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Do you ever buy a book and not read it right away? Then it sits on your shelf for weeks because there are so many books and so little time. It keeps getting bumped down your reading priority list. Years pass. Then you forget why you bought this particular book and start losing interest in reading it.
Today, I'm going to look at the books that have been sitting on my shelf the longest. I'm trying to get myself reenergized to read them.
😒 I'm Procrastinating These Books 📚
ROMANOV BY NADINE BRANDES
Young Adult Historical Fantasy
How long it's been sitting around: Summer 2021
Anastasia “Nastya” Romanov was given a single mission: to smuggle an ancient spell into her suitcase on her way to exile in Siberia. It might be her family’s only salvation. But the leader of the Bolshevik army is after them, and he’s hunted Romanov before.
Nastya’s only chances of saving herself and her family are to either release the spell and deal with the consequences, or enlist help from Zash, the handsome soldier who doesn’t act like the average Bolshevik. Nastya has only dabbled in magic, but it doesn’t frighten her half as much as her growing attraction to Zash. She likes him. She thinks he might even like her.
That is, until she’s on one side of a firing squad . . . and he’s on the other.
Why I'm excited to read it: Ever since I read The Long Walk as a teenager, I've been obsessed with alternate history. If a book blends speculative elements with real-life events, I want to read it. Romanov has gotten great reviews from my bookish friends. Also, look at the cover! It's so swirly!
The TerROR BY DAN SIMMONS
Adult Historical Horror
How long it's been sitting around: Summer 2021
The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth. As they enter a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, though, they are stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness. Endlessly cold, with diminishing rations, 126 men fight to survive with poisonous food, a dwindling supply of coal, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice. But their real enemy is far more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror constantly clawing to get in.
When the expedition's leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. With them travels an Inuit woman who cannot speak and who may be the key to survival, or the harbinger of their deaths. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear that there is no escape.
Why I'm excited to read it: The Terror is a good name for this book because IT'S 800 PAGES! When am I going to have time to read that? This is another alternate history book, and it's quickly becoming a classic. It was published 10+ years ago, but horror lovers are still talking about it. It won a ton of awards when it first came out. The synopsis is giving me vibes of Alma Katsu's The Hunger. Monsters and starving people in cold places. I'm ready for it.
THE AMBASSADOR OF NOWHERE TEXAS BY KIMBERLY WILLIS HOLT
Middle Grade Contemporary
How long it's been sitting around: Christmas 2021
Decades after the Vietnam War and Toby's life-changing summer with Zachary Beaver, Toby's daughter Rylee is at a crossroads—her best friend Twig has started pushing her away just as Joe, a new kid from New York, settles into their small town of Antler. Rylee befriends Joe and learns that Joe's father was a first responder on 9/11. The two unlikely friends soon embark on a project to find Zachary Beaver and hopefully reconnect him with Rylee's father almost thirty years later.
Why I'm excited to read it: This is a companion novel to When Zachary Beaver Came To Town. I was in love with that book as a young teen. I read it over, and over, and over. It may have sparked my passion for historical fiction and stories set in small towns. Of course I need to read the sequel!
UNCLEAN JOBS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS BY ALISSA NUTTING
Adult Short Stories
How long it's been sitting around: February 2022
In this darkly hilarious debut collection, misfit women and girls in every strata of society are investigated through various ill-fated jobs. One is the main course of dinner, another the porn star contracted to copulate in space for a reality TV show. They become futuristic ant farms, get knocked up by the star high school quarterback and have secret abortions, use parakeets to reverse amputations, make love to garden gnomes, go into air conditioning ducts to confront their mother’s ghost, and do so in settings that range from Hell to the local white-supremacist bowling alley.
Why I'm excited to read it: I'm more nervous than excited. I don't usually like bizarre, abstract writing, but I've heard good things about this collection. According to my book blogger friends, it's supposed to be creative, funny, and relatable. I guess we'll find out.
MURDER IN THE DARK: SHORT FICTIONS AND PROSE POEMS BY MARGARET ATWOOD
Adult Literary Short Stories & Poetry
How long it's been sitting around: March 2022
These short fictions and prose poems are beautifully bizarre: bread can no longer be thought of as wholesome comforting loaves; a pretentious chef is taken down a peg; a poisonous brew is concocted by cynical five year olds; and knowing when to stop is of deadly importance in a game of Murder in the Dark.
