On Today’s Bookshelf (V)

As always, I find it difficult to to keep away from books, and my to-be-read (TBR) pile keeps growing. I wonder if I’ll ever really get to read all of these books that I’m buying. I regularly think I should swear off buying any more books until I make a dent in my TBR pile, but every time I mention that idea to my wife, she simply smiles and shakes her head knowingly.

Below are the newest additions to my TBR pile. Past additions can be found in these articles: On Today’s Bookshelf, On Today’s Bookshelf (II), On Today’s Bookshelf (III), and On Today’s Bookshelf (IV).

Hardcover — Nonfiction

• Ancient Americas: The Great Civilisations by Nicholas J. Saunders
• Flight from the Reich: Refugee Jews, 1933–1946 by Deborah Dwork and Robert Jan Van Pelt 
• Shostakovitch: His Life and Music by Brian Morton
• Eleanor Roosevelt 1884-1933, Volume One by Blanche Wiesen Cook
• Eleanor Roosevelt 1933-1938, Volume Two by Blanche Wiesen Cook
• Palestine Betrayed by Efraim Karsh
• The Grand Design: Strategy and the U.S. Civil War by Donald Stoker

 — Fiction

• The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman

• Bearers of the Black Staff (Legends of Shannara Series #1) by Terry Brooks

eBooks (all fiction):

• The Book of Deacon by Joseph Lallo
• Slaves to the Empowered by Jeremiah Cain
• The Gateway: Harbinger of Doom by Glenn Thater
• An Old-fashioned Folk Tale by Valmore Daniels
• Eye of the Beholder by Ruth Ann Nordin
• Miss Anna’s Frigate by Jens Kuhn
• The Book of Adam: The Autobiography of the First Human Clone by Robert Hopper
• The Kinshield Legacy by K.C. May

On Order (all hardcover):

— Fiction

• Empress of Eternity by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
• Out of the Dark by David Weber
• Antiphon by Ken Scholes

— Nonfiction

• Autobiography of Mark Twain: The Complete and Authoritative Edition, Volume 1 by Mark Twain, edited by Harriet Elinor Smith, Victor Fischer, Michael B. Frank, Benjamin Griffin
• Decision Points by George W. Bush

As I expected, my reading of nonfiction has slowed considerably this summer. It is a combination of much too much work and too little free time. It also doesn’t help that when the weather is nice, I like to lie in the hammock and read, something my Sony 505 is perfect for. But that will change. I find that as the weather gets cooler and then colder, I tend to read more and I am determined to get through at least a portion of my TBR pile before the change back to warmer weather in the spring.

It also doesn’t help that time now that I would spend reading I’m spending preparing for my presentation at the upcoming “Finding Your Niche/Expanding Your Horizons” conference (see A Gathering of Freelance Editorial Professionals for some details). If you haven’t already preregistered, you can save some money by doing so before September 1. The conference will be a great place to meet colleagues and to learn new tips and tricks to make your professional life easier and more fruitful.