At Kate's request, here's a list of most of the books I have "on deck"; that is, I already own them or have borrowed them or intend to acquire them sooner rather than later. This list combines my Amazon Wish List with the contents of the various book-stashing places throughout my house (the ones I could think of, anyhow). It's in alphabetical order by author's last name, but there are no links (I do have a life, y'know!).
A Box of Matches by Nicholson Baker
Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks
Any Human Heart by William Boyd
It's a Girl by Andrea J. Buchanan (ed.)
Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
Possession by A. S. Byatt
You Remind Me of Me by Dan Chaon
Among the Missing by Dan Chaon
The Hills at Home by Nancy Clark
The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Three Junes by Julia Glass
Codex by Lev Grossman
Small Town Odds by Jason Headley
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
My Movie Business by John Irving
Calamity and Other Stories by Daphne Kalotay
Man Walks Into a Room by Nicole Krauss
Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott
Small Island by Andrea Levy
The Photograph by Penelope Lively
The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories by Ben Marcus (ed.)
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
The Bark of the Dogwood by Jackson Tippett McCrae
Saturday by Ian McEwan
The Tender Bar by J. R. Moehringer
Seriously by Lucia Nevai
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo
Straight Man by Richard Russo
The Risk Pool by Richard Russo
Family History by Dani Shapiro
The Hazards of Good Breeding by Jessica Shattuck
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
The Accidental by Ali Smith
A Ship Made of Paper by Scott Spencer
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
The Gatekeepers by Jacques Steinberg
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
The Best People in the World by Justin Tussing
Winner of the National Book Award by Jincy Willett
Crooked River Burning by Mark Winegardner
The Wife by Meg Wolitzer
Good God! Do you KNOW what it would take for me to make my list? I have mostly hardbacks (I tend to eventually get rid of paperbacks) THREE DEEP on my bookshelves. I have to say, though, that your list is significantly more "cerebral" than mine would be (if I made a list...) However, you will NEVER find Danielle Steel or Mary Higgins Clark or anything like that in my shelves. (But there's a fair amount of Dean Koontz...)
Posted by: Tonya | June 22, 2006 at 09:49 PM
Loved:
Middlesex, Sweet Hereafter, Possesion, Time Traveler's Wife, Saturday, Catch 22+++++, 3 Junes. Have reviewed some on my site, happy reading!!!
Posted by: Anne Glamore | June 22, 2006 at 11:02 PM
You've got some good ones there. I still can't explain why, but I really loved Box of Matches.
Posted by: Chris | June 23, 2006 at 08:42 AM
Cool Beans!
Posted by: Mary | June 23, 2006 at 09:22 AM
Angle of Repose is my all-time favorite. Recently I read another "all-time favorite": Them by Francine du Plessix Gray. Like with Angle of Repose I was depressed for days after - I missed reading it. It is so rich in personal and historical information told so eloquently.
Posted by: Liz | July 26, 2006 at 08:30 PM