The TBR Short Stack: Dec 19, 2017 (And A Quick Update)

So what’s the TBR short stack? For me it’s my small to be read pile; the one sitting in the cabinet beside my reading chair. This is the pile of books I’ve selected to read next in no particular order. The short stack is not to be confused with all the other books in the house that are on my to read list. Those other books will sit on shelves collecting dust until I finish the short stack, and until I quit adding to it with other books that catch my eye and I pick up week to week. I’m like a dog seeing a squirrel that way.

So…there’s twelve more days before the end of the year and here’s all the books I still have to read and review in no particular order.

Wake Of Vultures by Lila Bowen
The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso
Dune by Frank Herbert
Malice by John Gwynne
Skullsworn by Brian Staveley
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Provenance by Ann Leckie
Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie
Strange Weather by Joe Hill
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Wild Cards I edited by George R. R. Martin
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The City Of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty
Artemis by Andy Weir

Okay, not really, but seriously my TBR is starting to get out of hand. Not that I’m saying I should stop getting new books. That would just be silly. But I’m at the point I have to admit to myself that I’ve got about six months of reading right there. I need to come up with a plan for tackling this wee hill of written pages.

Three of these books are slated for Vintage Science Fiction Month in January. I’m planning on reading Dune as part of a group read along and discussion on Twitter. The Forever War will be what I read on my own as I do the read along. If somehow I can manage to slip another book in for the month it will be Stranger In A Strange Land. I’m not committing to more than that.

That leaves fifteen books. I start a winter staycation on Friday that lasts through the new year which means I’ll have more time for reading and writing. I figure that means I can read maybe two more books after I finish what I’m reading now (Ed McDonald’ Blackwing). I’m leaning toward City Of Brass and The Tethered Mage. They were both published since October and I figure are good candidates for reviews. Though I reserve the right to change my mind at any time.

As for the rest…well…I guess they will just have to wait. We’ll see if I can hold off on buying anything else through January. It will be hard. It will probably make me twitch. I’ll probably hate it. So yeah odds are I’ll buy some more.

FROM NOW TILL END OF THE YEAR

Between now and the end of the year my goal is to be pretty busy. Hopefully I’ll have a review of Blackwing up over the weekend. I also hope to get a Christmas Eve post up. We’ll see. After Christmas I’d like to finish and review the books I mentioned above and maybe, maybe one other that I read earlier in the year that deserves another good review.

I also need to spend some time on blog maintenance. I need to edit my rating system page and maybe some of the others. Beyond that, I’ve been working on future reading goals, writing goals, post ideas, and one or two “Best Of” lists that need to go up for 2017. If I’m honest with myself I’ll admit it won’t all get done. But where’s the fun in that?

OK, off to read some more. Eventually I’ll sleep and go to work. Only because I have to. You know, bills and whatnot.