Ok. Admit it. We all have a To Be Read pile or list of books that we’ve been meaning to read for a while. Mine is so big that if I actually owned all the books on the list, they would probably fill up my house completely (good thing I have a library card). And I’m always adding more. Sometimes I add a title because I have too many books going when I find out about it. Other times, I add something that I think I should want to read. Either way, it means I won’t be reading those titles right away. Then they sit until I a) remember them and/or b) something comes up that makes me go back and revisit my list. Like, oh I don’t know, a post for the library blog. Here are some oldies but goodies that I’m finally finding time for.

Tinker by Wen Spencer

This book was originally released in 2003, and I think I put it on my TBR list not long after. But for some reason, I made myself wait over 20 years to actually pull the trigger. If I remember correctly, this one was sold to me as if Buffy and Willow were the same person. And I have to say that they weren’t too far off. Plus maybe add in a little Matrix and Mad Max for fun. So it turns out that in the two decades it took me to get to this one, it has become an entire series, called Elfhome that consists of six books and various short stories. This is almost Romantasy before Romantasy was a thing. NPL used to own this one, but for now if you want to read these, you are going to have to ILL them. It’s worth the extra effort. I totally should have read this one years ago. 

I think I was initially attracted to this book because the main character is a ballet dancer. That is usually a topic of intrigue for me, so when I read the description of this book I thought, “Hmm…that sounds interesting” and I checked it out. Then it sat. And sat. Because it was so different from what I normally read, I just kept checking it out and having to return it. I’ve had this checked out on and off for the past 18 months. During this latest check out attempt, I looked at the summary one more time and finally decided to dig in and whew - what a ride. British ballet dancer, January Stirling, is rescued from a flooded London theater and decides to immigrate to Mars because the rest of Earth is in bad shape. There he happens into a somewhat arranged marriage and has to help save the colony on Mars. See why it took me so long to read this one? This book has a little bit of everything. It is Sci-Fi, it has climate issues, there is a mystery, with a side of political thriller and a hint of romance. I finally finished it and thought, “What did I just read?” If you are looking for something different, I highly recommend this. Just don’t wait so long to read it like I did. 

I don’t remember when I first heard about this one. The book came out in January 2024, so it was probably fall 2023. And it has taken me until now to read it. I tried print first, but had too many other books in front that it didn’t happen so I settled on the audio. I have to say it was highly enjoyable. The readers (both male and female) did a great job. Rooney is an artist who believes in fate above all. Jack is a scientist who works for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and enjoys his routines. They seem like an unlikely pair, but perhaps fate has a different story for them. You know I love me a good romcom and this one did not disappoint. This book is the reason to try and get through the massive To Be Read pile. Sometimes the gems don’t always float to the top and you have to dig for them.

This is the final (for now) book in the magical Dresden series where Harry Dresden is a wizard trying to keep Chicago from being destroyed in the apocalypse. No really. He’s in the phone book. I think because this is the last book I get until Butcher writes another one, I have saved this one to read since COVID. And since this is wrapping up a huge story arch, it does spend a good portion of the book jumping in and out of battle. Mostly in. The fun part is that I was just in Chicago last spring, so all of these places were fresh in my mind. If you haven’t started with this series yet, I do recommend you go back to the very beginning and read Storm Front. I believe the library has the audio version of this, and oh joy oh rapture, it is read by James Marsters, aka Spike from Buffy. This series is one of my favorite series of all-time, so don’t miss out on the brilliance that is Harry Dresden. He’s the definitely the best wizard named Harry that I know. *wink wink.

So now I’ve crossed 4 titles off my TBR list. Unfortunately, in the time it took me to do that, I added 23 more. Doh! Such is the revenge of the never-ending TBR pile. Be brave, check one of these out today, or go back and revisit your own monster stack. I’m sure you have something to help you enjoyably pass the time.

Happy TBR-ing…
:) Amanda