Books on the TBR Shelf

This post was inspired by Kelley at Another Novel Read.  There she's discussing the top ten books she just had to buy, but hasn't yet read.  As my to-be-read (TBR) pile is just a tad bit out of control - okay, insanely out of control - I thought I could share with you the top ten books that I'm most eager to read this year during my Goodreads 100 book challenge.  Because some of them have been on my TBR shelves for so long, I can't remember if I purchased them, found them somewhere, or had them given to me by a friend or relative.

This list of ten is available to me in either paperback or hardcover form.  I am not including Kindle e-books in the list.  Maybe I'll list those in another post.  (Hey, look at that, an idea for tomorrow!)

So, in no particular order, here are the books that have been sitting on my shelf, staring me in the face, and mocking my inability to get them read already. 

  I remember picking this one up at a ConFusion conference a few years back.  Rave reviews.  Lots of word-of-mouth promotion.  I'm really hoping it lives up to they hype because it's a lovely, thick beast of a book.  I should be able to immerse myself in this fantasy land for several days.

  Library book sale.  I'm 99.9% positive that's where I stumbled across this one.  Here's what Goodreads has to say about the book's content:

As his carriage passes a trash dump, Geoffroy spies an abandoned baby in the jaws of a cur. He saves the child, names her Rose, and declares her his rightful heir. The shock fells Lady Loveall on the spot, and Rose becomes the pampered daughter of Lord Loveall and his bride of convenience, the resident librarian Anonyma. This joyful period lasts until Rose's adolescence, when it becomes increasingly difficult to hide the one great secret of Love Hall: namely, that Rose, now in the position of fending off suitors for her titled hand, is in fact a boy. 

Sounds promising, right?

  Believe it or not, I've never read this classroom classic.  I'm not sure how I got through high school, let alone college, without this book crossing my path, but it didn't.  At the time, I was relieved.  World War II and genocide were not topics I felt very eager to explore during those tender years.  Now, more hardened and cynical, I think I can handle it.

Okay, okay...maybe my desire to read this really has more to do with being able to say I have and being able to carry on a conversation with others who have.  I hate it when I've not read a book that so many have!

Issues...I have them.

  This one was a recent B&N gift card purchase.  Now that I have a Kindle I rarely buy books from the store.  (Sorry, my fellow authors, but I don't live near any bookstores and purchase through Amazon is just too easy!)   

I picked this one up because it looked like a fun read.  That is all.

   I was first introduced to Jim Hines at yet another ConFusion conference.  He sat on a panel or two.  After listening to him discuss women in fiction and his attempt to create strong female characters that defied the typical gender stereotypes, I had to go out and find the first book in his Princess series.

Jim is also awesome because of his cover posing posts.  In his words:

In January of 2012, I decided that I wanted to talk about science fiction and fantasy cover art, particularly the ways women were portrayed. At first, I thought about writing a long blog post, talking about how saturated we were with imagery that emphasized women as sexual objects at the expense of power, agency, realism, and so on.

Then I decided there might be a more effective way to encourage discussion. With assistance and surprisingly little eye-rolling or laughter from my wife, I contorted myself into the poses of women on various SF/F covers.

  I don't know.  The cover art is pretty and it's historical fiction.  The first drew my eye and the second pulled the cash from my wallet.

  Maybe I shouldn't include this one.  You see, I've already read it.  Many, many years ago. So long ago that my feeble little memory, which I loathe, recalls only fragments.  I don't even know that I could articulate the plot should someone ask.  What I do remember, though, is that I loved this book as a 14- or 15-year-old girl precisely because it wasn't targeted to youth.  It was so much more than the books I had been reading, which were mostly historical romance or coming-of-age books about teenage girls.

  Jacqueline Carey's first Kushiel trilogy rocked my world.  It was bold and daring.  It was novel in that I had never read anything like it.

P.S.  50 Shades of Grey has nothing on the first few books in this series; I can't yet speak to the next three books in the series.  In fact, I'd say 50 Shades sadly lacks everything that makes Carey's work spectacular. You know, like depth, high stakes, and character development.

  This one kept catching my eye.  I hope it's good because I've already purchased book #2 in the series.

  I really enjoyed the first book int he Parasol Protectorate series.  I fully expect to enjoy it's sequel.  If I do, I will no doubt hunt down the next book in the series, too.