The Terrible Truth About TBR: Fiction

This afternoon, I got a little serious and counted up all the books on my To-Be-Read shelf. Wow. There's more than I thought. Hadn't realized that I was doing such an intense job of accumulating. Think of it: When I moved to Korea 2 years and nearly 2 months ago, I had just 5 books in my bag!

There's 2 ways I can look at Mt. TBR: One way is that it's shamefully swollen and overrun and that I buy too many books and keep adding to the mix with a frenzy that borders on bibliomania. Not that I really have anything against bibliomania, mind you...

The way I prefer to look at it is that it's like extra food in the cupboard, a well-stocked woodpile, a few more blankets for a nice cozy bed. What if some book-starved booklover wanders onto the premises? Never fear, Bybee's bookshelf is here! What if there was a book embargo that was in effect for months, years? I'm ready! [although I'd still FEEL panicky] My blog title explains my behavior perfectly: I feel naked without books. Truly.

As far as my fiction TBR goes, if I read one book a week, I'd have enough to keep me going for roughly right around a year. I'm counting what's actually on the shelves in my apartment and in my office. I'm not counting the various bookrings and bookrays that I'm involved in on Bookcrossing, and I'm not counting the books that I ordered on amazon then mistakenly had sent to my U.S. address that haven't been shipped to me yet. I'm not counting the boxes of books promised to me by Teeter and Bronson, my friends that patiently listen to my pitiful bookwormy mewling.

OK, enough shilly-shallying. Here's the list.
Appealing, appalling?

POETRY:

Kid -Simon Armitage

Haiku -Basho

FICTION:

Watership Down -Richard Adams

Wish You Well -David Baldacci

And Never Said A Word -Heinrich Boll

Agnes Grey -Anne Bronte

Shirley -Charlotte Bronte

Year Of Wonders -Geraldine Brooks

The Stranger -Albert Camus

Shogun -James Clavell

The Road To Perdition -Max Allan Collins

Heart Of Darkness -Joseph Conrad

Nostromo -Joseph Conrad

Robinson Crusoe -Daniel Defoe

Great Expectations -Charles Dickens

The Count Of Monte Cristo -Alexandre Dumas

American Psycho -Bret Easton Ellis

The Essential Ellison -Harlan Ellison

The Eyre Affair -Jasper Fforde

The Pillars Of The Earth -Ken Follett

Life Before Death -Abby Frucht

A Bit More Fry & Laurie -Stephen Fry and Hugh (*sigh*) Laurie

Veronica -Mary Gaitskill

My Side Of The Mountain -Jean Craighead George

Nathan's Run -John Gilstrap

Twenty-One Stories -Graham Greene

The Laments -George Hagen

Sole Survivor -Derek Hansen

Plainsong -Kent Haruf

I Am Not Jackson Pollock (short stories) -John Haskell

Catch-22 -Joseph Heller

Speaking With The Angel -Nick Hornby, editor

The Bone People -Keri Hulme

In Full Bloom -Caroline Hwang

The 158 Pound Marriage -John Irving

The Remains Of The Day -Kazuo Ishiguro

The Known World -Edward P. Jones

Andersonville -MacKinlay Kantor

The Secret Life Of Bees -Sue Monk Kidd

The Stand -Stephen King

Kadazan Folklore - Rita Lasimbang, editor

The Rainbow -D.H. Lawrence

Women In Love -D.H. Lawrence

Of Human Bondage -W. Somerset Maugham

BUtterfield 8 -John O'Hara

Bel Canto -Ann Patchett

A Short History Of A Small Place -T.R. Pearson

Captain Underpants And The Perilous Plot Of Professor Poopypants -Dav Pilkey

Captain Underpants And The Invasion Of The Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies From Outer Space... -Dav Pilkey

The Revolt Of The Eaglets -Jean Plaidy

The Last Don -Mario Puzo

The Persian Boy -Mary Renault

Interview With The Vampire -Anne Rice

Possession -Ann Rule

A Bad Case Of Stripes -David Shannon

Dressing Up For The Carnival -Carol Shields

The Full Cupboard Of Life -Alexander McCall Smith

A Simple Plan -Scott Smith

In America -Susan Sontag

Who Put That Hair In My Toothbrush? -Jerry Spinelli

The Agony And The Ecstasy -Irving Stone

Penrod -Booth Tarkington

Flight Of The Phoenix -Elleston Trevor

The Diary Of A Superfluous Man -Ivan Turgenev

Next Time: Bybee throws open her non-fiction closet door!