Booking Through Thursday: Anticipation

Last week we talked about the books you liked best from 2007. So this week, what with it being a new year, and all, we’re looking forward….

What new books are you looking forward to most in 2008? Something new being published this year? Something you got as a gift for the holidays? Anything in particular that you’re planning to read in 2008 that you’re looking forward to? A classic, or maybe a best-seller from 2007 that you’re waiting to appear in paperback?

I hate shopping, especially for shoes. I am very picky about shoes. I demand comfort right from the start. None of this breaking in nonsense which has never worked for me. If I could wear tennis shoes to work, I would have it made, but I work in a professional setting and so that is a big no no. I hate grocery shopping too. I do not like to cook. That is my husband's domain. Grocery stores make me almost as grumpy as kitchens do. Clothes shopping is not really any fun either. I get frustrated easily, trying on clothes that don't quite fit my odd shape.

About the only shopping I do enjoy is visiting a bookstore or a stationary shop, and occasionally a Bath and Body Works store if there is a good sale. I can spend hours browsing through the items and fill a cart up (if they had them, which they don't, but they should, at least for me) if I had the money and inclination.

What was I supposed to be talking about again? Oh, yeah! New books I am looking forward to. The big catch with any new books I may want is when I actually will be reading them. It is not uncommon for books that join my TBR collection to end up waiting awhile before their turn comes. After all, I am trying to read older books first.

There are plenty of books coming out that will catch my fancy, some of which I may decide I must have now and others I will think about a little longer. A list of all those that might interest me could be quite long, and so you are out of luck if you expect me to offer that one up to you. Mostly, I prefer to wait for the paperback versions to come out unless I know I can get a better deal on the hardback (a sale or Zooba perhaps), and so many of the books that may be coming out for the first time this year will get a glance from me, I'll make a note, and be on the look out in a year or two for the paperback copy.

Some of the authors with books coming out this year (at least those I am aware of) that have me taking notice (not necessarily to buy in hardback) include:
Jim Butcher
Linda Fairstein
Charlaine Harris
Kim Harrison
Jonathan Kellerman
Karen E. Olson
Christopher Paolini
T. Jefferson Parker
Jodi Picoult
Lisa Scottoline
There are several books on my wish list that I am anxiously awaiting in paperback form this year as well. Just off the top of my head I can only think of two, but I am sure there are quite a few:
Lost City Radio by Daniel Alarcon
The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani

I have already dipped into one of my Christmas presents, the new translation of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. My husband also gave me a copy of Arnaldur Iridadason's Voices, which I cannot wait to read this year as well. Neither were published this year, but both are on my must read list.

I am most looking forward to diving head first into my already existing TBR collection, specifically the books that made my challenge lists this year (see sidebar on left). Many of those have been in my TBR collection for awhile now, some old, some new, all very much deserving their chance to take me into their pages for a spin, and each one I am very much looking forward to reading.