TBR Pile Challenge 2015

This will be the 5th year in a row that I have participated in this great challenge, hosted by Adam at Roof Beam Reader. It's really made me conscious of my book buying habits, and I've toned it down considerably since 2011, plus no large national bookstore chains have gone out of business in the meantime, necessitating a trip to the closing store on one of the last days when all books are like $1 each and as such COMPLETELY irresistible. So that definitely helped!

But back to the challenge. This year, I decided to choose some books that have been gathering dust on my pile because they are the later books in a series, and I refuse to read a series out of order. I tried in the past but I always felt like I was missing something big and it's just easier for me to do things in order - it's how my mind works. So in many cases I will be at the library reading previous books so that I can finally clear TBR pile books.

Without any further rambling or ado, here is my 2015 list!

1. A Case of Two Cities - Qiu Xiaolong (2006). Another of my Borders Last Days Sales books that I have been putting off - because it's the 4th book in a series. I loved Qiu's Years of Red Dust, so I am really looking forward to this series.
2. Berlin Noir - Philip Kerr (1989 - 1991) - read Sept. 2015
3. The City & The City - China Miéville (2009) - read Sept. 2015
4. Between Two Fires - Christopher Buehlman (2012) - read Jan. 2015
5. Auschwitz - Laurence Rees (2005) - read Jun. 2015
6. A Personal Matter - Kenzaburo Oe (1969) - read Sept. 2015
7. The Cavalier in the Yellow Doublet - Arturo Pérez-Reverte (2003). Yet another Borders Last Days grab, this is part of a series, so I will have to read some books to be able to get to this one. I did read the first book in this series, so I just have to hunt down a few more to make this one happen.
8. The Hero's Walk - Anita Rau Badami (2001) - read Sept. 2015
9. Southern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van Lew, A Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy - Elizabeth R. Varon (2003) - read May 2015
10. Blindness - José Saramago (1995/first published in English in 1997) - read Oct. 2015
11. A Wish After Midnight - Zetta Elliott (2010) - read Jan. 2015
12. Mary Ann in Autumn - Armistead Maupin (2010) - read Jan. 2015

Alternates:
1. Don't Look Now - Daphne Du Maurier - read Oct. 2015
2. A Free Man of Color - Barbara Hambly - read Sep. 2015