Unread Books on Your Shelf?

Do you have books on your bookshelf that you haven't read yet?

I'm willing to bet most of us do. If you haven't read them, what are your reasons? Too busy? Too many books? You keep forgetting?

I basically have two sets of unread books, and I've figured out why they're unread.

1) I bought them at a thrift shop. Whether that be a library or garage sale, I have several books purchased for 25 or 50 cents that I haven't read yet. Some I've picked up, maybe even started. But they're not so much my style, and I haven't finished them.

2) I won them. This may seem like an odd reason. Many books that I win, I'm quite excited to read as soon as I get them. But there are a handful of others that have languished on my bookshelves for more than a year. Why? My theory is that a) I didn't pay for them, so I don't feel the same pressure to read them and b) the covers don't appeal to me.

Let's talk about B. It took me weeks of wondering why I'd glance at those books and decide to read something else before I realized the covers were turning me off. Once I figured that out, I knew exactly what it was about the cover that I didn't like. One shows nothing but a plane through a car windshield, and it doesn't strike me as exciting or engaging. It's not crashing, it's just flying. It's a sight we all see many times a day. The other, and this is just me being picky, but for some reason the girl on the cover looks like she has pink eye. Unappealing.

I know this about the books, and yet I still can't get myself excited enough to start reading them. They may be very fantastic books and I need to just do it. But first I have all these other gorgeous books I got from the library... maybe later.

What are your reasons for not reading? Are they similar to mine?

And just for fun, check out this link to the 12 ugliest book covers.