The Evolution of Science Fiction discussion

Which book has been on your to be read list the longest? Why have you not read some books you'd like to read? Too many on the list? Little time to read? Or the books seem less interesting as time goes on?

The Lusiads by Luís de Camões.
My husband and I are going on a trip soon that includes Portugal. I may actually read it when we get back!
I periodically edit my TBR list and remove books that I can't find free or at a good price, or because my tastes have changed.
I've found that I don't like some authors as much as when I was younger, but sometimes the reverse occurs as well.
I read more than one book at a time and also reread books sometimes, especially if there has been a long gap.

I’ve had some books for decades without reading them. I don’t know which of them has been in my possession the longest without being read. Among my sf genre books, I have a paperback copy of Gloriana, or The Unfulfill'd Queen by Michael Moorcock that I bought when it was new and have carried around in a “TBR” state ever since; it was published in 1978. I tried it once or twice but didn’t get far. I had read and enjoyed other Moorcock (Behold the Man, several Dorian Hawkmoon fantasies, An Alien Heat) but this was rather different. I intend to give it another try. one of these days.

An important issue for me is that I enjoy browsing in bookstores and buying books, but I don’t always get around to reading them right away.

I cannot say, which book remains in my TBR pile the longest, but there are definitely quite a few there with 10+ years. It is just that I am greedy for books, I may discover an author, buy several of their works (with the advent of e-versions it is quick) and then never get to them. Among SF this fate fell (among many others) on books by Linda Nagata - when in 2014 her First Light was nominated for Nebula, I read and enjoyed it, so bought her cyberpunk debut novel, The Bohr Maker, which won Locus for best debut in 1996, but never got to it... and this is only one example

Oleksandr wrote: "I cannot say, which book remains in my TBR pile the longest, but there are definitely quite a few there with 10+ years. It is just that I am greedy for books, I may discover an author, buy several ..."

You should definitely read more Nagata! "The Bohr Maker" is a good read. But her best books, hmm:
Edges (Inverted Frontier #1):
I rated this one at 4.5/5 and said "if you like star-smashing galaxy-ranging space opera that actually has some (loose) scientific plausibility, this is your book! I love this kind of stuff. "
Full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My TBR list is ridiculously long. I do prune it from time to time. Lots of books that caught my eye, but either my libraries never got it, or the ebook never went on sale. Or I lost interest in that author or topic.

Generally speaking, once I buy a book, I read it promptly.

Earliest acquired unread book in my Kindle account is Stories from the Quiet War by Paul McAuley, which I’ve had since February 2012. I got my first Kindle reader in 2011.

Stephen wrote: "Earliest acquired unread book in my Kindle account is ..."

I was curious which book that would be for me, so I checked. The 3 earliest-acquired but still unread books on my kindle are all collections of short stories that are "the best [whatever] of [some year]." I'll probably never get around to them.

In general, my TBR list is just a list of things that looked interesting to me at some time. I don't expect to ever read all of them.

The number of books that I fell like I really, absolutely, plan to read someday is pretty small.

My TBR “list” is mainly the unread books on my shelves, plus a few I want to reread. Sometimes, looking at the shelves, I decide I’m never going to read a book, and donate it to the secondhand shop at the library. However I still hope to read most of them. Though I know that’s unrealistic.

Stephen wrote: "Earliest acquired unread book in my Kindle account is Stories from the Quiet War by Paul McAuley, which I’ve had since February 2012. I got my first Kindle reader in ..."

That's actually a good collection, in a good series. But I'm a fan, of both the author and his Quiet War series.

I really liked the first two Quiet War novels, but I never read the collection for some reason.

I checked off many long time TBR’s when I started working on my composite top 100 SF back in 2017. There were many classics I hadn’t read…The Martian Chronicles, Childhood’s End, etc. But at the time, I didn’t have physical copies of them. I think the oldest physical book on my TBR was Brave New World. It was my dad’s, one of the dozens of books around my house in the 70’s. I took it when my mom passed in 2010 & we subsequently sold her house; same time I took the 100-ish old issues of F&SF.

I, like many of you, periodically trim down my TBR. I do want to tackle most of the classic sci fi and fantasy because I feel it would help inform my reading or modern works. But, I can't read all the classics and all the good new works of course!