Do you remember D.E.A.R? At my elementary school that meant “Drop Everything And Read,” something we typically did for 10 or 15 minutes every day. Best part of my day, really. As my TBR and Library piles are battling for supremacy and trying to sneak in around the review copies who have staked out places on my calendar, I’m thinking back to the simpler days of D.E.A.R., when I believed I had time to get to any book I wanted. And that, of course, got me fantasizing about a world where I really could just Drop Everything And Read for more than just 15 minutes a day.
The rapidly approaching end of the year has me a bit melancholy about all the fabulous books I intended to read this year and never got around to picking up. This list is comprised mostly of things that came into the house for review consideration, whether directly from an author or publicist, or from one of the trade shows I attended. Some were also wins from online giveaways.
If only I could Drop Everything And Read for the last month of the year, here is what I would pick up (links go either to the book’s website or LibraryThing):
Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman
How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu
My Wife’s Affair Nancy Woodruff
By Fire, By Water by Mitchell James Kaplan
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
The Wrong Blood by Manuel De Lope
Nothing Left to Burn by Jay Varner
The Eyes of Willie McGee by Alex Heard
The Tiger by John Vaillant
The Outside Boy by Jeanine Cummins
Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace
Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons
Have you read anything from this list? Anything I should be sure not to miss? Anything I shouldn’t feel bad about not getting to?
This is a great list! If only we COULD d.e.a.r…sigh.
Yes, yes, yes, all of these. I look at my bookshelves and want to cry. You know what? I am going to read all those beloved books next year (or at least as many as I can fit in 12 months). I am over the feeling of not being able to read what I want!
My problem is that I want to read the other books I’m reading just as much! I just need to find a way to freeze time or lengthen the days or something so I can read twice as much.
I would love to drop everything and read. I’m with you, I want to read the books that I’m currently reading and the ones that don’t have a set deadline just keep getting pushed aside. I guess I should give them a fake deadline to make sure I fit them in.
You have several on your list that I would love to read as well.
Fake deadlines are a good idea. Maybe I should give each of these 12 books a 2011 deadline. One a month, perhaps?
Read one The Eyes of Willie McGee, the rest are on my list. If interested, review is here: http://www.authorexposure.com/2010/07/book-review-eyes-of-willie-mcgee-by.html
One a month sounds doable!
Oh, these are great books too! I loved Mr Rosenblum Dreams in English, By Fire, By Water, Revolution, and The Wrong Blood. I wish you could D.E.A.R. – I wish I could too, actually!
What a great list of books. I’d drop everything to read a lot of them too
This is such a great list, they are being added to my TBR. I think I can do one a month.
Hmm…maybe we should read them together?
I know the feeling; my end-of-the-year shortlist that I made last month has not gotten appreciably shorter in the intervening time.
But back to your list… the only one I’ve read is Revolution, but I thought it was incredible – most likely it’ll be in my top 10 for the year. Definitely worth picking up when you get the chance.
By Fire, By Water was one of my favorites this year — I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on it!
I think you’re amazing, Jen. This is a fantastic problem, don’t you think: at least there too many great books out there to read instead of too little. But I am with you, I would want to read all of them, too, especially How to Read Air. xo
There’s never enough time, is there? You have a few books there that interest me as well. The only one I’ve read is Love and Other Impossible Pursuits; I liked it, and as the main character is a new stepmother, related to it a lot at the time I read it.
I’d like to D.E.A.R. Revolution!
I’m liking the fake deadlines idea too …
I have my own Oh, DEAR list – and it’s just as long as yours. I look at these books sitting on my shelves and wish…. I do plan to spend a lot of time reading the two holiday weeks – am hoping I can knock a few titles off that list!
Great list – I haven’t read any of them but there are definitely some on that list that I wish I could read!
Well, if I could recommend one book to read from your DEAR list, it would be….Jennifer Donnelly’s REVOLUTION.
(She’s a beautiful writer.)
Of course, I would love to hear your opinion of RUBY as well…
I loved DEAR! The only book on your list I’ve read is Revolution, which is definitely worth reading, though not urgently. For myself, I wish I could get to Room by Emma Donoghue!
Ooh, I nearly put Room on my list too.
I highly recommend By Fire, By Water and Revolution looks interesting.
You read more books than almost anyone I know and you still have that many books left that you wished you had gotten to–that pretty well convinces me that there is no hope that I will ever in my life read everything I want to read!
And those are only the ones I want to read the very most. There are another few hundred books on the shelves that I would also really like to read.
Wow, what a list! By Fire, By Water and Revolution have caught my eye before also. They all look so delightful, though!
This list looks suspiciously familiar. Are you looking at my own TBR pile? If you ever find a way to stop time or even D.E.A.R., please share the secret with me!