Why I'm excited to read it: I'm slowly working my way through all of Margaret Atwood's older books. (I don't like her newer stuff.) This one came out in the early 1980s. Atwood is a creative poet and short story writer. I'm always impressed by how much meaning, emotion, and humor she can pack into a few sentences.
ANGER IS A GIFT BY MARK OSHIRO
Young Adult Contemporary Fiction
How long it's been sitting around: April 2022
Six years ago, Moss Jefferies' father was murdered by an Oakland police officer. Along with losing a parent, the media's vilification of his father and lack of accountability has left Moss with near crippling panic attacks.
Now, in his sophomore year of high school, Moss and his fellow classmates find themselves increasingly treated like criminals by their own school. New rules. Random locker searches. Constant intimidation and Oakland Police Department stationed in their halls. Despite their youth, the students decide to organize and push back against the administration.
When tensions hit a fever pitch and tragedy strikes, Moss must face a difficult choice: give in to fear and hate or realize that anger can actually be a gift.
Why I'm excited to read it: I'm interested in the school-to-prison pipeline and how to prevent kids from ending up in prison before they've even gotten a chance to live independently. That's what this book is about.
THE LAST HOURS BY MINETTE WALTERS
Adult Historical Fiction
How long it's been sitting around: April 2022
When the Black Death enters England through the port in Dorsetshire in June 1348, no one knows what manner of sickness it is—or how it spreads and kills so quickly. The Church cites God as the cause, and fear grips the people as they come to believe that the plague is a punishment for wickedness.
But Lady Anne of Develish has her own ideas. Educated by nuns, Anne is a rarity among women, being both literate and knowledgeable. With her brutal husband absent from the manor when news of this pestilence reaches her, she looks for more sensible ways to protect her people than daily confessions of sin. She decides to bring her serfs inside the safety of the moat that surrounds her manor house, then refuses entry to anyone else, even her husband.
Lady Anne makes an enemy of her daughter and her husband’s steward by doing so, but her resolve is strengthened by the support of her leading serfs . . . until food stocks run low. The nerves of all are tested by continued confinement and ignorance of what is happening in the world outside. The people of Develish are alive. But for how long? And what will they discover when the time comes for them to cross the moat again?
Why I'm excited to read it: I bought this during the COVID times because it sounded relatable. Can you imagine hiding in a manor house and not having access to news from the outside world? (Now that I'm thinking about it, that might actually be awesome.)
THE POISONWOOD BIBLE BY BARBARA KINGSOLVER
Adult Historical Fiction
How long it's been sitting around: April 2022
The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it—from garden seeds to Scripture—is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.
Why I'm excited to read it: I wrote a post about modern books that I think will become classics. While researching that post, I kept coming across this book. I don't read enough about Africa, so I decided to give it a shot.
THE TENT BY MARGARET ATWOOD
Adult Literary Short Story / Essay Collection
How long it's been sitting around: June 2022
In pieces ranging in length from a mere paragraph to several pages, Atwood gives a sly pep talk to the ambitious young; writes about the disconcerting experience of looking at old photos of ourselves; gives us Horatio's real views on Hamlet; and examines the boons and banes of orphanhood. Bring Back Mom: An Invocation; explores what life was really like for the "perfect" homemakers of days gone by, and in The Animals Reject Their Names she runs history backward, with surprising results.
Why I'm excited to read it: I'm on a quest to read all of Margaret Atwood's fiction and poetry. This book is next on my list. According to reviewers, it's not one of Atwood's better books. If you're interested in her work, please start with The Handmaid's Tale. That's what got me hooked.
THE LAST NEANDERTHAL BY CLAIRE CAMERON
Adult Historical Fiction
How long it's been sitting around: June 2022
Forty thousand years in the past, the last family of Neanderthals roams the earth. Girl, the oldest daughter, is coming of age and her family is determined to travel to the meeting place to find her a mate. But the unforgiving landscape takes its toll, and Girl is left alone to care for Runt, a foundling. As Girl and Runt face the coming winter, Girl realizes she has one chance to save her people, at great cost to herself.
In the present, archaeologist Rosamund Gale works well into her pregnancy, racing to excavate newly found Neanderthal artifacts before her baby arrives. Linked across the ages by the shared experience of birth and early motherhood, and inspired by the recent discovery that many modern humans have inherited DNA from Neanderthals, Girl's story and Rosamund's story examines the often taboo corners of women's lives.
