Wednesday, December 06, 2006

The Glass Is Always Half Empty

The other day I got an email from my friend, Tom telling me to check out this recent post at Book Critiques. It was very cool to see Tom's book on that list, as he's a Killer Year friend, a recent pick of the week over at Sarah Weinman's blog, and a great guy. Check out the next Spinetingler for more about his new book!

Lesa's post got me thinking. I am motoring through Al Guthrie's Hard Man at the moment. But what next? My tbr pile is, as always, stacked high but I do have interview prep I need to do. Which includes:

American Skin by Ken Bruen
Baby Shark's Beaumont Blues by Robert Fate
The Dark Backward by Julia Buckley
The Cutting Crew by Steve Mosby

and a stack of five books by Tess Gerritsen...

In fact, this is the way the week has gone with the mail.

On Monday I received a packet with five Tess Gerritsen books.
On Tuesday I received the ARC of Robert Fate's new book.
Today, Wednesday, I received a lovely little surprise - London Boulevard and Vixen by Ken Bruen.

And I do know that I have three more review copies on their way to me. Of course, there may be others I've forgotten about...

And this doesn't even include the stack of other books by the likes of Denise Mina, Laura Lippman, Steven Torres, Alafair Burke, Natasha Cooper, Dennis Lehane, Jeff Abbott, John Harvey, Michael Connelly, Karin Slaughter, Robert Wilson, David Hewson, Andrew Taylor...

Not to mention I've just started wading in on JT Ellison's All The Pretty Girls and then I have Brett Battles' book, The Cleaner.

So, if I disappear one day and don't surface, you'll know the tbr pile has fallen over and help has yet to find me.

I kid you not, I discovered a review copy I'd received almost five months ago that I had targeted reviewing for the fall Spinetingler, and somehow, it had gotten shifted behind another stack and I'd completely forgotten about it. I need a librarian to manage my collection.

(Blogger was extremely grumpy this morning. They said beta blogger would fix everything, but it's still rolling blackouts on posting and commenting on both the original and beta blogger blogs. Can't complain much - I learned a long time ago to save everything!)

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beaumont Blues.

That is all.

angie said...

American Skin is on my Christmas list - hubby is under strict orders to get it early (in case our B & N is sold out & he has to order it online).

Lots to do, but at least reading is pretty cool.

Sandra Ruttan said...

Bill, your post about BB was pretty convincing!

Angie, I actually have four Bruen books to read now. I'm looking forward to all of them.

Sand Storm, the problem is, I don't find the time. I'm a slow reader. I still have books I bought back in the summer I haven't read. But I don't mind when it's interview prep, because I only interview people for Spinetingler that I'm really keen on interviewing. That isn't meant to say that any interview I pass over to someone else isn't of someone I'm interested in, but I've been pretty full for interviews about three issues in advance for a while. There are books I'm offered I really want to read, but I know of the author waits for a review from me it might be half a year. Which is unfair, so sometimes I just have to pass it on.

Steven said...

If it's any consolation, the Steven Torres book is a quick read. In fact, I'm pretty sure Steven would be willing to write the review for you...

Sandra Ruttan said...

Ah, but I really want to read that Steve Torres book!

Don't worry! I'm budgeting my reading time. And The Wire will be over this week, so that means more reading time!

Anonymous said...

oh, yes, it's wonderful. gritty and edgy but with a powerfully human quality. Bob is a wonderful writer. Kristin seems as real as the people around me.

Sandra Ruttan said...

You aren't hanging out at a toy museum again, are you? (Seriously, I'm sold on it! It's just down to timing!)

Cornelia Read said...

Dude, that is a TBR pile I'd kill for.
Do you need any help? I could read them out loud to you...

Cornelia Read said...

And our photos STILL need to have a playdate. I never realized before that we were both wearing overalls and turtlenecks in primary colors... spooky!

Anonymous said...

I'm Sandra,
from Singapore,
and I'm 15 y.o

Hi, Everyone
I've studied English sinse Spring .
It's very difficult for Me! Really hard!
I would like like to meet girls and practisice My English with them.

Thank You

s.w. vaughn said...

*gasp... pant... wheeze...*

Piles. Understood. :-)

Sandra, does everything in publishing always slow down in December?? Argh! I need fodder!

:-)

Anonymous said...

Sandra, have I mentioned Beaumont Blues? I'd like to put in a good word for that one.

Sandra Ruttan said...

Oh Cornelia, sure, come on over and read me the Bruen collection! In fact, Ken should get his people to hire you to do the audio.

And that is weird about the jumpers. Ah, kids and primary colours!

SW, yeah, publishing (like everything) is a bit quiet in December, I think!

Bill... I think I got it. You're saying any book on the pile would be good, right? ;)

Sandra Ruttan said...

Sandra, you're welcome to visit any time if that will help you with your English! We're a chatty bunch here, most days.

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