Book Pile-asaurus Rex
I would like, if I may, to draw your attention to a newly completed section of the website, the ‘Book Pile’. Most people I know who read physical books have a book pile, I now read on a Kindle, but I still consider the unread books contained on it to be my book pile. One of the drawbacks of an e-reader is the invisible nature of the book pile, there’s no way the list would be quite so gargantuan, I’m not sure that my bedside table would be able to cope under the strain of [whispers] 265 books. To be fair though I’d have paid a lot more for physical books, the Kindle Daily Deal needs to shoulder responsibility for the vast majority of books in my pile.
So what is the value in this particular page? For me, it’s a good reminder of just what is lurking in the pile and how long it’s been there. It’s certainly more useful than trying to browse on a Kindle, which shows about nine titles on a page in list view and six in cover view. Right now it’s telling me that I need to read some Mark Lawrence or Brandon Sanderson, I’ve got a couple of complete collections by both authors which have been patiently waiting to see the light of day. But then there’s the Malazan Book of the Fallen to finish and some complete (or almost complete) series lurking in there by Sarah J. Maas, Garth Nix, Andrzej Sapkowski, Joe Abercrombie, Sebastien de Castell and probably a few others. I take it back, this list isn’t helping at all, where the hell do I start?!
What use is the page to you then? I guess if you wanted to you could probably use it in conjunction with the library pages to triangulate which series, or books in a series, Tomeopathy has actually read. Or you could use it to make yourself feel smug about how small your pile is in comparison (and potentially as justification to a significant other that you need more books in your pile) and how much better read than Tomeopathy you are. You might also want to get in touch and help me see the error of my ways by bumping titles you particularly like up the list, any suggestions would certainly help me as well.
I’ll do my best to keep this list up to date, it currently stands at [whispers again] 265 books, just the five years (absolute minimum) of reading material then. I’ll be in good stead if there’s some sort of apocalypse, admittedly I’d probably have to barter food, water, petrol or all three in this dystopian future, to get a 50% trickle charge on my kindle, but as long as I can tuck myself somewhere quiet away from the zombies and marauding groups of scavengers, I’ll be laughing. I might just go and stockpile some tinned food, dig a well, buy a jerry can or two, and maybe a few back up Kindles you know, just in case.