It has been a number of Sundays since I’ve made note of my reading, or at least my attempts to keep up with my TBR shelf. (Which, as was pointed out to me recently, is bowing under the weight. I kid you not!)

I did finish two ARC’s recently, you can read the reviews here and here.

I am nearly done with Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 as well as the PEN Award, and have begun to read March by Geraldine Brooks, which is also a Pulitzer Prize winner (2006).

But since those are on my nightstand, there really is no respite in sight for my poor TBR shelf.

On top of that, I was feeling up to going out today and decided to visit my favorite used book store as I have not been able to peruse their shelves in weeks.

Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea.

The only thing keeping me from filling my book bag was the fact I forgot to bring my checkbook and they don’t take debit cards. Thank goodness! I only bought four books, but after placing them on the shelf I became immediately apparent that this was all I could squeeze in with a shoe horn fit in with all the others awaiting my attention.

Here is what I was lucky to find:

(1) One True Thing by Anna Quindlen. I liked the movie, but as is generally the case, the book is almost always better. I hope this holds true. Again, found in the bargain bin and worthy of being given a new home.

(2) The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox. After reading the advanced copy of his follow up, The Glass of Time, I knew I had to get my hands on the first book. You can imagine my amazement at seeing this while looking around their new arrivals. It was fate. I know it!

(3) The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. I have heard nothing but good things about this book, and just couldn’t understand what it was doing in the bargain bin. Fate again? Not sure, but for a couple of dollars I felt perfectly justified in rescuing it.

(4) Lucrezia Borgia by Sarah Bradford. I don’t read many biographies. Historical Fiction, but rarely historical non-fiction. However I remember watching the History Channel, or something like it, and they had debunked many of the myths surrounding Lucrezia. From what I have discovered, this book has received very mixed reviews, however at only a few dollars I thought it worth being given a chance. And I will give it that chance. Once I get around to it. In my lifetime. I hope.