I was trying to bring some order to the library today. I feel like I have been binge-buying books since Simon Savidge and I went on our road trip last September. One astonishing things is the number of new hardcover books I’ve purchased in the last couple of years. Most of them without really having any sense if I will like them or not. I also realized they take up a lot of real estate on my shelves and what if I end up not liking them. They will have potentially displaced something better. Only way to figure that out I guess is to actually read them and see which ones survive the trek from Mt. TBR to a permanent spot on my shelves. (Then again permanent is never really permanent.)
I’ve decided to make a concerted effort to knock as many of these out by the end of the year. I’m sticking to a firm rule of 50 unless I realize it is just bad timing. And because I know I will need some relief in era, genre, and size, I’ve also pulled a ton of shortish fiction off the shelves and placed in my nightstand to fill in the gaps.
hogglestock 
I can wholeheartedly recommend The Queen of the Night! Ruby, Euphoria, and The Goldfinch were also excellent. The Improbability of Love is a hideous waste of time, IMO (although that said, there’s no accounting for taste and you might love it…)
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Homegoing is wonderful. Certainly try to get to that one.
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I’m not familiar with any of your hardbacks, but of the slim books, Diary of a Nobody is one of my favourites, and if I remember well, Sad Cypress was one of the better Christies. I will have to try and find my copy to reread. I think Something Light was very light indeed.
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Very brave indeed… Good luck! :)
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I mostly avoid buying hardcovers, partly due to the extra space they take up on the shelf. I also just like the feel of trade paperbacks in my hand. I reorganized my To Read pile this week and included only books I really want to make sure I read this year. I’ll fill in with others if I need more. I’m just starting The Magnificent Spinster by May Sarton which I bought after reading your review. Just finished Our Spoons Came from Woolworth’s which I really liked.
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I can’t wait to hear what you think about The Magnificent Spinster.
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I’m sorry to say that I abandoned it after 60+ pages. I felt like the author kept telling me how great Jane was rather than telling me a story and letting me decide. It had a promising start and I liked the description of the summers in Maine but didn’t like the author’s intrusions into the story. And Cyrano de Bergerac is my favorite play ever so was thrilled to see it mentioned.
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In the hardcover stack, what is the 12th book from the bottom and the 2ond from the top? The title is either not visible or too blurry for me to read!
I will be interested to hear how you get on with them. I hope you love them all! I have only read a few of the books pictured. I am most keen on reading Mothering Sunday and am hoping to get my hands on it soonish.
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Second from the top is Hotels of North America by Rick Moody. The 12th one from the top is The Blue Guitar by John Bainville.
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Canada and The Blue Guitar were both excellent. I started Noise of Time but got interrupted. I do plan to return to it as like all of Barnes’s work it is exquisitely written. It looks a righteous stack and I look forward to monitoring your progress.
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[J] You need a budget, Thomas! Financial – well that’s obvious, and I didn’t mean that. A space budget? Well, yes, that too! But no I didn’t mean that either. A time budget, perhaps? A-ha, nearly there! No, not quite? All three! And when you reach the limits of just one of them – stop!
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