Word of Mouth

I'm posting on a Gratitude Monday, but before I get to my list I have one piece of business and if you could help me out, I'd be very grateful!

On Saturday I saw the following on Facebook:

I had to share it on my FB page and by the number of likes and comments I received it's obvious that it's not a rare condition.

I used to be one of those people that was always reading, usually two to three books a week.  Once I picked up a book I was obsessed with it, it was the focus of my attention and I would often turn down events and opportunities and avoid minor responsibilities in favour of reading. It was almost an addiction and being a very empathetic (empathic?) person I would become strongly invested in the characters.  I remember reading The Song of Kanush, a story about orphaned street children in India that left me depressed for days afterwards.  There were compelling, beautifully written books as well, like Lorianne Brown's The Handless Maiden and Jessica Grant's Come Thou Tortoise.  As much as I was enjoying the stories and lives of others, I wasn't really living a truly full life myself.  So I quit cold turkey.

I don't think I read a book for two years.  It wasn't that difficult actually, and it improved the quality of my life immensely.  But I do love books and love reading so I began picking one up now and again.  I visited the library regularly, and then I stumbled upon a bookclub that invited me to be one of their charter members.  I've become much better at balancing reading and my other interests and responsibilities, but this only gives me time to read a book or two a month.

As you can see above, my unread book pile is growing.  In my defence I've only purchased two of these books, the rest have been given to me and have been sitting patiently on my bookshelf, some for more than two years now.  I really don't know where to begin, so I'm hoping you'll vote to let me know which book I should start with.  I tried to set up a poll on my page, but it won't work for some reason so I'm hoping you'll post in the comments, and I don't mind if you select "anonymous".