What’s Sitting on Your Shelf?

btt button

Okay–here was an interesting article by Christopher Schoppa in the Washington Post.

Avid readers know all too well how easy it is to acquire books — it’s the letting go that’s the difficult part. … During the past 20 years, in which books have played a significant role in both my personal and professional lives, I’ve certainly had my fair share of them (and some might say several others’ shares) in my library. Many were read and saved for posterity, others eventually, but still reluctantly, sent back out into the world.

But there is also a category of titles that I’ve clung to for years, as they survived numerous purges, frequent library donations and countless changes of residence. I’ve yet to read them, but am absolutely certain I will. And should. When, I’m not sure, as I’m constantly distracted by the recent, just published and soon to be published works.

So, the question is his: “What tomes are waiting patiently on your shelves?


Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

130 responses

  1. Have I lost a day? Isn’t it Wednesday???

  2. It is wednesday! Why are we having Booking on THURSDAY on a wednesday?

  3. Works for me! My response is up … because I didn’t realise it was Wednesday, either 🙂

    http://shereadsbooks.org/2008/btt-patience-and-blog-action-day/

  4. Hmm, even with the timezone difference, this is early! 🙂 Here is mine any how. 🙂

  5. –Oops! It’s up a day early because I counted incorrectly when I wrote the post… So, um, it’s an early gift. Yeah, that’s it … I MEANT to do this because I’m on vacation this week and figured I’d give everyone a head start …. Um ….

    Well, anyway, enjoy!

    –Deb

  6. Lol – That had me baffled, being a long weekend I was already thinking it was just Tuesday 🙂

  7. This took me by surprise, but I’m happy to answer this one – see here.

  8. Wednesday….Thursday….it’s still BTT! Mine’s up! 😀

  9. Hey!! It works for me the date :o)
    It is thursday for me already 😀

    Here is mine

    Have a cool Holiday / vacation 🙂

    and thanks for the early gift 😉

  10. […] Every once in a while I rearrange my TBR list. I remove books I think I won’t read. But there are some books that are always there because I think I’ll get to them some day. So they remain in my list for months, even years. […]

  11. I thought I lost a day somehow. 🙂 Okay – i’ll play early.

    Mine is up here – http://www.mytwoblessings.blogspot.com

  12. […] This week’s question is: “What tomes are waiting patiently on your shelves?” […]

  13. Here’s my response:

    Tribute to the Shelf Sitters

    Thanks for another great prompt =]

  14. Mine’s here:

    http://erin-reads.blogspot.com/2008/10/booking-through-thursday-whats-sitting.html

    Glad I wasn’t the only one confused about the date 🙂

  15. Wow I thought I’m in Asia time zone!

    Here is mine. Happy BTT everyone.

  16. Mine is up!

    http://a-glimpse.com/?p=646

    Maybe the intention is to post this on a Wednesday to make sure people have theirs up on Thursday. 🙂

  17. Here is my post for BTT.

    Have a great Thursday everyone 🙂

  18. Mine is up, looks like I’m late though,lol.
    http://thesocialfrog.com/?p=270

  19. It took me most of the day to recuperate from thinking I’d lost an entire day off…here’s mine!

  20. for once, insomnia is its own reward- I get to answer this as I’m winding down, not clutching my coffee and struggling to wake up.

    http://elizabethwillse.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/booking-through-thursday-that-book-youll-readlater/

  21. Hi! I’m joining for the first time and with a brand new blog devoted to memes. Enjoy!

    http://imemeit.blogspot.com

  22. I apologize in advance if this shows up twice. It doesn’t seem to have gone through the first time.

    http://imemeit.blogspot.com

  23. it’s my first time to join here so please feel free and have a look of my entry here

    http://macheriefrancine.blogspot.com/2008/10/whats-sitting-on-your-shelf.html

  24. It’s Thursday and here’s my answer.

    http://bookcritiques.blogspot.com/

  25. Here’s mine. I did it on Thursday cus uhmm I was skipping a class to write an essay for another class and didn’t get the memo Wednesday is the new Thursday 🙂

    http://juliebooks.blogspot.com/2008/10/booking-through-thursday-lonely-unread.html

  26. Haven’t joined in for a while…glad to be back. Here’s my answer:
    http://lyndasbookblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/booking-through-thursday-161008.html

  27. I am a creature of habit. Booking through on thursday, as usual. http://bookeywookey.blogspot.com/2008/10/dreams-futile-and-vain.html

  28. I left my link to today’s post earlier, but I just wanted to say I actually liked having the question for the week posted earlier. Even though I didn’t post an answer til today, I liked having time to think about it. I have often wished BTT was posted Wed. evenings so i could read the question and ponder it and answer the next morning.

