Piles of Unread Books

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There would be piles of unread books if I took them off my shelf.

Literally, piles. I’ve done a quick count, and as of this month (October 2017), I have a grand total of 189 unread books sitting on my shelves. I didn’t even go into the other room where I have a few shelves full. That’s a lot of books, my friends.

Out of those nearly 200 books, there’s a variety of genres, authors, paperbacks and hardcovers, and page length. There’s no consistency to the unread books, nor is there much of an explanation as to why they sit their unread.

Perhaps (for want of even a little bit of an explanation) it’s because I see a book, I buy the book, I’m currently already reading a book, and so said new book gets popped on the shelf to be read next. But this happens so often that they pile up … and up and up.

Or maybe it’s because I really want to see the movie, but I’m a firm believe in reading the book before catching the film where possible. Books like Water For Elephants, and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.

It works the other way too: I’ve seen the movie, thinking I would never read the book … but then I find the book in a sale bin or at the opshop and I buy it, vowing to read it. But I don’t. I haven’t yet picked up books like The Help, or The Princess Bride (one of my favourite movies ever).

There are some books which are books that I really should have read a long time ago, but didn’t read them when they first came out and now they’re ‘old’ and other books have come along which interest my more. The Golden Compass, is one such book.

Some books intimidate me. Have you seen how big Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is? Or how many books are in the Wheel of Time series? (The answer is 14, by the way, and I’ve only read books 1 – 4.)

Others still are books that are the last in a series which I read the first books of and really enjoyed … but then I waited too long between the end books and now either can’t remember what happened, or I realised they got worse as the series progressed and I haven’t given the last book a chance. Titles in this category include The Last Star (book 3 in The 5th Wave trilogy), and The Kill Order (prequel to the Maze Runner series).

On occasion I’ll go on a book-buying-ban, but it never lasts long. There’s no way I’m walking past a sale at Paperplus or Whitcoulls, especially when it’s ‘buy one Young Adult get one half price’. There’s no way.

But it can’t just be me, right? Right. Let me know what books you have sitting on your shelves unread. Please have more than 200.