Buried Under a Bookslide

We don't usually get much seriously cold weather here. In keeping with conventions of the age, however, the upcoming cold snap is being covered as if we were about to suffer a blizzard. As I'm familiar with during hurricane season, weather prep coverage tends to send me into an organizational frenzy.

Today, it was documenting a TBR pile that might actually, if left to itself, collapse into the core of a library. Because linguistic physics.

I'm actually horrified by the books I've been squirreling away--I've been reading plenty, but I've been dealing with...stress?...by making an enormous pile of books bought at library sales and discount stores and Just Not Reading Them. Not to mention the occasional Christmas book request that returns a text that seemed like a good idea but just didn't cut through the static in my head.

2018 is going to be the year of the Everest of TBRs. I'm probably going to conk out in base camp, but I'm going to commit to actually reading and officially DNF'ing books that aren't for me rather than shuffling them further back on the shelf. Also, no more impulse buys at Half Price.

Part of the shock of the TBR is the realization that I really don't want to read most of these books. That I managed to acquire them without any real interest in them. That's fine--there are great discoveries to be made in the random intersection of reader and book. However, I don't think there was any hope of discovery behind them, just a kind of "yeah, I'm a reader, right? and this is a book." Generic, joyless consumption.

Despite that, January's reading list should be interesting. Here is the list and some of the background about why I want to read each book:

1. The January Dancer -- Whenever I dip into this, the writing intrigues me and the story promises a good mystery but I haven't slowed down to follow it, yet.
2. The Time of the Transference -- This was a gift from my dad and is the kind of adventure story that first appealed to me in fantasy. Interesting magic system.
3. Jhereg -- I saw the author at a convention years ago and realized that the covers that had been putting me off shouldn't have. This has been in the stack ever since (guilt, guilt, guilt).
4. The Lesser Kindred -- The blurb sounded interesting.
5. Make Way for Dragons -- Um...yeah. Cover nostalgia buy.
6. Rosalind Franklin - This was a gift (guilt, guilt, guilt) and I wanted to read about Rosalind Franklin.
7. Moonwise -- I LOVE the writing in this book. So I keep swooning and shoving it back on the shelf because I'll only get the one time to discover the story.
8. Parzival -- Isn't January the perfect time for a cozy read about the search for the Holy Grail? Yes, yes it is.
9. The Rediscovery of Meaning -- January is also the perfect time for contemplation.
10. Transformations -- Because why have I never read Anne Sexton?
11. The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night -- Because it's beautiful and it's on my desk for continuous inspiration.
12. The Little Book of Hidden People -- This was a gift from my brother and, again, it was put on the stack for a time when it could be savored. Freeze-mergency, anyone? (it is not an emergency because it might be below freezing for a few days, except, well, coastal Texas)
13. The Silver Bough -- Cover buy. Will the story live up to the lovely cover? We'll see.
14. Little, Big -- I should love this. I don't. But I will finish it. Perhaps a transformation along the way?
15. The Practice of Writing --  This is the shortest writing book in the stack but, again, it seemed like it might be a good January companion.

Just a day to go until January starts. Think I'll indulge in another story from The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night and look forward to January reading.