10 books on my to-be-read list (and why I’m saving them)
There’s a quiet difference between buying a book and choosing when to read it.
Some books arrive urgently. Others wait.
This list gathers ten books I genuinely want to read. I don’t want to read them because they’re new or that everyone else is talking about them. They’ve stayed because I haven’t been able to let them go. Each has survived multiple rounds of shelf reorganizing and book-buying restraint. That’s usually how I know a book matters to me: sometimes it’s the writing, sometimes it’s the subject, and sometimes it’s the suspicion that a book is waiting for the right season of life.
If you’re interested in the slower side of reading, from rereading and marginalia to the books we save for the right moment, you’ll find more essays in my Reading Life collection.
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1. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
My father died after a long illness, and I’ve spent years reading books that try to put loss into language. Didion’s memoir has been on my shelf for a long time. I suspect I’ll read it eventually, but I haven’t found the right moment yet.
Didion’s memoir of grief was written after the sudden death of her husband. It is often described as clear-eyed, unsentimental, and exacting. I suspect it is a book to read in stillness, not in passing. I am waiting for the right kind of quiet.
Find a copy → Bookshop.org | Amazon
2. The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd
Written decades before its publication, this meditation on the Cairngorm Mountains is said to be less about conquering nature and more about entering it.
Everything I’ve read about this one suggests Shepherd is doing what I most want from a book right now: teaching attention rather than information.
Find a copy → Bookshop.org | Amazon
3. Stoner by John Williams
I’ve spent most of my life around books, writers, and people who care deeply about ideas. Stoner is often described as a quiet novel about an ordinary academic life, which sounds more interesting to me now than it would have twenty years ago. I’m curious about a book whose reputation rests almost entirely on its emotional restraint.
Find a copy → Bookshop.org | Amazon
4. The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen
A novel about innocence, manipulation, and emotional clarity, or its absence.
I’ve read Bowen’s sentences quoted in essays. They feel sharp, controlled, and observant.
I’ve always liked novelists who notice the small social cruelties people inflict on one another. Everything I’ve read about Bowen suggests she’s unusually good at that.
Find a copy → Bookshop.org | Amazon
5. Outline by Rachel Cusk
A novel structured around conversations rather than plot.
I’m curious whether a novel can remain compelling while refusing most of what we normally expect from one.
Find a copy → Bookshop.org | Amazon
6. The Waves by Virginia Woolf
Not quite a novel. Not quite a poem.
I’ve read Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse, but The Waves feels like the Woolf I’ve been circling for years without quite committing to.
Find a copy → Bookshop.org | Amazon
7. A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr
A short novel about restoration of art, faith, and self.
Readers often describe this novel with an affection that’s difficult to explain and difficult to ignore. The older I get, the more curious I become about books whose reputations are built on quiet emotional impact rather than scale.
Find a copy → Bookshop.org | Amazon
8. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
A novel in the form of a letter from a father to his son. Letters have always mattered to me. Family letters, military letters, the way people explain themselves when they’re writing for someone they love. That’s part of what draws me to Gilead.
Faith, doubt, tenderness, all braided together.
Find a copy → Bookshop.org | Amazon
9. The Lover by Marguerite Duras
Some of my favorite memoirs operate in that uncertain space between remembered fact and narrative reconstruction. I’m curious how Duras handles memory when accuracy seems less important than emotional truth.
Find a copy → Bookshop.org | Amazon
10. Silence by Shusaku Endo
I don’t read much theology, but I’m fascinated by books that take belief seriously rather than treating it as background decoration. Everything I’ve heard about Silence suggests it’s willing to stay with uncertainty longer than most novels.
Find a copy → Bookshop.org | Amazon
A note on to-be-read lists
I’ve stopped thinking about unread books as unfinished business. Some books wait because I’m not ready for them. Others are just waiting for the right kind of quiet. A TBR list is a record of the conversations I hope to have someday. Some of these books may still be unread a year from now. That’s fine. Every time I pass them on the shelf, they’re reminding me of a conversation I still want to have.
Frequently asked questions
A TBR (to-be-read) list is a collection of books you plan to read in the future. It can be long-term or seasonal, structured or intuitive.
There is no ideal number. Some readers keep only a handful of titles; others keep longer lists organized by season or theme.
Books can be chosen based on curiosity, recommendations, literary interest, or personal timing. A thoughtful TBR list reflects what you are ready to explore, not what is trending.
No. A TBR list is a record of interest, not obligation. It can evolve as your reading life changes.
In an awful way, I felt like Lessons in Chemistry got better after that tragic event happened… (I don’t know how far you got so I don’t want to spoil it for you) because in the beginning our main character really got on our nerves but later on I found her much more charismatic as a main character. Hopefully you can enjoy the rest of it when you pick it back up!
Ocean Vuong writes good stuff. Hope you enjoy his work.