Long time, heavy readers (ie everyone on this site) all have those "haven't read yet" secrets.  There is usually more than one.  For the longest time, my wasn't not having read To Kill a Mockingbird.  BUT, that is no longer the case.   

Currently, this year at least, it is that I haven't read Borges.  I've got a collection of his short fiction in my TBR mountain range, honest.  Just haven't gotten to it yet.   Maybe this year.

I mean this book makes me want to kick that collection up the TBR peaks, trail, or something - whatever the term is.

Manguel's book about Borges is in part a book about memory, part about hanging out with a legend (who does not seem to care that he is a legend) and part an illustration about how reading and books inform and make lives.  In other words, like most of Manguel's work, it is an essay about the loving of reading and how that can make a society.

Great finds at the Book Corner in Philadelphia. 

Like most readers, I have a boatload of books I own that I have yet to read. This year, I will read 25 of them. Here are the musts.

1.    Collected Fictions - Jorge Luis Borges  

    I've read a bit of Borges, and have deeply enjoyed it. That's why this is here.

2.     Twilight of the Empire - Simon R. Green  

   The Deathstalker series is the only one I have yet to read by Green, and these are the novellas that introduce that universe. I own the whole series, so I should maybe get started, yeah? Besides, Space Opera rocks!

3.   Little, Big - John Crowley  

   I've started this a couple of times, and got distracted. Not this year! It's la lyrical beauty that can't be rushed, but I will make the time.

4.   The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly  

    I've read and loved the Gates series, as well as Connolly's second collection, Night Music. I started this one years ago, and will actually follow through this time.

5.    Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke  

    Another one I got distracted during (are we sensing a theme?), this is a serious beast of a book, but I've loved what I've read, and the depiction of Faerie is unique, to say the least.

6.    Ghost Story - Peter Straub  

   A genuine horror classic that I've been threatening to read for about a decade. There is no reason I haven't read this yet.

7.    Carrion Comfort - Dan Simmons  

   Another big mother(shut yo mouth), this fell into the must list after I read The Terror last year. That one started slow, but was frigging awesome. I'm hoping this one kicks in a little quicker.

There's my seven must-reads from my ridiculous TBR pile, but there's a lot more where those came from. At least 18, some even more imposing.

As imposing, anyway.