TGIF: Appearances Aren't Everything, the TBR Room & Friday Fill-Ins

This week's Musings Monday question is about book covers:

We all know the old adage about not judging a book by it’s cover, but just how much sway does a book cover have when it comes to your choice of book – whether buying or borrowing? Are there any books you’ve bought based on the cover alone?

Doing a little digging in the depths of my blog, I found a Booking Through Thursday post from March of last year in which I briefly touched on this topic:

I may judge a book by its cover; it is a temporary impression that can easily be changed once I find out what is inside a book. What the author has to tell me is what really matters. The words written on the pages, the story told, the characters and setting that are brought to life . . . All of this is what matters most to me.

I often come across a book while browsing in a bookstore, the cover catching my eye. I pick up the book to take a closer look, peering at the back cover or inside flap to see what the book is about. I have never bought or borrowed a book solely based on the cover. Looks can be deceiving, after all. I base my decision to read a book on whether the subject matter appeals to me.

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Do you keep all your unread books together, like books in a waiting room? Or are they scattered throughout your shelves, mingling like party-goers waiting for the host to come along?

I never meant for it to happen. To this day, I am not sure when it came into being. It just was. It got its start as a spare bedroom. A twin bed, a desk and a television set for any company that might come for a visit. There were books, of course. They lined the shelves of the desk. Eventually they lined the desk itself, triple stacked. And then the bookcases came. Books, lining the shelves, sometimes stacked ontop of those. I have always kept my TBR collection separate from the books we had already read. At first it was just a handy way to avoid losing track of what still needed to be read. Now that I keep a spreadsheet with all the titles of my unread books, that really isn't necessary. Still, they remain separate.

I jokingly began calling the spare bedroom my TBR room a few years ago. The books had taken over, and it seemed a fitting name. Years later, the name just rolls off the tongue without a second thought. Even my husband refers to it as such now and then (I am trying to reframe and think of it as my library instead, but it's not working very well).

Separate even from that are the books in my "immediate" TBR collection. They fill the once empty spaces on my computer desk in my home office: shelves, stacks, and a box of books. This consists mostly of my review books and a few others that I want to read sooner than later.

There are books I have not yet read mixed in with the "read" books on my husband's and my shelves. These are books my husband has read, books I hadn't realized I wanted to read until after they'd found their place on the bookshelves in the living room, our "read" library.

So I guess you could say my unread books have just about taken over the house. They're throwing their own part, host or no host.

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Graphic courtesy of Tonya!
*Click on the image above graphic to get to the Friday Fill-In headquarters, hosted by Janet!*

1. Milk and frosted shredded wheat cereal make a quick and easy dinner. It's been ages since I've indulged in a meal like that!

2. The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies and The Red Tent by Anita Diamant are the books I'm reading right now.

3. July brings back memories of a wedding in the rose garden, Riley's first homecoming, and Anya's introduction to her new family.

4. The fact that Riley has a new friend who is sneaking in under the fence to play was obvious. He was sprinting around my backyard as Riley looked on in amusement yesterday evening. He was too quick for me to catch, unfortunately. I haven't a clue who this little dog belongs to. He wasn't wearing a collar. I'm sure he'll be back.

5. They say if you tell your dreams to the stars, they may very well come true. Just not always the way you expect them too.

6. Before ordering that messy chocolate sundae on the Roadhouse menu, it might be best to think it over.

7. And as for the weekend, today I'm looking forward to a "Pamper Me" Day; tomorrow my plans include visiting Mesopotamia, Canaan and perhaps venturing into Egypt; and Sunday, I want to continue on with yesterday's journey, maybe resting in the Welsh countryside somewhere along the way.

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