"To Read" Pile, Part II

I’ve just started Shopaholic & Baby. I promise once I’ve finished it, I will never write about the series again. Instead, I’ll become obsessed with some other books. The truth is, once I find a series I enjoy, I’m devoted to it. Looking through my catalog on Library Thing, the same names appear over and over again: Hamish Macbeth, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Thursday Next . . .

Not only am I obsessed with series, but I’m devoted to certain topics. As I mentioned in my last post, I love to read books about Eastern Europe. Last summer, I went on a kick buying books on the topic; however, I might have overdone it because my “to read” pile is full of these books:

• Voices from Chernobyl: I bought this book—accounts from Chernobyl survivors—to reach the $25 mark and receive free shipping on Amazon.
• The Kitchen Madonna: I found this book during my genocide research. I know nothing about it—but isn’t that a great title?
• One of the Fifteen Million: I found this book about the Ukrainian Holodomor (see previous post) searching eBay (keywords: Ukraine, Soviet, USSR). The description said it is a first edition. How could I resist a first edition?
• Soviet Laughter, Soviet Tears: I started this memoir of a couple who spent six months farming in Ukraine during the Soviet era. Unfortunately, it reads like a farmer and his wife wrote it—and I’ve yet to be hooked.
• Escape from Warsaw: My mother was kind enough to buy me a bunch of used books about Eastern Europe—which I did read—and this was a bonus book she threw in. It’s for young adults, and I will read it. I will.
• Babi Yar: This is another eBay find. Babi Yar is the location of a Nazi massacre of Jewish Ukrainians near Kyiv during WWII.
• Honey and Ashes: Janice Kulyk Keefer is the Ukrainian-Canadian writer. I started the book but found her writing dense and uninviting. I guess I better try again, though, since she is the “it” writer.
• Dreams of My Russian Summers: This is another book my mother found for me. I also started it but just didn’t get into it. I’ll give it another try, eventually . . .
• Rasputin’s Daughter: I saw this book at Target. It looked interesting. Why haven’t I even cracked the cover?
• Kobzar’s Children: I found this collection of stories about Ukrainian immigrants while, you've guessed it, researching my paper. I’d like to use it in my paper, so I guess I better read it soon.
• Pumpkin Patch: I’ve started this memoir of an American who adopted two children from Ukraine. I got distracted by other books—darn Shopaholic—and plan every day to return to it.

I am incredibly backed up in my Eastern European reading—I have dozens more on my “to read” list—but I am open to any suggestions. Maybe if my pile grows big enough, I’ll start reading out of guilt.