On Books: My TBR Pile Keeps On Growing, and Growing, and Growing

Hi, there, Dear Reader.

If you’re a regular visitor to this space, you know that I’m an avid reader. It’s a trait that runs in my family, at least on my mom’s side; most of my relatives, including both of my grandparents, Mom, and even my half-sister Vicky are/were readers, and family legend has it that I’ve been reading since I was two years old or even younger. So, if there’s anyone who embodies Thomas Jefferson’s statement, “I cannot live without books,” that would be me.

As you remember, I rarely sit down to read just one book at a time cover to cover and move on to another once I’m done. Oh, when I was younger – especially during summer vacation when I was in elementary and middle school – I used to do that sometimes, especially if I was caught up in a particularly delightful book (non-fiction, fiction, comic book…. genre didn’t matter, so long as it was a captivating story).

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Most of the time, though, I usually have a stack of “to be read” (TBR) titles that includes a mix of non-fiction and fiction titles. Usually, the non-fiction books are about aviation, military history, or political history, while the fiction titles are a mix of Tom Clancy, Stephen King, or Star Wars-related works mixed with an occasional classical work a la The Iliad by Homer or For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway.

As October 2021 begins, this is what my TBR list looks like so far:

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Reading List for October 2021

1. The Odyssey of Star Wars: An Epic Poem, by Jack Mitchell
2. I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year, by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker
3. On Writing Well: 30^th Anniversary Edition, by William Zinsser
4. The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War, Peter Hart

I still have a few titles from previous TBR lists – especially  MacTrump: A Shakespearean Tragicomedy of the Trump Administration, Part I (Ian Doescher and Jacopo della Quercia) and And the Last Trump Shall Sound: A Future History of America (Harry Turtledove, James Morrow, and Cat Rambo) – that I have not finished from my September TBR pile. Fret not, though, I’ll get back to them before the year is out.

I woke up much too early today – at 3:30 AM Eastern – so I’m tired and a bit puckish. So, I’ll just keep this post short-n-sweet and go off to take a quick shower, grab a bite to eat, and see if I can wake up a bit more. 

So, until next time, Dear Reader, stay safe, stay healthy, and grab an enjoyable book to read. Just not one from my TBR pile!