Has anyone been following The Tournament of Books? I only discovered it via a commenter on the blog and I have been wondrously entertained during the past month. Despite having read only one of the books in question I am quite delighted at my informed guesses. Blog reading is good for me! Not so happy with the fact that there are another 4 entrants in my TBR, all unread. Though with 3 titles on the Orange longlist, I shall remedy that situation soon.
Talking about TBRs, I realise there was unrestrained growth during the first two months of the year. Three stacks in January, two in February. I was determined to reduce it to only one during March. I managed it too …..
OK so it’s a rather tall stack, but it doesn’t topple over and I now have a yardstick against which to measure my improvement. I have abandoned embargos – they’re like diets – die with a t on the end. So, new strategy for April, I’m allowed to purchase one book for every 6 5 4 that I read. Should be simple but the publishers are ganging up on me. New novels from Michael Collins and Damon Galgut will be in the bookstores tomorrow. April’s reading may well comprise of Wolf Hall and 7 novellas …..
Effi Briest - Theodor Fontane (Readalong 
The Beauty Room - Regi Claire
My Mother's Lover - Urs Widmer
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
The Rule of Four - Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason
Noir - Robert Coover
The Taint of Midas - Anne Zouroudi
Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson
The Duel - Anton Chekhov
The Duel - Heinrich von Kleist
Gillespie and I - Jane Harris
State of Wonder - Ann Patchett
Titus Groan - Mervyn Peake
CIty of Dreadful Night - Peter Guttridge
Shadow Sister - Simone van der Vlugt
A Far Cry From Kensington - Muriel Spark
The Assault - Harry Mulisch
Next World Novella - Matthias Politycki
The Water Theatre - Lindsay Clark
Water For Elephants - Sara Gruen
The Liberation of Celia Kahn - J David Simons
Nocturnes - Kazuo Ishiguro
Hotel Du Lac - Anita Brookner
Your incredibly high stack of books made me laugh. There are so many book I’d like to read on there! I thought I bought a lot of books, but my buyings have become minimal compared to yours. You’ve provided me with a great excuse to visit the bookstore today
I probably going to add one or two books from your very tall pile to mine. I used to be quite frantic about not making any headway on my TBR pile. But I’ve realised that I find a tall pile quite comforting!
That one small pile of books… hahahaha wonderful post. As I mentioned on Savidge Reads yesterday I really like seeing other peoples new arrivals, partly because it makes me feel better about mine, and also as I have royally done ‘ooooh I want that one’ quite a few times.
Such a pretty pile (though I’m inclined to find all stacks of books alluring). I have Germania on my hold list at the library and am really looking forward to it.
I usually only buy a book every two or three months (I am very, very cheap) but April is a three pay cheque month, so I’m looking forward to splurging!
This stacks of books content is a relatively new venture for me and it is in response to the stacks of books posted on other blogs. I love those posts for so many reasons:
a) I’m informed about new books to the market
b) I realise that I’m not the only bookaholic in the universe
c) I simply like looking at stacks of books
I figured if I enjoy reading about the acquisitions of others, they would enjoy reading about mine!
Thanks for telling me about the Michael Collins. I have a bit of a literary crush on him!
This represents restraint?
Beautiful pile and some great reads in there.
I have also been following The Tournament of Books and picked well until we got to The Lacuna vs Let the Great World Spin in the semifinals where I experienced the customary March Madness wtf moment. Read both novels, enjoyed them both but fail to see how The Lacuna triumphs. The McCann was my favorite book of last year. Grrr!
Restraint is such a relative term. Isn’t the fact that added another 25 books to my amazon wishlist evidence of at least a modicum?
I tripped up on that same tournament of books bout – but, in the end, Mantel will triumph, I believe. So no harm done.