In between the skeins of yarn and the mail, ball winder and tins, sits a pile.

I know that Two Boys Kissing will end soon and I wanted to be prepared for its conclusion with something new to read. Despite having a whole list (and corresponding copies) of books I meant to read this fall and towering piles of books I own that sit unread, I decided the answer to this impending scenario was a trip to the library.

This is what I brought home (and why):

• The Universe versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence — This was on my radar, but I saw it on someone’s favorite books of the year list last week and I thought it might help pull me out of my reading funk.
• Egghead by Bo Burnham (with drawings by Chance Bone) — A finalist in the GoodReads reader’s choice awards. It sounded like it might be a sort of Shel Silverstein for adults.
• William Shakespeare’s Star Wars by Ian Doescher — Because I am a child of the ’80s and because it’s also a finalist in the GoodReads awards.
• Out of the Easy by Ruth Sepetys — Another GoodReads finalist, this was on my radar, particularly because I thought New Orleans would make an ideal location for a mystery novel when I was there last year.
• Dog Songs by Mary Oliver — Because she’s one of my favorite poets and because there’s not an audio version of it on Overdrive, which seems like an excellent way to have an at-home poetry reading.
• The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion — Another GoodReads finalist and another title on a best-of list, this one caught my eye in part because of the cover design. Also, Matthew Quick blurbed it, which seems like a decent endorsement.
• The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger — The first book in a middle grade series that appeared a couple years back, this one has been on my to-be-read list for a while. Plus, during the National Book Festival, the woman who took me up on my tshirt’s challenge to guess what I was reading said this was the last book she’d read.
• The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky — This has been on my TBR list for a while, and I put off seeing the movie because I hadn’t yet read the book.
• Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen — I went to the library seeking M.C. Beaton, but once I was there, she didn’t appeal. Bowen’s first series about Constable Evan Evans is not dissimilar from Beaton’s Macbeth series and this, the first book of her third series, also has gotten good reviews.
• Jimmy Corrigan by Chris Ware — An impulse pick-up. I’ve heard good things about Ware’s work, but haven’t sampled it myself. This is a doorstop of a graphic novel, but one with a good reputation.
• Johnny Hiro by Fred Chao — He was a random author whose session I attended during the National Book Festival and I’ve been meaning to give his food worker-cum-superhero graphic novel series a shot.

This joins Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things by Cynthia Voigt, who wrote some of my favorite books as a kid, which I borrowed last week on a whim. The New York Times Book Review liked her new book, but doubted whether its intended audience would, so I decided to assess that myself.

(Thanks to Amanda for the prompt, even if I’m writing about it on the wrong day.)