I've been a little MIA here on the blog. I'm still reading (I never stop), but other things have been taking up my reviewing/posting/commenting time. A month ago, my husband surprised me by listing our house for sale about four weeks earlier than planned. Even though it had me stressing out *just* a tad, the timing worked perfectly. The second family to walk through our house fell madly in love and made us an offer almost immediately. They're super nice people and they gave us what we asked for (a smokin' deal, it must be said), with no fuss over some minor repairs that need to be done. Yay! We close on June 1 and have to be out by July 15. Shouldn't be a problem, although my old/new house currently looks like this throughout (actually worse since these photos are from a couple weeks ago—the kitchen tile is gone and there are more holes in the walls):

Our contractor's actually making lots of progress and I'm confident the place will be livable come mid-July, even if everything's not quite done. We're remodeling every room in the house to some degree, so, yeah...it's a lot. The process of choosing cabinets, flooring, lighting, paint, etc. is fun, but it's also becoming tedious and time-consuming. I'm excited, though, for how spiffy it will look when it all comes together. Our "old" house—it was built in 1994, we bought it in 2004 and lived in it from then until 2008—will feel like a new house, for sure.

In addition to packing up our current house and remodeling the new one, I'm also frantically studying for my upcoming genealogy accreditation test. It's only a few weeks away, so I'm freaking out a *wee* bit! The best way for me to study is by tackling real-life family history research questions, so if you have one that's based in the American Southwest (Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, California, and Colorado, as defined by the accreditation board), I'd love to look into it for you. The question can be something simple like: My grandparents emigrated to California in the 1880s, but I don't know where they emigrated from or who their parents were. Can you find them for me? Or, my great-grandmother lived in Arizona all her life. I only know her married name. Can you find her maiden name? Who were her parents and siblings? That kind of thing. If you get it to me in the next couple weeks, I'll research it for free as practice. If you wait until I'm accredited, it will cost you :)

Real life, ugh. Let's get back to the books, shall we?

This week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt is all about those volumes we were so, so, so excited to have in our hot little hands and yet...there they sit, unread, unloved, gathering dust on our shelves. I seem to have an out of sight, out of mind mentality in this regard. As soon as I buy a book, ensuring that I can read it any ole time I want, I promptly forget I want to read it! Thus, it was easy to come up with this list. All I had to do was cast an eye on my bookshelves to find a plethora of choices (not as many as it would have been last month, though, as I've sorted through the majority of my books and donated several thousand to charitable causes). Since I'm better about getting to library books and ARCs, I'm going to focus my list on titles I actually purchased. These are just the first ten books/boxed series my eyes fell upon when I looked at the shelves closest to my desk.

If you want to ruminate on your shelves of shame, why not join in the TTT fun? You'll be in good company, I swear. Just pop on over to That Artsy Reader Girl to get all the details on this always enjoyable weekly event.

1. The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes—The hype made me by this one and yet, there it sits...

2. Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker—Except for a short while when I was but an ignorant wee one, I've always loved to sleep. I've also long been fascinated by dreams, so this book is definitely up my alley. I did start reading it when I first bought it, but then I got distracted.  

3. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens—Another the-hype-made-me-do-it buy. 

4. Tomorrow, When the War Began series by John Marsden (boxed set)—I really wanted to read this series five years ago or so, but I was having trouble finding all the books in my local libraries. I ordered the whole set from BookDepository, waited weeks for it to arrive, then devoured the first couple books. I took a break after that and...haven't returned to the story. I'm not sure I remember who's who or what's what now, so I may have to re-read the initial books before I continue on with the series.

5. Daughter of Moloka'i by Alan Brennert—I loved Moloka'i, so I was stoked for this sequel. I still am, even though I've yet to crack it open.

6. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune—Everyone loves this book, so of course, I had to buy it! Have I read it yet? Nope.

7. Stars Above by Marissa Meyer—The Lunar Chronicles is a great series. I really enjoyed it. For some reason, though, I still haven't read this collection of TLC short stories.

8. Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder (boxed set)—I've mentioned before that I was a raving Little House fan as a kid. The books, the t.v. show, everything. Since my copies of the books somehow didn't survive my childhood, I bought a new set some years ago. I was SO excited to read the first book and...it just wasn't the same! The disappointment was a real downer, so I haven't moved on with my re-read of the series.

9. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith—Another nostalgia buy, I've been meaning to re-read this one for ages and just...haven't yet. No excuses, except that I know I don't have to hurry because the book's in my personal library and it's not going anywhere.

10. Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie—This is another book that has gotten rave reviews from my bookish friends, online and off. I'm going to read it one of these days, I swear!

There you go, ten books/series I was super excited to get, but still haven't read. Have you read any of these? What did you think? Which do I need to pick up first? What's on your shelf of shame? I'd truly love to know (really, it will make me feel better about my own neglected reads). Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.