Shelf of the Unread

I have a shelf of unread books … actually if I lined up all the unread books I own I’m sure they’d need more than one shelf. Books I’ve bought over the years but have yet to open. Books that I’ve started but somehow never finished. (I’m sure you’ve finished every book you’ve ever started … mhmm.) Books that I’ve bought more recently; silently pleading for my attention.

This year I’ve decided that these books need an investment of my time, not just my money. I’m sure there’ll be other books I also read this year, but for each of the books I’ve selected from my Shelf of the Unread, I’ll post a review. I think this will be a challenging but achievable list. Let’s see how I do.

My selection of 12 books (one for each month) for 2012:

Lioness Arising: wake up and change your world by Lisa Bevere
[Technically I’ve already read this book (over Christmas/New Year), but it had such an impact I’m about to read it again in conjunction with my journals (past and present).]
Men and Women in the Church: building consensus on Christian leadership by Sarah Sumner
Heart of Stone: my story by Hoa Van Stone
The Journey Home by Bill Bright
The Emotionally Healthy Church: a strategy for discipleship that actually changes lives by Peter Scazzero with Warren Bird
Winning with People by John C. Maxwell
Life with God by Richard Foster with Kathryn A. Helmers
The Necessity of Prayer by E.M. Bounds
[This is the first book in a compilation volume of all E.M. Bounds’ works on prayer. I’m starting small, and if I get through any of the other books in the volume this year that will be a bonus. If not, there’s always 2013!]
A Call to Spiritual Reformation: priorities from Paul and his prayers by D. A. Carson
When Heaven Invades Earth by Bill Johnson

And for something a little different:

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens

[I have War and Peace on the shelf too, but unless I find myself zooming through the list I think I’ll save that one for next year!]

I guess I’m committed now. It’s time to get reading.

What unread books do you have gathering dust? What books do you plan to read this year?

Image: healingdream / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

11 thoughts on “Shelf of the Unread”

I have more than 70 unread books gathering dust on my shelf, heh. My goal this year is to get through about 40 of them. So far I’ve finished 2 since the year began. I would like to read the fourth book in the d’Artagnan romances by Alexandre Dumas, but I wanted to re-read the first three books and since they’re quite thick books, I may have to save that task for next year or see how well I do toward the end of this year.

Most of the unread books on my shelves seem to be sequels or the most recent releases in series that I am collecting. I hope to catch up on all those this year.

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Hi Bookish Hobbit, good luck with your reading list – you’re far more ambitious than I’m daring to be at this point. I like your blog and will drop by every now and then to see how your reading year is progressing. BTW, I’m also about half way through re-reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy (in one volume – it runs to 1077 pages!) … I’m sure I’ll get there eventually. And now only 11 months until The Hobbit movie is released! 🙂

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