Top Ten Tuesday – Backlist Books I Want to Read

Time for a Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl!  This week’s challenge was Backlist Books I Want To Read.

I’ve decided to amend this to my own personal Kindle Collection backlog.  I have picked up SO many things through Kindle Daily Deals, and I do intend to read all of them.  They don’t get prioritized as much as the hard copies on my list because I’m not constantly staring at them on my shelves, feeling the weight of guilt of not getting around to that one book yet.  Instead, these precious babies are tucked out of sight inside a thin electronic shell, forgotten and neglected.  This list is as much to remind me what I have waiting as it is to share some books I find interesting.  And so, onward!

INFOMOCRACY by Malka Ann Older
I believe I got this as part of the Tor Monthly E-Book Reading Club.  The basic premise, from what I gather of the bookjacket, is what if a “search engine monopoly” happened to control the elections?  Given the state of the world, this is one of those books that is just adjacent to reality, and I would to read soon. First in a trilogy.

THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE by Neil Gaiman
I’ve never been a huge Neil Gaiman fan, having really only read AMERICAN GODS, a book I found intriguing but didn’t resonate with me in the same way it has with so many.  Still, at 181 pages, I thought I’d give a shot at another of his works just to see what all the hype is about.

THE THREE BODY PROBLEM by Cixin Liu
I’ve become increasingly fascinated with sci-fi and fantasy coming out of non-US and UK writers, so this has been a definite “must read at some point” for me.  The first in a sci-fi series from Chinese writer Cixin Liu, and translated to English by Ken Liu (no relation), this series was so hot that Amazon reportedly was going to somehow drop $1 billion (you read that right) to option and develop a show around the trilogy. Another Tor Reading Club freebie that I have yet to dive into.  I’ll be honest, the fact that it’s a “hard sci-fi” novel has put me off a bit, as there’s only so much physics talk I can take.

THE CLOUD ROADS by Martha Wells
Martha Wells is currently on a hot streak with her Murderbot Diaries novellas, but before she wrote those she wrote a series called The Books of Raksura.  Book one features a fantasy world with a protagonist who can shape shift into a winged creature of flight, but he doesn’t know how or why.  I daydream constantly about having that ability, and having enjoyed Murderbot, I’m very curious to check out this earlier work.

GILDED CAGE by Vic James
This fantasy trilogy recently came to a close, and I have yet to start.  In an alternate England, magic users make up an elite class.  Everybody without magic powers owes 10 years of service to the elite.  It’s up to you when you do your time- but those ten years are so taxing it can possibly traumatize you or even kill you if you aren’t up to the task. Yet another series I wanted to check out.

AFTER ON by Rob Reid
Huzzah, another stand alone!  Here we have a sci-fi premise about an AI social network that has so much knowledge that “she” can do whatever she wants – cure cancer, matchmake, start a war. Many humans try to influence her in how she wields her abilities, but what is her real purpose?  Another “reality-adjacent” book that I need to sit myself down and read.

THE FOREVER WAR by Joe Haldeman
This is one of those classic sci-fi books that I keep putting off reading in favor of tackling new releases.  I want to get to this because I like seeing the origins of concepts that have influenced modern books.

A COURT OF THORN AND ROSES by Sarah J. Maas
Sarah J. Maas is one of my huge blindspots in the the YA realm.  I read A THRONE OF GLASS years ago when it first came out, thought it was fine but wasn’t inspired to keep reading. I have been curious for a while about her other series, set in a world of fae politics, and bought this on sale….and have yet to read it.  Story of my life!

THE WAY OF KINGS by Brandon Sanderson
I almost didn’t include this book since I already mentioned THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVES in my Series I Need to Catch Up On post a few weeks back.  And then I did a quick search and reminded myself this book came out EIGHT YEARS AGO.  And I’ve had it on my Kindle since November of 2014.  On the plus side, there are now three books out in the series, so I won’t have to wait years between sequels?

STORMDANCER by Jay Kristof
Another Kindle Daily Deal purchase left neglected.  This is a Japanese-inspired fantasy (first in a trilogy) that sends a young woman and her father to hunt the last of a mystical creature known as an Arashitora for the Shogun’s collection.  Events leave the woman stranded alone, with only a crippled Arashitora for aid. It sounds like a bonding story worthy of HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, and I am a sucker for “human and mythical animal form bond that overcomes all obstacles” type stories.

Now it’s your turn.  What’s in your pile of shame?  What book came out a few years ago that somehow has never made it to the top of your stack?