Musing Mondays

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about your "to be read list…"

As a follow up to last week's question, Joseph asked how you keep track of your tbr list. Do you have a paper list or on your computer? Do you take it with you when you go shopping? How do you decide what gets added to it?

My "To Be Read" list is a simple spiral notebook. I have one with a divider in the middle, so I can separate my lists. The first part of the notebook is for books I have read positive reviews about or had friends recommend to me. The second half of the notebook is for new book series I hear about. If I learn of a new series, I feel compelled to start at the beginning of the series - this section of the notebook helps me keep the books of a series in order.

I'm not organized enough to keep a computer file, although I envy people who do. My list is more user friendly because I can check off books I've read, mark if I've requested them from interlibrary loan, or scribble off books I didn't enjoy. It is also easy to carry my notebook into a book store, or to have it open on my desk if I'm searching online.

Of course, my TBR list is continually growing - by leaps and bounds. When deciding what to put on the list, I have very few rules:

Number one, if it's an author I adore, any new books automatically go on the list. This rule covers authors like Laurell K. Hamilton, Patricia Cornwell, Brandon Mull, Neil Gaiman, Silas House, Barbara Kingsolver, Bobbie Ann Mason, and too many more to be listed here.

Number two, recommendations from friends. Since most of my "face-to-face" friends are non-readers, I rely on recommendations from my bloggy friends. Book bloggers are the greatest people in the world and I have discovered many wonderful new talents through their recommendations. Some examples are James Dashner's "The 13th Reality" series, Kaza Kingsley's "Erec Rex" series, and Cassandra Clare's "The Mortal Instruments" trilogy.

Number three, book reviews. Although I don't rely on book reviews alone, they can sometimes push me into the direction of a book I might not have normally read. A recent example is "The Girl She Used To Be" by David Cristofano - he is a first-time novelist and I sometimes don't give first books the due consideration I should. But for this book I read an interesting review, so I placed a request at the library. This book is the best book I've read so far in 2009.

Number four, recent arrivals to the public library. Because I am a book reviewer for the Mercer County Public Library, I review new arrivals for a weekly book review column in The Harrodsburg Herald. This column is to attract readers to the library and give them a sampling of new books available for check-out. Because I try to hit all the target audiences, I usually review one adult fiction, one young adult fiction, one children's book and one non-fiction a week. Of course, these are my own self-imposed guidelines, but I want to make sure I'm appealing to as wide of an audience as possible.

It goes without saying, that all the books I read and review also go on my book review blog, Bobbi's Book Nook. This blog is mainly for me to have a record of my thoughts about the books I read - having my bloggy friends read and comment on my posts is an added bonus.

As much as I love to read, I will never be able to read all the books on my TBR list. New books are published every day and new authors are emerging on a continuous basis. But I enjoy have a "wish list" of books I know I can fall back on during literary hard time.

***James Dashner's 2nd book in The 13th Reality series, "The Hunt for Dark Infinity," Neil Gaiman's young adult "The Graveyard Book" and children's book "Blueberry Girl" and Brandon Mull's 4th book in the Fablehaven series, "Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary" are currently available in bookstores.

***Kaza Kingsley's first 2 Erec Rex books - "The Dragon's Eye" and "The Monsters of Otherness" - will be released in paperback tomorrow. The 3rd book - "The Search for Truth" - will be released June 30, 2009.

***Laurel K. Hamilton's newest Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter book, "Skin Trade" will be released June 2, 2009.

***Silas House's newest novel, "Eli the Good" will be released September 30, 2009.