Today’s topic for a Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl is ‘Books I Was SO EXCITED to Get, but Still Haven’t Read (bonus points if you tell us how long it’s been since you got them!)’.

My list is dominated by non-fiction and I have no idea when I bought most of them, several years ago at least, but I can put them in chronological order of when I bought them:

The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins

Dawkins has written a lot of books, I own many of them and one – The Ancestor’s Tale – is my favourite non-fiction. The Blind Watchmaker is considered by some to be his best, my copy is even signed, yet I have not read it yet.

Caesar by Adrian Goldsworthy

This is a book that has received a lot of acclaim including from some of my friends. Hope to read it soon.

36 Arguments for the Existence of God by Rebecca Goldstein

Despite the title and contrary to the rest of my list, this book is a novel.

Demian by Hermann Hesse

On a trip to Mexico I met a man named Demian who says his mother named him for a character in this novel. I don’t think I’d ever met someone named for a character in a novel and it made me curious.

The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker

An important book for book readers, lovers and reviewers, even if you disagree with his thesis. But in reading it will I inevitably be reading spoilers for novels I have yet to read?

Alexander’s Tomb by Nichola J Saunders

I have a weakness for non-fiction books on obscure or niche subjects and am often let down by them. Saunders is at least an archaeologist so I hope I am in safe hands here.

A Most Dangerous Book by Christopher B Krebs

Another niche subject – the history of Tacitus’ Germania from the Romans to the Nazis. But again, I think I am in safe hands with this author.

The Great Pyramid by John Romer

The Great Pyramid at Giza is perhaps the greatest of the great wonders and this, from Romer and Cambridge University, is a great book on the subject.

Napoleon the Great by Andrew Roberts

I waited a long time for a new take on Napoleon’s life and now, foolishly, I am waiting a long time to read it.

Look Who’s Back by Timur Vermes

I think reading this book now will mean I will have a different impression of it than if I had read it when it first came out and when I first bought it. The idea that a world of reality TV and podcasts is well-suited for an aspiring tyrant and autocrat seems almost quaint post-Trump. I do actually know when I bought this novel – in December of 2015! And since I made this list in chronological order, that means all the others were bought much earlier!