Down the TBR Hole 32

This is a meme started by Lia at Lost in a Story. The “rules” are:

• Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
• Read the synopses of the books.
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

I’m modifying this a little since my to-read shelf is a mess of books that are mostly in storage. Instead, I’m going to look at my wishlist—all those books I add on a whim during my travels around the book blogging community—and weed out the ones that don’t quite sound as good now. The “keepers” I’m going to look for at online libraries or add to my Amazon wishlist.

An interesting side-note: Four of today’s books were added to my Wishlist during NonFicNov 2017!

The Circus Fire: A True Story of an American Tragedy by Stewart O’Nan

My interest in magic extends to related arts, like the circus. This story still sounds good to me: I know little about “big top” circuses. KEEP.

Life in Code: A Personal History of Technology by Ellen Ullman

Reading the Goodreads summary, I think I’d like to read Ullman’s Close to the Machine instead, though I suppose there might be some overlap between the two. GO for now.

Dust Bowl Girls: The Inspiring Story of the Team That Barnstormed Its Way to Basketball Glory by Lydia Reeder

KEEP and extra bookmark since this book is related to the Be the Expert/Become the Expert topic I want to cover next week for NonFic November!

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

Honestly, I don’t know when I’m going to get to this book, but every time I see it on a NonFic November list, still want to read it. KEEP for now.

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined by Steven Pinker

Arguably an important book, but realistically not one I’m going to get to in the near future. I’m also not sure I can keep with this topic for 800 pages. GO.

Anyone have any experience with any of these? Any arguments for KEEP or GO?

Down the TBR Hole 30

This is a meme started by Lia at Lost in a Story. The “rules” are:

• Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
• Read the synopses of the books.
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

I’m modifying this a little since my to-read shelf is a mess of books that are mostly in storage. Instead, I’m going to look at my wishlist—all those books I add on a whim during my travels around the book blogging community—and weed out the ones that don’t quite sound as good now. The “keepers” I’m going to look for at online libraries or add to my Amazon wishlist.

	Can & Can’tankerous by Harlan Ellison I own a lot of Harlan Ellison. This collection boasts “ten previously uncollected tales.” I’m fairly sure I haven’t read some of them… So, KEEP!
	The Sun Never Sets by Cate Caldwell & Matt Pearson I have so much genre literature actually written in 1899 on my TBR list, but this steampunk man-to-the-moon story still sounds rather charming. KEEP.
	Medusa’s Gaze and Vampire’s Bite: The Science of Monsters by Matt Kaplan I’m not sure there is really much science in monsters, but it’s a concept that intrigues the ten year-old in me. Plus, Medusa doesn’t get enough monster love. KEEP.
	Champions of Illusion: The Science Behind Mind-Boggling Images and Mystifying Brain Puzzles by Susana Martinez-Conde & Stephen L. Macknik Don’t I own this book? Or have I read it? I think maybe I have. GO from my Wishlist.
	Bunk: The True Story of Hoaxes, Hucksters, Humbug, Plagiarists, Forgeries, and Phonies by Kevin Young I really want to read this. Why haven’t I? Maybe during the 20 Books of Summer. 😬  KEEP.

Anyone have any experience with any of these? Any arguments for KEEP or GO?

Down the TBR Hole 29

This is a meme started by Lia at Lost in a Story. The “rules” are:

• Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
• Read the synopses of the books.
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

I’m modifying this a little since my to-read shelf is a mess of books that are mostly in storage. Instead, I’m going to look at my wishlist—all those books I add on a whim during my travels around the book blogging community—and weed out the ones that don’t quite sound as good now. The “keepers” I’m going to look for at online libraries or add to my Amazon wishlist.

	Stories of a Street Performer: The Memoirs of a Master Magician by Whit “Pop” Haydn Pop Haydn is such a storyteller. Don’t believe me? Watch Pop Haydn and the Shell Game. KEEP.
	Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell by Paul Kane This is a mash-up of Sherlock Holmes and Clive Barker’s Hellraiser series. I’ve heard it’s fairly decent and I’m still willing to believe that despite my tiring of Holmes pastiche. KEEP.
	London Falling by Paul Cornell I’m sure I had a good reason for putting this book on my TBR. It doesn’t sound bad, but it doesn’t seem like anything I’ll really get around to reading. GO.
	Dancing in the Operating Room by Bruce Davis Bruce Davis was a guest at WesterCon back in 2017 and did a great talk on possible medical emergencies in space and writing realistic wounds. Good stuff. This is his book of essays about his career as a trauma surgeon. KEEP.
	What Ho, Automaton! by Chris Dolley I like the concept of steampunk more than I’ve ever liked any steampunk fiction. On top of that, I find that I’m not much of a fan of Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster. So, GO.

Anyone have any experience with any of these? Any arguments for KEEP or GO?

Down the TBR Hole 28

This is a meme started by Lia at Lost in a Story. The “rules” are:

• Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
• Read the synopses of the books.
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

I’m modifying this a little since my to-read shelf is a mess of books that are mostly in storage. Instead, I’m going to look at my wishlist—all those books I add on a whim during my travels around the book blogging community—and weed out the ones that don’t quite sound as good now. The “keepers” I’m going to look for at online libraries or add to my Amazon wishlist.

