The overflowing nightstand aka TBR stack

 TRACEE: Give us an update of your nightstand and the TBR stack for summer. Are you going light and easy or diving into meaty questions? Mine is a mix….. and I think I see a few in the pile that have been read but are kept on hand for reasons that exist only in the depths of my subconscious. My dog nosed his way into the picture of my nightstand TBR pile, the expression on his face says: I can’t believe you would show anyone this mess.  I just finished Roger Johns’ “River of Secrets” in specially bound preview form…. Everyone mark the August appearance in bookstores in your BUY calendar. Currently I’m finishing “The Geographer’s Library” by Jon Fasman and “A Necessary Evil” by Abir Mukherjee. I’m also re-reading Primo Levi’s “Survival in Auschwitz.” Elizabeth George’s “The Punishment She Deserves” will likely be next. It is too high on the stack to be in the photo which means it is perched precariously on top of the more orderly books. Must be read next or the entire assembly will collapse. Of course I also watched Wim Wenders movie “The American Friend” a few days ago, starring Dennis Hopper as Tom Ripley. I confess to pulling a few Patricia Highsmith books off the shelf thinking maybe this is what I’d like to read….. ROBIN: Let’s see, I just finished Chris Holm’s “The Killing Kind,” which had been on top of the TBR stack for a while. Now I’m reading “Death in D Minor” by our own Alexia Gordon. Next up, I’ve got “The Undertaker’s Daughter” by Sara Blaedel, “Hacked” by Ray Daniel, “Into The Black Nowhere” by Meg Gardiner, and “The Force” by Don Winslow. So, you know, light and easy 🙂   SUSAN: I am attaching a picture of my nightstand with books upon it, mainly because I just got the nightstand and I don’t think I’ve had one for my adult life. Usually I’ve gone with a pile of books on the floor. Anyway, on this fabulous new stand is Nancy Pickard’s The Virgin of Small Plains, Martin Edwards, “The Golden Age of Murder,” Ann Cleeves, “The Glass Room,” James Scott’s, “The Kept,” David Starkey’s, “Six Wives,” Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories,” Marilyn Robinson’s “Gilead” and Eric Metaxas’ bio of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I’m almost done with two of them, as long as I don’t put anything else on the pile. MICHELE: My TBR pile was so tall, I worried it would topple off my nightstand and crush me so I placed the books in a stand where they stare at me begging to be next. Of course, there’s still the queue on my Kindle and Audible.   PAULA: If only I could call my TBR pile a “pile” and not two rooms full of books and manuscripts and devices loaded up with stories.But I wouldn’t have it any other way….  ALISON: My TBR stack is also on the floor for the obvious reasons. I’m almost finished with Laura Griffin’s “At Close Range.” When I’m done, I’ll be on to Elizabeth George’s “The Punishment She Deserves.” Come July 10th, it will be Linda Castillo’s “A Gathering of Secrets.” I’m also reading for background research, which includes the “1823 View of the Hebrews,” the “Book of Mormon” (again), and non-fiction focused on collecting rare books and making bombs (don’t ask!).    TRACEE: Alison, you can’t throw out a teaser like rare books and making bombs then say don’t ask! Now I have to ask another question to get our minds off this.  Does anyone else find that when the book is on Kindle it can REALLY get lost and nearly forgotten?  ROBIN: Yes! I have to remind myself to go through my Kindle library for TBR’s (there are 4). I balance out eBooks and physical books to avoid the towering stack syndrome.  ALEXIA: My TBR pile defies words. And logic. (Yes, all of those. Plus more I couldn’t squeeze into the shot)  Were we supposed to count eBooks, too? In that case, I’m going to have to live to 210 in order to make a dent. 276 eBooks on Nook (some, but not most, in the read pile), 80 on Kindle app, 5 on Aldiko. Chicago U Press and Tor/Forge keep giving away free eBooks and they add up. And the Audible audio books. Forgot those. TRACEE: Alexia, I hope that there is a correlation between the TBR stack and longevity….. maybe we will all live to 210 in order to finish! I am going to look through my digital ‘stack’ now…. 443 titles. Hopefully most are read (I confess that some are duplicates of favorite books so they are always available when I’m traveling). But there are sure to be a few treasures waiting for my full attention.           

Read more