Sunday Salon: TBR Room Winter Cleaning

One can find the best hidden treasures when going through one's TBR collection. Awakened much too early Saturday morning, I decided to get a jump start on the day's project. About twice a year, I try and go through my unread book collection, mostly to reorganize and add in the new additions that have yet to be filed away, but also to see if perhaps there are any books that no longer interest me. The best time for me to do this, I have found, is when I am in a decluttering mood and not prone to want to hold onto things I really should let go.

Forty-seven books were left stacked against the hallway wall when I was done. Forty-seven unread books that are going to new homes, unread by me. That is maybe 3.8% of the unread books I own. Forty-seven is the most I have said goodbye to at once, and so it feels like quite an accomplishment.

The biggest downside to going through all of my unread books is that it renews my interest in reading them and makes me want to drop everything and read them right this very minute, which of course would be impossible. I finally got around to pulling out all my challenge books for the year and putting them in a separate stack. I also did that with a few of the books that cried out, "Must read me now!" From TBR room to immediate TBR stack, so to speak. The stack being a box and two bags.

While straightening up the TBR room a little after getting all the books back in place, I discovered a $15 Barnes and Noble gift card tucked away in a bag. I must have forgotten all about it.

This morning after a trip to the grocery store, I realized I had five minutes to kill before the fast food restaurant I wanted to grab a bite to eat at switched from breakfast to lunch. I happened to have a copy of Clea Simon's The Feline Mystique with me, and passed the time reading the preface and part of the first chapter. According to the author's definition of a dog person versus a cat person, it appears I may have been wrong in thinking of myself as a dog person all these years. I am more likely a cat person who also loves dogs. Who would have thought? I was raised with dogs all my life, mostly because my father was never too keen on cats (to put it mildly), and never really had much of an opportunity to experience life with cats, other than when visiting my grandparents (I loved their cats, especially Boots who had such a sweet temperament).

My animals were very helpful yesterday, by the way. My dog followed me from room to room as I collected the books, spread them out and put them in their proper order as my cat supervised from various points in the TBR room, sometimes perched on the books themselves. We make a very good team.

I am still working my way through David Peace's Tokyo Year Zero. I am finding it very slow going. It is not for lack of interest, but the writing style takes some getting used to. The author uses repetition quite a bit. The phrase gari-gari has been stuck in my head after reading it so frequently in the novel. Thank goodness I am not actually scratching as well (gari-gari means the sound of scratching). For a while there the author inserted the phrase after just about every sentence. David Peace certainly has the idea of setting the mood down pat. The story itself seems to be creeping along at a snail's pace, although that could be because I have not been reading as faithfully as I should be.

I have been feeling like a failure as a reader lately. I am hardly reading much at all. Then again, a coworker mentioned last week that she only read one book last year. It made the six books I read in January seem like a lot. I feel better now.

I forgot to mention my new acquisitions last Sunday, and so here is a combined list of books acquired in one way or another over the last two weeks.

My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon edited by P.N. Elrod - I actually haven't read the prequel yet, but some of my favorite authors have short stories in the anthology, and so I could not resist.
The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani - I was on my way out of the bookstore one day the week before last and just happened to see a copy on the remainder table, discounted to $4. How could I resist? The paperback version would cost more than that . . .
Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne - I finally caved and ordered this one after reading so many great blog reviews about it.
Christine Falls by Benjamin Black - recommended by Danielle from a A Work in Progress.
The Collaborator of Bethelehem by Matt Beynon Rees - I discovered this mystery by seeing mention of the second book in the series and my interest was immediately piqued. My eye seems to be straying these days to mysteries set in other countries, and this fits in with that perfectly.
The Feline Mystique by Clea Simon - I enjoy the author's cat mysteries and was curious about some of her nonfiction work.

Well, I guess that about sums up my Sunday. I have not spent much of it reading like I planned, but there's still tonight. Happy reading!