	The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo by Zen Cho I just mentioned last week that I’ve read some of Zen Cho’s short fiction and liked it. Also, this is set in the 20s and sounds really fun. KEEP!
	Shadows in Summerland by Adrian Van Young There is something about long summaries that make me lose confidence in a story. A book set in the 1850s with the most famous spirit photographer as a character? There’s no way this should be a GO. But it is.
	Sharkpunk by Jonathan Green While I have an appreciation of sharks as very important animals, they are also part of my nightmares. I’ll be KEEPing this anthology of killer shark stories.
	Go Figure: Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know by Tom Standage Tom Standage wrote one of my favorite nonfiction books of all time: The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine. This book seems like a compilation of lighter, frivolous things, but sometimes you need light and frivolous. KEEP.
	The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher Honestly, I’ve always been a little on the fence about this one, though I’ved like many Ursula Vernon/T. Kingfisher books. I’m not such a fan of marriage-aspected fairy tales. I think I’ll let this one GO.

Anyone have any experience with any of these? Any arguments for KEEP or GO?

Down the TBR Hole #27

This is a meme started by Lia at Lost in a Story. The “rules” are:

• Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
• Read the synopses of the books.
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

I’m modifying this a little since my to-read shelf is a mess of books that are mostly in storage. Instead, I’m going to look at my wishlist—all those books I add on a whim during my travels around the book blogging community—and weed out the ones that don’t quite sound as good now. The “keepers” I’m going to look for at online libraries or add to my Amazon wishlist.

	Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula by Bram Stoker & Valdimar Ásmundsson I like Dracula. I’ve read it three or four times now, and I think I’ll read again after I finish Moby Dick. Powers of Darkness is the translation back to English of Icelandic writer Valdimar Ásmundsson’s translation (and rewriting) of Stoker’s book. I actually did start to listen to an audio version of this and didn’t care for it, but I might have a different reaction to the text. So, KEEP for now.
	Cemeteries by Moonlight by Hunter Frost At some moment in the past, I was in the mood for gothicy, romancy mystery/horror, but this sounds a little too cheesy now. GO.
	Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho I’ve read a few of Zen Cho’s short stories and really enjoyed them. The plot sounds charming. KEEP.
	Summer in Orcus by T. Kingfisher I’m sold at “When the witch Baba Yaga walks her house into the backyard” in the blurb. I’m up for anything Baba Yaga. KEEP.
	Sublime Dreams of Living Machines: The Automaton in the European Imagination by Minsoo Kang I would love to read this book. I just wish the university press that publishes it wouldn’t charge so dang much for it, or allow wider library availability. KEEP because it is a “wish” list, after all.

Anyone have any experience with any of these? Any arguments for KEEP or GO?

Down the TBR Hole 26

This is a meme started by Lia at Lost in a Story. The “rules” are:

• Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
• Read the synopses of the books.
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

I’m modifying this a little since my to-read shelf is a mess of books that are mostly in storage. Instead, I’m going to look at my wishlist—all those books I add on a whim during my travels around the book blogging community—and weed out the ones that don’t quite sound as good now. The “keepers” I’m going to look for at online libraries or add to my Amazon wishlist.

	The Magician and the Spirits by Deborah Noyes On one hand, I feel like I should be a completionist. On the other hand, this is a book for younger readers about a subject I know a lot about. So, I think…GO.
	A Man of Parts by David Lodge Ah. This is the historical fiction with H. G. Wells. I’m decidedly less interested in this now that I’ve read more Wells (and enjoyed his fiction). I’ve become increasingly wary of literary fiction about famous people. GO.
	Time After Time by Karl Alexander But! I still hold out hope for genre books with historical figures. H. G. Well musing on life? Eh. H. G. Wells using his time machine to follow Jack the Ripper into the future? I’m in. KEEP.
	Phileas Fogg and the War of Shadows by Joshua Reynolds KEEP. But I should probably read Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days first, huh?
	Now You See It by Jane Tesh A mystery involving magicians. Of course, KEEP, even if it is the third in a series.

Anyone have any experience with any of these? Any arguments for KEEP or GO?

Down the TBR Hole 25

(An occasional series… 😬)

This is a meme started by Lia at Lost in a Story. The “rules” are:

• Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
• Read the synopses of the books.
• Decide: keep it or should it go?

I’m modifying this a little since my to-read shelf is a mess of books that are mostly in storage. Instead, I’m going to look at my wishlist—all those books I add on a whim during my travels around the book blogging community—and weed out the ones that don’t quite sound as good now. The “keepers” I’m going to look for at online libraries or add to my Amazon wishlist.

	Call for the Dead by John le Carré I keep meaning to read some of the George Smiley books, but I am rarely in the mood for spy/thrillers. But KEEP, because occasionally I AM in the mood for a spy/thriller. If only Goodreads would let me filter by genre tags…
	Chef Maurice and the Wrath of Grapes by J.A. Lang The next two books on my list are books #2 & #3 of the Chef Maurice series. I’m KEEPing both. I really enjoyed the first and I’ll get to more.
	Giving Up the Ghosts: Short-Lived Occult Detective Series by Six Renowned Authors by Tim Prasil (editor) Occult detectives are a jam I don’t indulge in often enough. KEEP.
	A Meditation on Murder by Robert Thorogood I started watching the Death in Paradise series and I didn’t care for it. There are other series that I haven’t been reading (see above), so… GO.
	The Modern Supernatural and the Beginnings of Cinema by Murray Leeder I love that special effects are really as old as photography and cinematography and I want to learn more about them. KEEP.

Anyone have any experience with any of these? Any arguments for KEEP or GO?