An idea I got from The Toddled Dredge (via K for Kat). Here’s what she said:
“So here today I present to you an Unread Books Challenge. Give me the list or take a picture of all the books you have stacked on your bedside table, hidden under the bed or standing in your shelf – the books you have not read, but keep meaning to. The books that begin to weigh on your mind. The books that make you cover your ears in conversation and say, ‘No! Don’t give me another book to read! I can’t finish the ones I have!’ “
How convenient. I’ve actually been taking pictures of my bookshelves the last few days. I recently rearranged the furniture in my room because I got a new bed, and when I moved my book case, I decided to take pictures of the shelves because they look better than they have in months (for the most part). I’ve included pictures of all my shelves, except for the small book case with my YA books (which I’ve read most of). So there are certainly books on all of these shelves that I’ve read, with the exception of the books on my night stand. However, the majority of the books are unread.
This is my main book case- at least the top shelves of it. What you can’t see from this picture, is the bottom shelf, which is far more heavily loaded than any of the other shelves.
This picture is of the previously mentioned bottom shelf. There are a few books you can’t see, but of the ones you can see, I’ve only read six of the books. Needless to say, I’ve got my work cut out for me. Now, onward.
I’ve also included close ups of the other four shelves in this book case. Again, the vast majority of these books are unread.
These are the top two shelves of my book case, and the only ones with any attempt at organization. The top shelf is non-British European classics, and the second shelf is American classics, up until Sin in the Second City. Then we delve into my general book collection.
These are also in my general book collection. At one point earlier this year, it was all fiction, and for the most part, that’s still true. Most of my non-fiction books are boxed in the garage. But I’ve bought some more non-fiction this year, and I’m still too excited about these to box them.
The books that are actually lined up and in order are my British classics and, obviously at the end, are my Harry Potter books (the space left at the time was perfect). Stacked on top are books I’m not ready to box up, but didn’t have room for in the book case.
And finally, are the books lined up on my night stand. Most of them are 2009 releases, but all are unread books that I want to get to sooner rather than later:
Well, that’s it. Hope you’ve all enjoyed your look at my TBR. And if you’ve got suggestions for which books I should move to the top of the pile, feel free to share them!
After the death of her father, Clarissa is stunned to learn that he was not in fact her biological father. Shortly after that, she discovers that her fiance, a lifelong family friend, has known for years and has kept this secret from her. Anxious to discover the truth about her life, her identity, and her real father, Clarissa heads to the top of the world in search of her answers. Once in Lapland (an area inside the Arctic circle where Norway and Finland meet), she discovers more than she ever could have expected to find there- some things good, others not. When all is said and done, she must choose what kind of life she wants to forge for herself in the future.
Cameron and Jennifer were best friends in elementary school. They were a pair of outcasts at their heavily Mormon school in Salt Lake City for several reasons: Jennifer was heavyset and only had one parent, Cameron’s father was heavily abusive, and both were poor. In fifth grade, Cameron moved away, and Jennifer was given reason to believe he’d never return. Eight years later, Jenna has left her old life behind her. She’s attending a small private school, where she’s got a solid group of friends and a popular boyfriend. When Cameron suddenly and unexpectedly returns to her life, Jenna finds the old Jennifer emerging more and more, and must come to terms with the past in order to fully embrace the future.
In Nazi Germany, death was an inevitability for millions of people. Jews were being executed at concentration camps, thousands died in battle, and ordinary citizens were suffering from the effects of the war. But there was one little girl who stood out to Death: a little girl known as the Book Thief. Death first encounters Liesel Meminger at her brother’s graveside, where she steals a book that falls from the pocket of one of the gravediggers (a book appropriately titled The Gravedigger’s Handbook). Following her brother’s burial, Liesel is sent to live with a foster family because her mother can no longer care for her. With this foster family, Liesel finds herself happy, but the problems of wartime Germany affect her new family and her life. Over time, she steals a few more books, and it is these thefts that earn her the nickname given to her by Death.
After spending several years apart, Jessica Darling and Marcus Flutie literally crash back into each others’ lives. It has been three years since they’ve seen each other, three years since she refused his marriage proposal. Their brief encounter at Newark Liberty Airport turns into an all-day (and night) reunion as they catch up and start looking to the future.
Jessica Darling is on her way to Princeton, planning to break up with boyfriend Marcus Flutie. She’s not expecting Marcus to counter the beginning of her breakup talk with a proposal, so when he does propose, she’s genuinely shocked. She promises to take a week to think about it, and over the course of that week, she does think. Her journals, usually chronicled without thought of their ever being seen by anyone, are now being written for Marcus to read, so that he can see the thought that went into her answer. Additionally, Jessica is finally living with her best friend Hope, who is more visible than she has ever been in this series.
In the early 1940s, Holly Golightly is the ultimate girl-about-town. She knows everyone, and she knows everything about them. But no one really knows her, beyond the face she presents to the public. She’s involved with millionaire playboys and incarcerated gangsters alike. She’s a little bit call girl, a little bit lesbian, and one hundred percent enigmatic. Breakfast at Tiffany’s begins with the narrator, a writer whose name we never learn, getting a phone call from an old acquaintance. When the two meet up, the narrator reminisces about his relationship with Holly, from beginning to end.
With her high school days behind her, Jessica Darling is in college in New York, struggling to move forward with her life while continuing her relationship with Marcus and her friendship with Hope. Unfortunately, it’s not easy, with Marcus in California and Hope in Rhode Island. As her college experiences continue, she finds it harder to hang on to the things that mattered to her when she was in high school.
In 1911, eighteen year old Delia Conisborough is newly married, and eager to leave behind her home in Virginia to live in England with her new husband, a viscount. Ivor is a widower, and Delia believes he is still mourning the death of his wife Olivia. On her arrival in England, she learns that not everything is as it appears to be in Ivor’s world. After discovering Ivor’s secret, Delia decides to continue her life with him, but nothing is the same. After Delia gives birth to two daughters, Petra and Davina, the family moves to Cairo, and most of the rest of the novel plays out there- first from Delia’s perspective, then from the perspectives of her daughters and the men that love them.
