I have a problem. Too many books and not enough time. This is a problem I've had for many years, as I can look back at a post that I made on this blog in 2008 wherein I go over the many books on my to-read shelf. The sad thing is that eight of the novels that were on my to-read shelf back in 2008 are still there. I've got somewhere in the vicinity of 25 books on my to-read shelf, and I'm thinking that it's time to get rid of the ones that I'll likely never get around to reading.
The books that remain from back in 2008 are Aasimov's Foundation Trilogy, The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks, Roald Dahl Omnibus, Alien Earth by Greg Burke, The Elder Gods by David Eddings, Medalon by Jennifer Fallon, Robert Jordan's full-length novelization of his short story New Spring, and Wonder Woman: Mythos. Foundation has been near the top of the stack for a while, but there always seems to be something else I'd rather read. The rest of them in this stack are books that I'd still like to get to at some point.
A few of the books I just need to give up and admit that I'll never get around to. I bought Neal Pollack's Alternadad back when my daughter was less than a year old and being a dad was still a novelty. In retrospect, buying that book was something of an impulse decision - it's not the kind of book I generally enjoy. I started reading Dean Koontz's The Face at least twice, and couldn't get into it. I'll probably get rid of that one too. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is a book I picked up primarily because of the game by the same name - I figured that if the book was good enough to have a game based on it, it might just be worth reading. I'm not sure I'll ever find out one way or another, because I have too many books. Finally, that Frankie Manning Bio. This one I'll keep, but I'm not sure I'll ever read it. Frankie was an amazing person, but biographies are hard for me. I'd like to think that I'll read it some day.
I've already mentioned more than once on this blog how I quit reading George R R Martin's A Dance with Dragons about halfway in due to abject boredom. I've also reshelved a collection of stories by Lester Del Rey after reading about 60% of them. They were good stories, but I'm going to have to come back to them later. I did the same thing with the four-story collection Mean Streets. I read the first story (A Dresden Files tale) and I might come back and read the three others at a future date. Maybe.
Yes, I just totally made up that pseudo-Latin phrase - an indulgence at which I'll make no attempts at an excuse.
The foremost of the books that I'd like to get to after I finish reading Feed is Stephen King's new novel 11/22/63. I know very little about it - I know that it's about someone travelling back in time to prevent the Kennedy assassination - but I know that Stephen King is a good author, I know that my father-in-law read it and recommends it, and I know that it's Goodreads's Best Science Fiction book of 2011, beating out Ready, Player One by a narrow margin.
Side Jobs is a Dresden Files story. Actually, a group of short stories. And I eat those up. This book is the greasy batch of french fries that I'm saving for myself after I read a few of the celery sticks on my to-read shelf. I plan to read through it very quickly and enjoy it quite a lot.
A friend recommended Cordelia's Honor, so although I know close to nothing about the book, I got a copy and I plan to read it. If I like it as much as some people seem to suspect I might, I'm led to believe that there are a number of other books in the series. This won't help my overweight to-read shelf much, and so I've put this one aside for now.
I didn't enjoy the first book in Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series nearly as much as I've enjoyed his Dresden Files novels, and so I didn't rush on to Academ's Fury, but I do plan to read it. The Dresden Files novels got far better as the series progressed, and I hope that the Codex Alera series does likewise.
I picked up Alan Dean Foster's Cachalot many years ago when I lived in the Colt Building in Hartford. Someone had left it out in the communal hallway, on top of what I think were mailboxes. The books were free for anyone who was interested, so I'd grabbed a few. It seems like an interesting science fiction tale, and I hope to read it once my to-read shelf has slimmed down a bit.
Lastly, the sequel to the book I'm currently reading: Deadline. It's a zombie story about news media. My current impression puts it somewhere between World War Z and V for Vendetta. I'd say that's a good place to be. Checking Mira Grant's website, the NewsFlesh series' numbering system seems to be bizarre (2, 3, 4, 4, 6) but the three chapters I've read so far of the first book are very good, and I may eventually read all of them. If I can figure the order in which they belong.
There are a lot of other books I want to read - books that I'm barely restraining myself from purchasing. Yes, I do have a problem. I really want to read Cory Doctorow's story Makers. I want to pick up that Patrick Rothfuss story Wise Man's Fear that everyone's talking about. I understand that book two in that series wasn't nearly as good as the first. I want to pick up Room by Emma Donohgue and Embassytown by China Miéville. I read about both recently on other blogs and they sound great. I also found out about Lev Grossman's book Magicians because it might be turned into a TV show, and then following that line of research I found out about Paranormals by Christopher Andrews. While reading about Feed, I found out about Dead of Night: A Zombie Novel by Jonathan Maberry. I want to read them all. At some point, I'd also like to go through The Hunger Games, which Linda has on her iPad. I understand that those books are also hard to put down.