  29. Mine’s up here – http://chikune.com/blog/?p=291 – I was a bit perplexed to see the posts showing up yesterday, but I decided to wait until it was actually Thursday for mine. =)

  30. […] thursday booking Jump to Comments “What tomes are waiting patiently on your shelves?” […]

  31. Don’t make me reflect on life’s failures like that! Mine’s here.

  32. […] 16, 2008 This week’s Booking Through Thursday question comes from an article by Christopher Schoppa of The Washington Post, who relayed this […]

  33. Very interesting . . . I went with “Pride & Prejudice” and “The Inheritance of Loss,” among others!

    My response is here:
    http://writemeg.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/booking-through-thursday-shelf/

  34. I couldn’t even list all of my TBRs, as there are way too many! But, you can read my response anyway!:
    http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/btt-patiently-waiting-tbrs/
    MizB

  35. […] Posted on October 16, 2008 by twistyfarmy I came across this question on another blog and felt it worth […]

  36. […] 16, 2008 This week’s BTT question is: Okay–here was an interesting article by Christopher Schoppa in the Washington […]

  37. Here’s <a href=”http://www.skrishnasbooks.com/2008/10/booking-through-thursday_16.html”?mine

  38. Wow, I must be late! Mine is here!

    Happy Thursday! 🙂

  39. Ok, wow, I totally failed on that html. So I’m just going to post the link:

    http://www.skrishnasbooks.com/2008/10/booking-through-thursday_16.html

  40. […] What’s Sitting on Your Shelf? October 16, 2008 — jlshall This week’s BTT topic is inspired by a recent Washington Post article, and the main question is: “What tomes […]

  41. Excuse me if I am double posting–my comments frequently don’t show up on WordPress blogs. I am not sure what I am doing wrong??
    Anyway–once again, here is my link:
    http://pageafterpage-kim.blogspot.com/

  42. […] the question today, from Booking Through Thursday, is this: “What tomes are waiting patiently on your […]

  43. My post is up at http://charliandme.blogspot.com/ I hope you have a wonderful day!

  44. unfinishedperson

    Here is my answer. Quick photo. Hope to check out some of yours later today.

  45. Here’s mine:
    http://katrinasreads.blogspot.com/2008/10/booking-though-thursday-brunt-of-mount.html

    Bet I’m not the only one with a long neglected copy of War and Peace

  46. It’s my 1st time to participate —>

    my 1st BTT post. 😉

  47. I probably have more “unread” than “read” ;~)

    Here’s my answer:
    http://www.sugarfused.net/?p=5099

  48. My first BTT post. This one was fun! Only have 43 TBR’s, although there are a lot more I want to add to them!

    http://patchworkquiltlife.blogspot.com/2008/10/booking-through-thursdays-101608.html

  49. Mine’s up, but there’s too many on my TBR to list them all!

  50. Great topic, as i just finished off one of mine! Here’s a link to my response: http://yourlibrarycard.blogspot.com/2008/10/booking-through-thursday-curse-of-long.html

  51. Sorry about that, everyone…had an issue with my blog, AND for some reason that copy/pasted wrong.

    my response is at http://waltkneeland.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/booking-through-thursday-ii/

  52. Oh the shame…. I’ve been holding onto lots of books for a long time!

    http://aleapopculture.blogspot.com/2008/10/booking-through-thursday_16.html

  53. Better late than never, I always say!! Check out me:
    http://stephaniesbooks.blogspot.com/

  54. Sadly, there are quite a lot of books I’ve been meaning to read but never have.

  55. Booking Through Thursday on Friday. And I was glad to see the topic go up on Wednesday – even if my answer is still a day late, I had more time to work on it :-). I wouldn’t mind seeing that become a regular thing around here.

  56. […] Booking Through Thursday this week ponders the problem of those books that sit patiently on the “to read” shelf for months and years, waiting for you, the reader to get around to them: “What tomes are waiting patiently on your shelves?“ […]

  57. I’m a bit late, but since Deb was early, I figure it all balances out. 😉

    http://fizzybeverage.blogspot.com/2008/10/whats-sitting-on-your-shelf.html

  58. Good grief! It is sad, really, really sad. If I were to list all the books awaiting my attention on my library’s shelves…….there just isn’t enough space!!!! I hazard at least a hundred. Because I buy the next book in a series that I love and then wait to read it till I’ve the read the previous ones in the series….and they just pile up. Then I find books that look interesting or run into a sale…..and you know the rest. One of the reasons I’m giving away books as part of the 29DayGivingChallenge I’m currently doing on my blog is because I just have to let a few of them go!

  59. Oops, I’m a day late. Here’s mine.

  60. I have updated the date of the post. So here is a new link to my post:

    My answer.

    Have a great weekend everyone. 🙂

  61. Better late than never, mine is here.

  62. […] and music. Detailed rants on these will follow later (hopefully). As of now, I’m here with the question over at Booking Through Thursday for the week: Avid readers know all too well how easy it is to acquire books — it’s the letting go that’s […]

  63. […] recent BTT question had to do with the books we all have sitting around on our shelves, unread. Many of these books are […]

  64. I’ve written a follow-up post; now that we’ve all listed our unread books, here are some of the best ways to pass them on.

  65. http://marineko.blogspot.com/2008/10/booking-through-thursday-whats-sitting.html

    BTT on… Monday! I actually wrote my post on Text Edit on Thursday, but my net was wonky and I couldn’t get into blogger until today.