What’s on My TBR Pile? 2015 Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour

2015 Merry Go Round Blog Tour

This month’s topic depends on which to-be-read pile you’re talking about. Since it doesn’t specify, I’ll look at the top four books of each in turn.

I’m a reviewer for NetGalley as some of you might remember me mentioning. This means I end up with a good stack of books I’ve asked for but haven’t finished. And more get offered all the time–interesting ones that are hard to turn down.

The top four on the NetGalley list right now are:
Rebellion: The History of England from James I to the Glorious Revolution by Peter Ackroyd
In The Air Tonight by Lori Handeland (Paranormal Romance)
An Unlikely Alliance by Patricia Bray (Fantastical Historical Romance)
The Rainborowes by Adrian Tinniswood (British History)

The first and last are both non-fiction. I’m already reading them but took a break because non-fiction is a slow read for me. It doesn’t mean I am not enjoying them, though. The other two are both romances that came out early this year and are one of my faster read types. I’m looking forward to the chance of getting ahead instead of rising at the crack of dawn to finish a book in time to review it on Wednesday :).

Which brings me to the second list. This is a mix of books I got for myself, ones that were given to me, recommended to me, or offered as review copies with the understanding that I’m way behind. I realized things had gotten out of control so am trying to keep track better with this list (though I still have to figure out who I might have lost). As of now, I’m switching between these two lists relatively evenly but still might pull one out of order if the mood strikes me for a specific type.

The Chimera Vector by Nathan M. Farrugia (Near Future SF)
Dying for a Living by Kory M. Shrum (Urban Fantasy)
Darrian by Marissa Ames (Medieval Fantasy)
To Protect & Serve: A Contemporary Christian Romance Novel by Staci Stallings

I’m currently enjoying the first but paused for a quicker read because of the review deadline. I should be ready ahead of time for next week. The second and third I picked up because I met the authors and the books sounded interesting while the third is by a local author who has become a friend.

And finally we come to the physical TBR. Sometimes a paperback sneaks onto the second list, but most of those are electronic. My physical TBR list now spans 3.5 bookcases and is loaded with books that looked interesting, ones I want to reread, ones I picked up to support authors I know, and ones that were given to me.

Of course when I went to pull the top four, I discovered I had two “top piles” so I took the top two from each:

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows (Fantasy)
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (Steampunk)
Mountain Echoes by C.E. Murphy (Urban Fantasy)
Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch (Urban Fantasy)

I seem to have a predominance of fantasy in my top pile for physical books. I must have made these piles when in the fantasy mood because I have a much broader mix in the TBR as a whole. The first is by an author I met through a critique group and when I saw it in the store, it sounded interesting. The second got lost in my TBR pile and I’ve been looking forward to reading it for some time. The third is by another author I know and I’ve fallen in love with her Urban Shaman series but I’m now two books behind. The final I picked up the first book by this author in the publisher’s early reader program and have gotten every one since. I’m also one behind in this series, but I’ll get there.

What does my TBR pile(s) say about me? That I need to be left on a deserted island with a solar charger for my eReaders.

Seriously, though, I’m a mood-driven, eclectic reader with more will than way. I collect books with the intention of reading them at some point, but I’m a slow, detailed reader so it takes a while. That said, I’ve signed up for a Goodreads challenge to read 55 books this year, so likely most if not all of these books will show up in my reviews at some point in the year.

How about you? Do you keep a TBR pile? What’s the top book right now?

Today’s post was inspired by the topic “Beach Reads (AKA, What’s on Your TBR Pile?)” — June’s topic in Forward Motion’s Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour. Read the thoughts of nearly twenty different authors at various stages in their careers on this same topic. The next posts in the series are by Lisa Janice Cohen and Bonnie R. Schultzman.

Check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour to learn more. You can find links to all of the posts on the tour on the group site. Read and enjoy!

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4 Responses to What’s on My TBR Pile? 2015 Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour

  1. Erin says:

    I am amused by how little overlap we have in our reading. I read the whole Leviathan series with the boy, though, and we both enjoyed it. Yes, there are plot gaps, but still, lots of fun.

    The Peter Ackroyd one sounds interesting. You’ll have to let me know what you think.

    • Margaret McGaffey Fisk says:

      I think we might have more if this had come up on a different week. I’m constantly shifting :). As to Rebellion, I’m almost halfway through. It covers a lot of territory, but I’m enjoying how the people aspects are included to make more sense of why things went the way they did. Sometimes it’s ignorance, sometimes expectation, sometimes behind the scenes maneuvering… Absolutely court politics :).

  2. jjmcgaffey says:

    I’ve read Leviathan and found it interesting, but not enough to make me seek out the rest of the series. I’ll read them if I come across them, though. I read Broken Homes recently – actually, I got inspired, re-read Midnight Riot and then read the rest of the series in one sweep. Annoyingly, I read them so fast I didn’t stop to review in between books, and by the time I was done I couldn’t remember what happened in which book well enough to review. So I haven’t reviewed the middle three. I did get Foxglove Summer, read and reviewed that more recently.

    The rest of your lists I don’t know – except for C.E. Murphy, I don’t think I even know any of the authors. There sure are a lot of books out these days… My TBR piles are nowhere near as organized as yours; in fact, right now, I’m deliberately not pre-planning. I have boxes full of books that I haven’t read, and I’m trying very hard to read books that are new to me (so I can reduce the number of books in my house!). So it’s more or less literally grabbing books at random. There are few by authors I know and trust, but most of them are by authors I don’t know or don’t know well. I’ve gotten some really good books recently, giving me new authors to hunt down, and some really (really) bad ones – I’d say they reduced my book count, but unfortunately both of my recent total discards are electronic.

    I’m mostly switching between romance and SF&F, because those are the largest numbers of boxes. Currently doing a reread of Jean Johnson’s Sons of Destiny series – fantastic (in several senses of the word) romance. Magic, sex (they’re quite explicit), and spectacularly well-drawn characters. I’ve only reread the entire 8-book series 4 times…that is, this will be my fourth time. The world-building is amazing, too – there’s individual arcs (and pairings-off) in each book, but each one also contributes directly to an overriding arc for the series. I really love her stuff – and she’s also started writing straight SF, which is just as good as her fantasy romance. Lovely.

    • Margaret McGaffey Fisk says:

      Ack, don’t tell me about someone new! Just kidding. You make me feel all nice and organized, but really it’s a desperate scramble to stay on top of things as I’m much too willing to pick up anything that sounds interesting because I know what I like so have a good eye for it. Sometimes I’m wrong about the book I thought I was picking up, but they usually still entertain.

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