Why I'm excited to read it: Neanderthals are cool, and we need more books about them! Recommend all the Neanderthal books to me. I don't care if they're fiction or nonfiction.
I had Romanov on my TBR for so long, but I don't think I read it? However, I've read 2 Romanov-related books already this year, so this could be a fun accompaniment!
ReplyDeleteI'll twist your arm to read Romanov because it's been on my radar for a while. You can be the guinea pig and try it for both of us. :)
ReplyDeleteThe Poisonwood Bible and The Last Neanderthal were both excellent! Hope you like them if you read them.
ReplyDeleteHere is my Top Ten Tuesday.
Lydia
I love how you set this list up! I've heard excellent things about The Terror. I'd never heard of The Last Neanderthal but it's definitely going on my TBR now.
ReplyDeleteThe Last Neanderthal and Anger Is A Gift look great! Might have to check out more about both books 👀 I've got Poisonwood and Romanov on my TBR and I've been procrastinating both for... A very long time, lol. I hope you enjoy all of these whenever you get to them!
ReplyDeletethe cover of Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls is captivating
ReplyDeleteYou have an ambitious list! I hope you find a 5 star read! ~Carol @ ReadingLadies
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any of these so I can't convince you to read them, but you've convinced me to add a couple of them to my TBR! 😂
ReplyDeleteThis post speaks to me. I have books that have been on my TBR shelf for YEARS. Why do I do that?! I have only read one of these books, but I highly recommend it: Anger is a Gift. I gave it 5/5 and here's a bit about what I wrote back in 2018:
ReplyDeleteThe storyline covers police brutality, poverty, underfunded public education, friendship, family, and how to find a use for anger. The title really does cover it: anger is a gift. When used as power and to move people to make a difference, anger can propel even the meekest to effective action.
The characters in this book will get under your skin and stay with you. They are compassionate, passionate, and just want what they deserve: safety in school and in their neighborhood. I also love that Moss and his friends cover the rainbow (pun intended) of sexual orientation, race, family situations, and religions.
Alas, I have read none of these. I do remember a lot of good buzz for Anger is a Gift.
ReplyDeleteThe Poisonwood Bible is on my TBR too. Also I have the second Minette Walters book in that Black Death duology (found the hardback for $9, which is unheard of in Australia) but I've never been able to find the matching first book!
ReplyDeleteI would have a hard time choosing among some of these. I haven't read them, but so many sound fascinating. Hope you get to them soon!
ReplyDeletehttps://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2024/04/top-ten-tuesday-top-ten-unread-books-on.html
I totally forgot that I have an ebook of Romanov to read as well! I hope someone convinces you to read it, because I'm totally going to need that push too. 😂 I vaguely remember trying to read it, but I can't put my finger on why I stopped!
ReplyDeleteaimee @ aimee can read
I have read The Last Neanderthal! It's worth reading, interesting. I still need to read The Poisonwood Bible. A modern classic that I haven't picked up yet .... and the years keep going by. The Terror would be fun but it's so long .... I watched the TV series based on the book ... Good luck with these.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to read Terror too. I wanted to purchase it couple days ago but could not at remember the title.
ReplyDeleteOkay I have two that I am going to BEG you to read! ONE is Romanov because I freaking loved it. The other is Terror, and my reason is weird! So I just finished this great book, The Ministry of Time. And the author basically wrote it because of one of the men from Terror- Graham Gore. NOW I need to go down that particular rabbit hole myself, I guess! Good luck with these! I personally may never read the books on my shelves, I think I might have come to terms with it. The longest? Well- I started hoarding (errr reading) again in earnest in like 2010 so obviously I'd say around then heh.
ReplyDeleteI procrastinate books all the time...especially the ones that I own! But I have to say, Romanov sounds so good. As does The Terror. I wouldn't mind reading both of those myself. :D
ReplyDeleteI definitely recommend The Poisonwood Bible. It's on all those "best books" lists for good reason.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm no help. I haven't read any of these but I hope you enjoy them if you pick them up!
ReplyDeleteI've been interested in Anger Is a Gift as well, but I haven't read it yet, so I don't know that I can successfully convince you to read it. Be better than me?
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
I haven't read any of these, but the one that interests me the most is The Ambassador to Nowhere Texas. As for what's been on my unread shelves the longest, it's got to be Precious Bane by Mary Webb, which my mother has been encouraging me to read for over 40 years.
ReplyDelete