Wishlist

I’ve just been diligently entering all my books into LibraryThing. I don’t own a ton of books, and I have even fewer of them here with me. (I’m not going to bother trying to remember what’s in boxes in my mom’s basement.) So the biggest section for me will be “Read but unowned.”

I go back and forth all the time about LibraryThing. Every year I’ll get excited and enter a few more books, then get overwhelmed and give up. A friend recently pointed out to me that having everything I’ve read catalogued would make it much, much easier for her to get me books I haven’t read.

But here’s the thing. Unless you really loved it, like, can’t-stop-thinking-about-it loved it, I honestly probably don’t want a new book from you. It will just sit in the little book graveyard on the bottom shelf with all the other books I picked up at airport bookshops and found in free-boxes on the street. For some reason I don’t tend to read books I already own.

But I do like to own books. How can this work? Well, I like to own books that I have already read and loved and will either a) read again (and again) and/or b) want to have a copy to loan out to other people.

I know it’s not as exciting to give me a book I’ve already read. But at least you already know I’ll love it! And I love used books, as long as they aren’t falling apart.

My current wishlist…

Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen by Garth Nix (I have read these each at least twice from the library; I think it’s time to own them! Please only the beautiful covers with the women on them, not the garish new ones with the runes)
Necklace of Kisses by Francesca Lia Block (the final book to make my Weetzie Bat collection complete)
Tehanu, The Farthest Shore, The Tombs of Atuan, Tales of Earthsea, and The Other Wind by Ursula LeGuin (so many beautiful covers! I love them all, except the recent ones with photos from the movie)
Concerning the Book that is the Body of the Beloved by Gregory Orr (this is an incredible book of poetry. I gave my copy to a friend and have never replaced it, but I miss it!)
Locas by Jaime Hernandez (just in case someone wants to get me a really nice present…)
The Riddle of Gender by Deborah Rudacille (I can’t speak highly enough of this well-researched and -written book. I would love to add it to my library)
Gluten-Free Girl by Shauna James Ahearn (I devoured this in a single afternoon, now I would love to peruse at leisure)
The Host by Stephanie Meyer (I can’t believe this brilliant book is by the same person who wrote Twilight! I don’t know if I will be able to reread – too intense – but I would love to have it on hand to loan out to others)
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (this is one of my all-time favorite books, it’s so beautiful. It disappeared after I sublet my apartment and I haven’t had the heart to replace it. I miss it, though)
Shelf Discovery by Lizzie Skurnick (the only one on here I haven’t read yet, but of course it’s a book of essays all about… books I read when I was young!)