The Stack
From time to time you may see me reference The Stack – The Stack is simply the books I have at home waiting to be read. These are books that I have not read before – so it doesn’t include books that I’d like to reread. Also not included are a few nonfiction and similar books around that house that belong with The Stack but have a different geographical location, so they generally get excluded. Below is a tally of the 94 books that make up The Stack at the moment. With collections of short stories, various omnibus collections, and the exceptions mentioned above, this is just a rough count.
I typically read between 40 and 50 books in a given year, so you can see that I have a 2-year reading supply at home. Of course The Stack is ever growing as I obtain new books – there is what I like to call The Waiting List (my list of books to get) for The Stack. So happily, I have lots of reading to look forward to, though I’ll admit that there are books on The Stack that I may never get around to reading, though I intend to try.
The Stack has a strange dominance over my life – it never seems to get smaller (just a year ago I think it only had 60 or 70 books), and I often find myself staring at it as I choose my next book to read. My wife’s opinion of The Stack probably shouldn’t be mentioned.
Anyway, here it is for your enjoyment, The Stack:
Sarah Andrews – The Bone Hunter
Isaac Asimov – The Edge of Tomorrow
Jean M. Auel – The Clan of the Cave Bear
Stephen Barnes – The Cestus Deception
Richard Bowes – From the Files of the Time Rangers
Ray Bradbury – The Stories of Ray Bradbury (Alfred A. Knopf, ed.)
John Burdett – Bangkok 8
Ian Caldwell, Dustin Thomason – The Rule of Four
Jaqueline Carey – Kushiel’s Dart; Kushiel’s Chosen; Kushiel’s Avatar
Jonathan Carroll – Bones of the Moon
James Clavell – Shogun
A.C. Crispin – V
John Crowley – Little Big
Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprocs – Polar Split; Lost City
Charles de Lint – Moonlight and Vines; Tapping the Dream Tree; Trader; Into the Green; Somewhere to be Flying; Spirit Walk; Jack of Kinrowan
Philip K. Dick – The Minority Report and other stories
Gardner Dozois, George R.R. Martin, Daniel Abraham – Shadow Twin
Lord Dunsany – The King of Elfland’s Daughter
Umberto Eco – The Island of the Day Before; Foucault’s Pendulum
Harlan Ellison (ed.) – Again, Dangerous Visions
C.S. Friedman – This Alien Shore
Kinky Friedman – Guide to Texas Etiquette; Meanwhile Back at the Ranch
Carl Hiaasen – Basket Case; Double Whammy
Anne Harris – Inventing Memory
M. John Harrison – Viriconium
Robert Heinlein – A Stranger in a Strange Land
Howard Hendrix – The Labyrinth Key
Robin Hobb – Fool’s Fate; Fool’s Errand; Golden Fool
Alexander Irvine – A Scattering of Jade
Graham Joyce – Partial Eclipse and Other Stories
Guy Gavriel Kay – The Fionavar Tapestry
Stephen King – From a Buick 8; Dolores Claiborne; Desperation; Rose Madder
Ursula Le Guin – The Left Hand of Darkness; Rocannon’s World; Planet of Exile; City of Illusions, The Word for World is Forest
Kelly Link – Magic for Beginners
Morgan Llywelyn – The Elementals
Gregory Maguire – Mirror, Mirror
Gabriel García Márquez – One Hundred Years Solitude
George R.R. Martin – Fevre Dream
Ian McDonald – Tendeléo’s Story
David Mitchell – The Cloud Atlas
Michael Moorcock – Mother London
Christopher Moore – A Dirty Job
Mervyn Peake – The Gormenghast Novels
Ricardo Pinto – The Standing Dead
Terry Pratchett – Wyrd Sisters; Sourcery; Pyramids; Thief of Time; Reaper Man
Tom Robbins – Even Cowgirls Get The Blues
Kim Stanley Robinson – Green Mars; Blue Mars
James Rollins – Sandstorm
James Roscow – 800 Miles to Valdez
David Sedaris – Me Talk Pretty One Day
Dan Simmons – Fires of Eden; Hyperion; The Fall of Hyperion
Kinky Friedman – Guide to Texas Etiquette; Meanwhile Back at the Ranch
Carl Hiaasen – Basket Case; Double Whammy
Anne Harris – Inventing Memory
