Tags
Alain De Botton, Ali Smith, Andrew Sean Greer, Arthur Conan Doyle, Bill Bryson, Bronte sisters, Chandra Prasad, Charles Dickens, Deborah Devonshire, Elizabeth Bishop, Elizabeth Bowen, Emma Donoghue, Evelyn Waugh, Frank Baker, Geert Mak, George Gissing, James Boswell, Jan Neruda, Jane Austen, Mary Ann Shaffer, Mary Roach, Michael Dirda, New Yorker, Nicholas Sparks, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Paul Theroux, Prague, Robert Lowell, Stephan Benatar, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Violet Trefussis, Virginia Woolf, Vita Sackville West
Looking at how my TBR pile is getting way out of control, I think it’s time I come up with a plan of some sort. I have never really had the habit of making lists of books that I plan to read, but I feel that it might be a good idea to do so now. It will probably help me to have some kind of a structure whereby manageable “reading goals” can be better met, I think. So this year, here’s to giving it a try!
First In First Out or Last In First Out?
If it’s gonna be FIFO, then I should be well reading these few oldest occupants on the shelf :
The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer- The Accidental by Ali Smith
- Stiff by Mary Roach
- The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain De Botton
- Fresh-Air Fiend by Paul Theroux
- My Sergei : A Love Story by Ekaterina Gordeeva
But if it’s LIFO (and you know how it is with current fascinations, you just can’t wait to dive into them), then this would be the stack to tackle :
Violet to Vita : The Letters of Violet Trefussis to Vita Sackville West- The Secret Self : Short Stories by Women
- In Tearing Haste : Letters Between Deborah Devonshire & Patrick Leigh Fermor
- The Odd Women by George Gissing
- All Passion Spent by V. Sackville West
- Wish Her Safe At Home by Stephan Benatar
- The Reader by Ali Smith
- On Borrowed Wings by Chandra Prasad (bought on account of Danielle’s high praises)
And while I am deciding between the two, here’s also the ‘already-planned-to-read’ stack :
Life Mask by Emma Donoghue- The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
- The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh
- a couple from the Bronte sisters’ collection
- The Hound of The Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Then there’s also the ‘already-started-and-stopped-but-need -to-get-back-to’ pile :
The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton- Three Weeks With My Brother by Nicholas Sparks & Micah Sparks
- Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
- In Europe by Geert Mak
- Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
- Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides by James Boswell
There are also a few tomes which I plan (& hope) to be dipping into regularly :
-
Elizabeth Bishop and The New Yorker
- Words In Air : The Complete Correspondence Between Elizabeth Bishop & Robert Lowell
- Classics For Pleasure by Michael Dirda
- Bound to Please by Michael Dirda
- Seeing Further : The Story of Science & The Royal Society edited by Bill Bryson
- The Collected Stories of Elizabeth Bowen
And last but not least, the stack of gems I am most looking forward to reading :
- The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue
- Prague Tales by Jan Neruda (already started)
- Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker (highly recommended by Stuck in A Book’s Simon)
- The Odd Women by George Gissing
- The Diaries of Sylvia Townsend Warner (already started)
- I’ll Stand By You : Letters by Sylvia Townsend Warner & Valentine Ackland
- In Tearing Haste : Letters Between Deborah Devonshire & Patrick Leigh Fermor
- Wait For Me by Deborah Devonshire
Just realised there’s two of them (The Odd Women & In Tearing Haste) which had appeared in one of the earlier stacks too. Guess this makes them definite must-reads, no?
So there you have it, that’s the plan ……for now.


I like the fact that you have plans! You have some lovely books on the tbr pile. STW’s diaries are wonderful, I didn’t know about the letter though. I’d like to read those. Have you read the biography of STW by Claire Harman? Very good. The Odd Women is terrific as is Miss Hargreaves. You’ve probably read some of these by now, I’ve just found your blog thanks to Dani. Looks like we’re kindred spirits.
Thanks for dropping by, Lyn! Yes, I do have some rather lovely books waiting to be read, don’t I? I just wish that I could read with half the efficiency that I have in acquiring them. When I said I am not a fast reader, I wasn’t kidding. So far, I have only managed to get halfway through both the STW diaries and letters (which are very good, by the way!) from the many piles of tbr in the Plan. Shameful, I know. Thanks for the recommending the biography of STW too. Looks like one more to be added to the ever mounting tbr stack!
I have been following your blog for the past one year, mostly as a lurker though, having commented only once or twice maybe in your posts regarding your cat/ cats. Love to see all those pics you manage to capture so well of them.
I have only one dog at the moment, the other one having passed on more than a year ago. Plus I am feeding some stray cats outside my home. Kindred spirits, indeed.