Digital Discoveries; or What's in the Virtual TBR Pile
I love digital media for books, and I have a variety of mp3 players and an eReader. One of the worst and one of the best things about digital media is that the TBR pile is not visible. As a result, I sometimes forget what I own.
I am determined to keep an up-to-date list, and thought I'd share some of the books I'm particularly looking forward to listening to or reading. Here are some titles, in no particular order.
CDs
David Sedaris, Live: This short CD was sent to me by Hachette when I mentioned that I had never read or listened to Sedaris. I am saving this to listen to in the car with Mr. BFR, because I think we'd both like it.
Joshua Ferris's The Unnamed has gotten good reviews and is part of the Reagan Arthur imprint, and so will count for the challenge hosted by Kathy and Julie (challenge information here).
I've read only one Anita Shreve (Testimony) and enjoyed it, so I'm looking forward to listening to her A Change in Altitude.
Who can resist Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith. I can't! This is going to make great summer listening.
Finally, I am a huge fan of Jane Smiley, and Private Life is going to be my next listen.
Sony eReader
I have two books by Maggie Anton: Rahsi's Daughter's Book 1: Joheved and Book 2: Miriam. This historical fiction series takes place in eleventh-century France, For those who don't know, Rashi was a famous talmudic scholar.
I bought Geraldine Brooks's Year of Wonders for the Newsweek 50 project organized by Amy. I do plan on reading it . . . soon. Really.
Another title I'm looking forward to is Jacquelyn Mitchard's No Time to Wave Goodbye. I've enjoyed Mitchard's other novels, so I'm sure this will be good too.
MP3 Players
I'd forgotten about A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz. I'm really excited about listening to this one. Look at the video at the end of this post and see if you aren't hooked too.
Abraham Verghese's Cutting for Stone has been reviewed many times on book blogs, I really need to see what all the fuss is about.
All Mortal Flesh is the fifth in Julia Spencer-Fleming's mystery series that takes place in upstate New York. I've reviewed two of the books in the series.
Here is one that I know nothing about. I don't even know how I heard of it: Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd. It's young adult and it takes place in Ireland. Perhaps I picked it up for Carrie's Ireland Challenge.
Charm City is the second in Laura Lippman's Tess Monaghan series. I can't wait to get to it, and it counts for Trish's Lippman Challenge.
And now, the promised video:
I hope you see reviews of these books sooner than later, but I make no promises.
What have you discovered lately on your physical TBR pile or in one of your digital gadgets?
16 comments:
I actually regret listening to Cutting For Stone instead of reading it. There were a lot of jumps back and forth in time period in the narration and I found them really difficult to follow for a long time, to the point I didn't end up enjoying the book very much, even though it was interesting and I could tell it was good. You are a more experienced audiophile than I am, though, so you might be fine. The narrator is quite good, as is the production, it was just that the story didn't work for me as audio.
What a great list of books. I loved Cutting for Stone so I highly recommend it, but I see Jen mentions it doesn't work well as audio so now I'm not sure!
I tend to do the same thing -- forget about what I have unless I can see it. You have some good ones though!
Here is my problem...I get all excited about certain books and will impulsively buy them on my Kindle. And yes, then I forget. I have so many on there. It is my goal to not touch a single printed book all summer. It's all Kindle, all the time, until I whittle down some of my virtual stacks.
My e-readers are full of books too, but I only have 3 audio books to listen to. I do think that you and Mr. BFR will love the David Sedaris book!
What a great list! Now that I'm using Kindle to read, I got pretty impulsive in checking out books from Amazon. It's bad, bad, bad. I still buy hardcopies and that's bad-der. Sigh...
A Voyage Long and Strange is fun stuff...does Horwitz read the audio?
i'm driving to niagara falls for a school trip next week (and will miss BEA--boo!) so i stockpiled audiobooks for the ride. i've got quite a few goodies and really can't drive without listening to a book.
you've got quite a pile--i'd love to pick up the sedaris. have to see if my library has it.
I listened to another of Horwitz's this past year--I think it was called Blue Latitudes about Cook's voyages. I loved it. It sounds like Voyage Long and Strange will be a winner too.
Great list of books. I really liked the video and his attitude toward history. I'll bet his book is fun to listen to.
David Sedaris is great on audio - I read his books until I saw him live and then decided I would only listen to him since his delivery is so perfect!
I recently picked up Bog Child (paper version) on the recommendation of Kimbofo at Reading Matters - I am interested in seeing what you think of it!
I bought "Cutting for Stone" with my Mother's Day book money ... I need to see what all the fuss is about too!
I stopped by your blog today. Thanks for the great list. I love your picture of the bridges. I have two books in digital format but I haven't taken the plunge as far as reading in digital form. I just can't part with paper kind. Maybe one day I'll jump into the digital world.
Ann
Ann Summerville
Cozy In Texas
I tend to keep up with my digital stash pretty well because I am never very far from my ipod. It is great for when I can't sleep, but don't want to get up or disturb my boyfriend. I just bury myself under the covers and read away!
The only one on your list that I have read is The Unnamed, but hope to get the Abe Lincoln one soon.
I reviewed Bog Child on audio earlier this year - and did recommend it for the Ireland Challenge - it's really good!
I am not sure which is worse, seeing the towering TBR pile..or not seeing it.
IMHO, that is just another reason to hate the Evil E-Readers!! ;-)
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