Believe it or not (not!), I started this blog ten years ago this month.  Crazy.  It's evolved a lot since then, as have I.  Weirdly enough, in all those years, my enthusiasm for book blogging has not waned.  I still think it's a grand old time.  Will I still be doing this ten years from now?  Probably.  Here's to another decade of BBB!

I've been inhaling books for a lot longer than ten years so you'd think that I'd have read every book on my TBR list mountain mountain chain by now.  Yeah, not quite.  It's still crammed full of titles I'm hoping to get to someday.  Plenty of them have been on my radar for more than ten years, which makes this week's Top Ten Tuesday topic a cinch.  I could make several TTT lists of Books That Have Been On My TBR List Since Before I Started Blogging.  I'm guessing you could, too, so why don't you join in the fun?  Cruise on over to The Broke and the Bookish for the rules of the game, then make your own TTT list, and share it with the book blogosphere.  It's fun!

Top Ten Books That have Been On My TBR List Since Before I Started Blogging:



1.  Atonement by Ian McEwan (2003)—This Booker Prize-nominated novel seems to be about many things: writing, a crime that changes people's lives, war, and I'm not sure what else.  Lots of people love it and I've yet to read it or anything by McEwan for that matter.


2.  Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick (2006)—I bought this book at Borders back in the day.  I've been meaning to read it ever since.  My Bailey (Bayley) ancestors did not come to America on the Mayflower, but they arrived in Plymouth soon after the famous ship docked.  Mayflower is supposed to be a fascinating account of the Pilgrims and their journey to the New World.  Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea has also been on my TBR list for some time.


3.  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (2004)—This story about an autistic teen investigating the death of a neighborhood dog sounds quirky and interesting.  I've seen lots of praise for it over the years.  And yet, still it languishes on Ye Olde TBR ...


4.  Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (2006)—A sweeping multi-generational tale about fathers and sons, this novel came out the year I started blogging.  Still haven't gotten around to it.


5.  The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst (2004)—This tale about a man who tries to make sense of his wife's death by performing experiments to teach his dog to speak sounds ... unusual.  Also heartbreaking.  I'm still curious about it.  One of these days I'll finally get to it.  Maybe.


6.  Eragon by Christopher Paolini (2001)—Admittedly, I'm not a huge dragon/fantasy fan.  Still, so many people love the Inheritance Cycle series that I need to at least give it a go.  The fact that Paolini wrote the first book when he was just 15 is another reason to check it out.


7.  I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (2002)—Like many people, I've only read one book by Zusak—The Book Thief.  Some of my most trusted book blogging friends (I'm looking at you, Suey and Jenny) think he's written more than one great novel.  I need to see for myself.  This particular Zusak has been on my TBR list for far too long.  It's about time I just read I Am the Messenger already!


8.  The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (1998)—I love post-apocalyptic books, but for some reason I just can't ever get very far in this one.  Not because it's not intriguing, just because I always get distracted by newer, shinier books.


9.  Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach (2004)—I've heard so many great things about Roach's books, this one in particular, that it's a wonder I still haven't read her.  I need to remedy that right away.


10.  Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (1992)—I was completely swept away by Outlander when I read it way back when.  Why I didn't grab this sequel immediately I'm not sure.  I'll have to read Outlander again before I can continue on with this series, so who knows if it will ever actually happen?  I like big books (and I cannot lie), but re-reading has never been my favorite thing.

So, there you have it.  What do you think?  Have you read any of these?  Do you consider any of them must-reads or can they linger on the TBR list?  I'd love to have a look at your list.  Leave me a comment on this post and I'll gladly return the favor.

Happy TTT!  

(All book images from Barnes & Noble)

Bestselling author Octavia Frost is a woman acquainted with loneliness. Her occupation has always demanded solitary work, her son's no longer speaking to her, and the rest of her family lives on only in memories. As Octavia's career begins to sour just as surely as her personal life has, she takes on a new project, rewriting the endings of all her popular novels. It's an aim both ambitious and indulgent, one that symbolizes the ardent wish of her life - to change the past. Whether or not the book will sell remains to be seen.

On the day Octavia lands in New York to deliver the manuscript to her editor, she receives shocking news via the news crawl on a large billboard: her rock star son is being accused of murdering his girlfriend. Even though she hasn't spoken to Milo in several years, Octavia makes a beeline for San Francisco. Milo refuses to talk to his mother, but she gets in touch with his closest friends, all of whom seem to know more about her son than she does. When Octavia receives a cryptic message from one of Milo's cohorts warning that someone is lying, she knows she has to make every effort to save her son. She's no Nancy Drew, but surely there's something she can do. Getting through to Milo means facing truths about him that Octavia isn't sure she wants to know. Could he really be as cold-hearted as the media says he is? Is he capable of murdering the woman he says he loved?

As Octavia tries desperately to revise her relationship with Milo, she must come to terms with her son as he is now and the events from both their pasts which changed him from a carefree child into an angry, bitter man. In order to save her son, she must confront her own failings as a mother, defy the mistakes of her past, and support her child, no matter what kind of monster he may have turned into. Rewriting novels turns out to be nothing - nothing - compared to rewriting her own story.

Although The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst starts out slowly, it quickly builds into a compelling family drama and murder mystery. As Octavia pries into the details of her son's superstar lifestyle, shocking secrets emerge, each of which offers a clue to what really happend on the night Milo's girlfriend died. The mystery builds until The Big Reveal makes everything clear, if a bit cliched. The inclusion of Octavia Frost's revised novel endings is a brilliant touch, bringing a much-needed freshness to the whole book. It's to Parkhurst's credit that I wanted to read not only the Octavia/Milo story, but all the books that Octavia Frost has "written."

While the book's a tad depressing, what I really like is its hopeful theme. Parkhurst makes sure we know that while some of the plot details cannot be rewritten, our endings are rarely carved in stone.

(Readalikes: Mmm, not sure on this one. Suggestions?)

Grade: B-

If this were a movie, it would be rated: R for language and depiction of drug/alcohol abuse

To the FTC, with love: I bought The Nobodies Album from Amazon using a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative book blogging career. Ha ha.