M. John Harrison – Viriconium
Robert Heinlein – A Stranger in a Strange Land
Howard Hendrix – The Labyrinth Key
Robin Hobb – Fool’s Fate; Fool’s Errand; Golden Fool
Alexander Irvine – A Scattering of Jade
Graham Joyce – Partial Eclipse and Other Stories
Guy Gavriel Kay – The Fionavar Tapestry
Stephen King – From a Buick 8; Dolores Claiborne; Desperation; Rose Madder
Ursula Le Guin – The Left Hand of Darkness; Rocannon’s World; Planet of Exile; City of Illusions, The Word for World is Forest
Kelly Link – Magic for Beginners
Morgan Llywelyn – The Elementals
Gregory Maguire – Mirror, Mirror
Gabriel García Márquez – One Hundred Years Solitude
George R.R. Martin – Fevre Dream
Ian McDonald – Tendeléo’s Story
David Mitchell – The Cloud Atlas
Michael Moorcock – Mother London
Christopher Moore – A Dirty Job
Mervyn Peake – The Gormenghast Novels
Ricardo Pinto – The Standing Dead
Terry Pratchett – Wyrd Sisters; Sourcery; Pyramids; Thief of Time; Reaper Man
Tom Robbins – Even Cowgirls Get The Blues
Kim Stanley Robinson – Green Mars; Blue Mars
James Rollins – Sandstorm
James Roscow – 800 Miles to Valdez
David Sedaris – Me Talk Pretty One Day
Dan Simmons – Fires of Eden; Hyperion; The Fall of Hyperion
Neil Stephenson – The Diamond Age
Jules Verne – Journey to the Center of the Earth
Randy Wayne White – North of Havana
Tad Williams – Stone of Farewell; To the Green Angel Tower; Otherland
Simon Winchester – Krakatoa; The Map that Changed the World
Paul Witcover – Tumbling After
Gene Wolfe – The Urth of the New Sun; Litany of the Long Sun
Tom Wolfe – I am Charlotte Simmons
John C. Wright – Orphans of Chaos
Timothy Zahn – Survivor’s Quest
Jules Verne – Journey to the Center of the Earth
Randy Wayne White – North of Havana
Tad Williams – Stone of Farewell; To the Green Angel Tower; Otherland
Simon Winchester – Krakatoa; The Map that Changed the World
Paul Witcover – Tumbling After
Gene Wolfe – The Urth of the New Sun; Litany of the Long Sun
Tom Wolfe – I am Charlotte Simmons
John C. Wright – Orphans of Chaos
Timothy Zahn – Survivor’s Quest
8 comments:
ahhh The Stack.
*cue eerie music*
Mine just keeps growing and growing and growing. Its out of control. I'm scared to count how many books are in it.
I have been a reader and collector for the past twenty years, look out it will get larger and larger and take over your living space eventually.
If I retired today, I would not be able to ever ger through my unread books.
You can't believe what my wife says.
Your book shelf is lovely.
Most bookshelves are lovely, but I have a special preference for shiny dark wood.
Good luck with it, as ever. :)
As an aside: my word verification was overly long. It always is. I think your site hates me. Is it because of the Neth-essay criticism? I take it all back!
As an aside: my word verification was overly long. It always is. I think your site hates me. Is it because of the Neth-essay criticism? I take it all back!
I set it up that way just for you.
I call mine Mount TBR. I saw that somewhere and it stuck with me, I love how it sounds. I have two stacks, actually - 1. in english, a whole shelf; 2. in romanian, two stacks balancing on top of one my wardrobes. And they keep growing dammit.
I like Mount TBR, it has a nice ring to it.
You are certainly prepared! Lots of variety. Have you read Robin Hobb's Assassin trilogy or the Liveship trilogy? They lead up to the "Fool" titles and are excellent.
No matter how many sci/fantasy books I read, Tolkein, George R.R. Martin, and Hobbs have set the bar.
-jenclair
I have read both of those trilogies by Hobb and I enjoyed them. I would not consider Hobb to be in the top tier, but more of a quality middle of the road.
I think I'm going to have to do an update, though sadly, not many have dropped off the list while many (probably 50) have been added.
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