Melinda Hammond/Sarah Malloy whose latest book, THE WICKED BARON, was out in August has kindly shared her TBR pile with us.
Like many writers, I can never find enough time for everything I want to read. When I am working I avoid reading my own genre (historical romance or historical romantic adventure) because I do not want to influence my style. I also find myself dipping into a number of factual books for research. Therefore the TBR pile beside my bed never gets any smaller.
Some books have been on my TBR list for years, and I do, truly, wish to read them: when the time is right, when I have time to concentrate on them and when I am in the right mood. However, when I really began to think about my list I realised that the pile has not changed very much because Other Books keep getting in the way.
So I have decided to come clean about my TBR list. Every now and again I find a book that I want to read, or I think I should read, and it goes on the TBR pile. Most of these books are some form of self-improvement – Dostoyevsky and Zola because they are "literature", Fermat's Last Theorem because everyone else in my family seems more interested in science than in romantic fiction; Jung, well, writers need to know about psychology and The Power of Influence is something I should have read years ago when I began working in business. I really, really want20to read Simon Schama because I love his writing style, but this is such a big, thick, tome……………..
So below is a picture of some of the books I have actually read in the last twelve months!
You will see that with the exception of Venetia Murray's non-fiction about the Regency, these titles are very much in the "light reading" vein, but I have thoroughly enjoyed them all. I have bought and enjoyed all the Harry Potter series (even without the excuse of buying them for the children); Georgette Heyer is my comfort read, and whenever I am feeling in need of a little pampering I find myself turning back to her and choosing one from the full set that hides at the back of my bookcase. The top three on this pile are all written by colleagues in the RNA. I picked them up out of curiosity but I am so glad I did, because they were all of them devoured and enjoyed almost in one sitting.
Of course there are other books that get in the way, too – the Harlequin Mills & Boon historicals that I have to read (to check out the opposition, naturally!) and the Katie Fforde books that I buy as soon as they are published (she really doesn't write quickly enough for me!) but I think these pictures sum up pretty well my good intentions, and my true reading habits!
And one day I really will get down to reading the Schama………
Melinda Hammond/Sarah Mallory
http://www.melindahammond.com/
http://www.sarahmallory.com/
5 comments:
Of course you will. Really.
The long winter nights provide more reading time. But having spent Saturday in the company of June Francis and Jean Fullerton at Tomdoren's writers' day I now have even more books to read.....
Melinda
Gosh I know that feeling. The book I can't resist never gets anywhere near a pile - I just plonk myself down on the carpet in front of the fire and read, read, read . . .
And, of course, having done that, I will have to work late into the night to catch up, muttering and shipping tea by the bucketload, while the cat sits in the corner of my study and CONCENTRATES on the back of my neck.
I like your choice! - I love 'Black Sheep' too
Sometimes I have to steel myself not to start reading an author because I know once I start that will be it - nothing will get done until I've finished the book!
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