23 Owned Books I Haven’t Read Yet [Unread November]

2021 Releases | Middle Grade | TBR Posts

Welcome to my third post for Unread November. Find the details here. tl;dr on Sundays in November I’m posting about books I didn’t read this year. Today’s post includes nearly every unread book I own. Once again, the list comes in three parts.

Two of my book collections grow faster than I read them: books about Arctic exploration and books about Tolkien and Middle-earth. I pick up Arctic books when browsing used book stores. The majority of titles listed here come from Macleod’s in Vancouver or Bison Books in Winnipeg. Some Tolkien books also come from second hand shops, but others I acquired after succumbing to Palgrave Macmillan sales.

The third part focuses on miscellaneous titles. Other than those two stacks of non-fiction, I’m usually good at not buying books unless I’ve already read the book or know the author. So, this section is assorted books I’ve picked up over the years.

Arctic Exploration

❄️ Midnight to the North: The Untold Story of the Inuit Woman Who Saved the Polaris Expedition by Sheila Nickerson – I haven’t read any in depth works about the Polaris expedition. Seems like a good place to start.

❄️ The Private Life of Polar Exploration by J.M. Scott – Not listed on Goodreads! I picked up this 1982 hardcover because it’s by someone who engaged in polar exploration in the thirties. From the jacket: “J.M. Scott’s new book paints a vivid picture […] of the horror, heroics and occasional folly that have accompanied the many expeditions to the Poles over the past years”.

❄️ Ice Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Lost Franklin Expedition by Paul Watson – As someone who grew up fascinated by the Franklin expedition every time we learned about it in school, the ships’ discovery excited me a lot. So I really should get around to reading this.

❄️ Arctic Obsession: The Lure of the Far North by Alexis S. Troubetzkoy – Another book giving an overview of Arctic exploration (asking “what has been the beguiling attraction of the Far North?”) while also looking at contemporary issues.

❄️ I May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination by Francis Spufford -A 1996 title “about the poles as they have been perceived, dreamed, even desired”.

❄️ Travelling Passions: The Hidden Life of Vilhjalmur Stefansson by Gísli Pálsson – Ah, Stefansson. There exists a monument to Stefansson near my family’s summer trailer, so I’ve been vaguely aware of the guy since I was young. (I actually thought he was a little person because back then I thought the sculpture was life sized.). I mostly know about him through his disastrous involvement with the Karluk and Wrangel Island.

Tolkien

✍🏼 The Story of Kullervo by J.R.R. Tolkien – I’d like to get better familiarized with the Middle-earth canon before I delve into this early work. But when a new book by Tolkien drops, one has to buy it.

✍🏼 Smith of Wootton Major & Farmer Giles of Ham by J.R.R. Tolkien – I think I haven’t read this yet because what I really want to read is Leaf by Niggle. Somehow, it isn’t included in any of the books I own.

✍🏼 Tolkien: A Look Behind the Lord of the Rings by Lin Carter – I like to pick up these little old paperbacks because it’s neat to read a perspective on Tolkien from 50+ years ago, when available information about Middle-earth was far more limited than what we have today.

✍🏼 Tolkien’s World by Randel Helms – Ditto above comment.

✍🏼 The Power of Tolkien’s Prose by Steve Walker – This is a funny story. The title and premise caught my eye so I bought it in a sale. But it turns out I had tried reading it once before and found the ‘prose’ very difficult to get through, so I didn’t get far in.

✍🏼 Interrupted Music: The Making of Tolkien’s Mythology by Verlyn Flieger – A classic of Tolkien criticism, but I need to read The Silmarillion a few more times before I tackle this one.

✍🏼 J.R.R. Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle-Earth by Bradley J. Birzer – This is actually one of the earliest books about Tolkien’s writing that I bought… “In it, Birzer explicates the religious symbolism and significance of Tolkien’s Middle-earth stories. More broadly, Birzer situates Tolkien within the Christian humanist tradition”.

✍🏼 Tolkien and Alterity edited by Christoher Vaccaro and Yvette Kisor – Palgrave Macmillan sale. Essay collection that “explores the role of the Other in Tolkien’s fiction, his life, and the pertinent criticism. It critically examines issues of gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity, language, and identity in The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and lesser-known works by Tolkien.”

✍🏼 Tolkien’s Modern Middle Ages – Palgrave Macmillan sale. Um, this one sounds a bit beyond my understanding but it’s on my shelf, haha: “J.R.R. Tolkien delved into the Middle Ages to create a critique of the modern world in his fantasy, yet did so in a form of modernist literature with postmodern implications and huge commercial success. These essays examine that paradox and its significance in understanding the intersection between traditionalist and counter-culture criticisms of the modern”.

✍🏼 The Keys of Middle-Earth – Palgrave Macmillan sale. Now this one covers an appealing and helpful topic, I think: “Using key episodes in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, readers are taken back to the works of Old, Middle English and Old Norse literature that so influenced Tolkien”.

✍🏼 Flora of Middle-Earth: Plants of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium by Judd and Judd This one I asked for and received as a Christmas gift a few years ago. Perhaps I will read it this winter.

Miscellaneous

✍🏼 The Real Middle Earth: Magic and Mystery in the Dark Ages by Brian Bates – A recent acquisition (from Bison Books either this August or last), this title is about ‘early English civilisation’ as inspiration for Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

(not in the photo because it is a pain to get to this book off the shelf that it is tucked nicely in to)

🇨🇦 Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw by Will Ferguson – Hitching Rides with Buddha has been a long time favourite of mine and partially inspired my move to Japan. I’ve also enjoyed a few of his other non-fiction works.

🍚 Just Enough: Vegan Recipes and Stories from Japan’s Buddhist Temples by Claire Greenwood – Once or twice a year, I visit Banyen Books and browse for at least an hour, before settling on one or two books to purchase. This one I picked up in Julyr.

🪹 The Bird’s Nest by Shirley Jackson – Purchased in Japan when I was delighted to find some English books in a shop, so I’ve had this one for at least six years… The Haunting of Hill House is one of my favourite books but I’ve yet to make it through this.

❄️ Prisoner of Ice and Snow by Ruth Lauren – Picked up in a Book Outlet sale a few years ago.

🧹 The Witch’s Boy by Kelly Barnhill – Picked up in the sale mentioned above. I loved The Girl Who Drank the Moon but have yet to read anything by Barnhill.

Are there any types of books in particular you buy faster than you read? What’s the book you’ve owned the longest without reading? Have you enjoyed any of these titles?