TBR Pile

So, I went through my books I haven't read yet and I was surprised to find as many as I did. Usually I'm good at keeping on top of reading the books I buy but... I'm not as good as I thought!

In total I have 27 books. 7 are my Jane Austen collection which I bought recently. 6 books are books that I bought very recently and the remaining 14 are ones that I have had for 3 months to 2 years.

Here is a list of the books I've had for 3-24 months:

1.  The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue (I bought this when it first came out in October 2011).
2. An Autobiography by Agatha Christie (I bought this in a Book Depository 24 hour sale in February).
3. The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King (I bought this in 2010 which was... FOREVER AGO!! I fail as King fan).
4. The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien (I bought this last Christmas Eve...still have not read it).
5. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (I bought this in December shortly after Christmas with a book voucher along with the first one. I still have not read it... Don't kill me!)
6. Mercy by Jodi Picoult (I bought this around last September in a used book shop).
7. Under the Dome by Stephen King (I bought this sometime in early 2011 I think... Again, I fail as a King fan).
8. Game of Thrones by George R.R Martin (I bought this along with the first two in The Hunger Games trilogy after Christmas, read around 100 pages and stopped. I don't know why. I'll have to try it again).
9. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (I bought this in February... I should read it soon).
10. The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson (I bought this last August/September. I kind of lost interest in this trilogy...)
11. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (I began collecting the Agatha Christie magazines with a free first edition book in every issue and stopped after issue 2 because I realised I wasn't going to be able to afford €10 every fortnight. This was in issue 1).
12. Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie (I bought this last summer without thinking it was a Christmas book so I planned on reading it last Christmas and I forgot. I'll have to wait until next Christmas again!!)
13. Broken Flower by Virginia Andrews (I got this in a used book shop last year sometime)
14. 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King (This was the first King book I bought in summer 2010 and still haven't read it...)

I am hoping to have read all these by the end of this year. Do you have a TBR pile this big or even bigger? Do you find yourself with many unread books you bought months and sometimes even years ago? Leave a comment!

On Writing by Stephen King

On Writing by Stephen King
Genre: Autobiography/memoir
Age Group: Adults
Publisher: New English Library
Year: 2001
Format: Paperback
Pages: 351
Source: Book Depository
Buy It:  $10 with free delivery
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Find out what books and films influenced the young writer, his first idea for a story and the true life tale that inspired Carrie. For the first time, here's an intimate autobiographical portrait of his home life, his family and his traumatic recent accident. Citing examples of his work and those of his contemporaries, King gives an excellent masterclass on writing - how to use the tools of the trade from building characters to pace and plotting as well as practical advice on presentation. And King tells readers how he got to be a No. 1 bestseller for a quarter of a century with fascinating descriptions of his own process, the origins and development of, e.g. Carrie and Misery. - from Book Depository

As a big fan of King and an aspiring writer, I loved this book! I had been wanting to get my hands on this book for a while but just never bought it. When I received it in the mail I immediately began reading and was immersed into little anecdotes about King's childhood.

To put it simply, the first 100 or so pages was about King as a child and how he discovered his love for writing. The next 100 or so was on the craft of writing. He began by talking about the writer's 'toolbox' and then proceeded onto the mechanics of writing such as grammar (though, he didn't stall too long on that one, it is generally something every writer should know) and other such things. He talked a bit about ideas and plotting. He went through how he came up with the idea for a few of his novels. He also spoke about how to get published and what you have to do if you are serious about writing. King used a lot of motivational techniques in this book because once I was finished reading the 'on writing' section, I was pumped and wrote about five thousand words in a couple of hours.

The last part was about the time he got hit by a van and almost gave up on writing. He described what happened and how he recovered and began writing again. It was around 50 or so pages which was the perfect length for such a thing. If it went on any longer I would imagine it would become very tedious and whiny.

Throughout this book, King spoke a lot about his wife, Tabitha and how she helped him. I found this particular aspect of the book very interesting and I began to really like this woman by the end. I also gained a lot more respect for King as a writer than I had previously. I always respected him but his very blunt way of putting things and down to earth style of writing he used allowed me to "get to know him", if you like.

Overall I really enjoyed this and would recommend it to any King fan or aspiring writer.