of years ago, dnloading it s soon as it was available! I was waiting for another book in the Alien series to be produced as an audio drama, but quite frankly lost track/interest. Doesn't matter as this works as a stand-alone (though familiarity with the movies is recommended.)

Well this is rich, the book I planned to read for this challenge isn't finished so it still sits for awhile but I read another one that will work, The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart.