My To-Read List

I think I’ll spend the rest of my life feeling overwhelmed by the number of books there are to read and how many of them I’ll never ever get around to finishing. My to-read list is constantly growing.

I remember the first time I went to the library in Round Rock after I finished up my undergrad degree and walking around aimlessly, wondering, “What should I read?”

I . . .never feel that way anymore, and I haven’t in years. And I probably never will again.

Here are the books that are currently high priorities for me.

My To-Read List

• The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown. I gave this one to my dad for his birthday, and not only does the storyline sound amazing (working-class boys on a crew team at the University of Washington beat all the Ivy League teams and then go on to compete against Hitler’s team in the Olympics), but it’s narrated by Edward Herrmann who narrated Unbroken, which was one of the most stellar audiobooks I’ve ever listened to (also, he’s the grandfather on Gilmore Girls, which . . . means more to me than it should).

• Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with Ruby Red (it was fine, but not amazing), but for some reason I read the second book anyway. It was SO much better than the first one, and now I’m DYING for the third one to come up at the library for me.

• End of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy by James L. Swanson. When I was in Cincinnati, I listened to Killing Kennedy which was interesting but not . . . particularly impressive. I am a major James Swanson fan, so I’m really looking forward to this one. (I’m kind of in a Kennedy phase right now – I’m very slowly working my way through The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy about Joseph Kennedy’s life and both American Queen: A Life of Jacqueline Kennedy and If Kennedy Lived: The First and Second Terms of President John F. Kennedy: An Alternate History are on my list)

• David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcom Gladwell. If Malcolm Gladwell writes it, I will read it. Actually, I’ll listen to it, because he’s such a great narrator.

• Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo. In previous years, I’ve tried to read all the National Book Award finalists. This year they did a longlist (10 books), many of which are totally unappealing to me. And I have to admit that while I like Kate DiCamillo, I don’t have the rabid love for her that so many others seem to. But reading Jessica’s review of this one made me want to read it immediately.

• The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant by Joanna Wiebe. This one doesn’t actually come out until January, but I snagged an advance copy. YA boarding school book? Count me in (please, try to live up to Frankie Landau-Banks. As if anything could).

• Lincoln’s Grave Robbers by Steve Sheinkin. After reading Bomb, anything Steve Shinkus writes is automatically on my “to-read” list.

And if you’d like a printable copy of this to-read list that you can take to your library or screenshot on your phone for easy access, just pop in your email address below and it’ll come right to your inbox!

What’s on your to-read list? (Or what should I put on my to-read list?)

If you liked this post about my to-read list, you might also like these other posts:

• Favorite Books of 2013
• 5 Tips for Fitting in More Audiobooks
• Tell Me What to Read: Fall 2017 Reading Picks