I'm trying to get some sort of book list on here but I've yet to figure out the technology. Until then, there will be this post. (You can click on the picture to enlarge it if you are unable to make out any of the titles or authors.)It is the great frustration of my life that I am the world’s slowest reader and will meet my demise without getting through all the books I want to. (Well, my greatest frustration other than not having the singing voice of a large black woman as I have always dreamed; if I could Spew like that, instead of alone at a computer screen, I would never be depressed again.)
The stack pictured above is my 2010 to-do (if ADD doesn’t thwart me) list.
These too:
Lit: A Memoir by Mary Karr
Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper by Diablo Cody
EnLightened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples and a Beagle Pointer by Jessica Berger Gross
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
Undiscovered by Debra Winger
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Too Fat to Fish by Artie Lange
Motherless Daughters: The Legacy of Loss, Second Edition by Hope Edelman
(I would also like to finish all my Oprah Magazines dating back to this past March and do a crossword puzzle once in a while.)
What this list doesn’t include?
A) The books I can’t remember right now.
B) The new books I will get all spazzy about and want to read (buy) right away.
C) A 500-pager I've just started and with which I'm having commitment issues.
Getting through all of these by 2011 will be a challenge (the best kind of challenge one could have), though this is no reflection of my feelings about the books. My brain is a lot like a rabid dog, all convoluted and foamy and doing circles. Often, when I sit down to relax with a good book, my mind will have me read the same sentence over and over again while another part of it diverts to a different stream of thought brought on by the mere mention of some random word like "lentil" or "Chatanooga." Ten minutes will pass of me just staring at the page and then I'll come to and realize I have no idea what I just read. Then I start to read again and do the same thing for another 10 minutes. I’ve lost hours to this. (Really.)
Or, if my brain sees that I'm enjoying myself and not ruminating for even a minute, it decides to fall on its side and go to sleep. I could be reading All the Juicy Secrets: The Answers To the Mysteries in Lola Mellowsky's Head and if my brain wants to meander or rest, off it goes.
Still, I'm so excited for all these books that I think my brain is going to back me up. If you know of any great books I need to add to the list, let me know. Also, if you plan on, end up, or presently are reading any of these books, let me know. We could discuss. I'll tell you all about this one sentence that moved me so.
2 comments:
I have my own stack along with books for book club. Here are some thoughts - solely my own. Started The Knitting Club - not much depth. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger - just finished it. Same author as Time Traveler's Wife which I adored. A rare book that hooked me immediately and lost me by the end. Reading Olive Kitteredge (Pulitzer winner) and really enjoying it. I actually thought of you as I began it as its being a book I think you would enjoy. It has a connected story structure that can be read story by story with a wholeness to each part, yet all the parts are connected. Thinking about making it the summer read for AP. I read Stern Men after Eat, Pray, Love. It is okay, but not great in the way EPL is. I could probably read and reread EPL. Of course, Animal, Vegetable, Mineral is a huge favorite and a life changer, or at least an attitude changer. I have Julie and Julia in the queue and haven't seen the film yet. I would also add The Art of Simple Food. I love to talk books.
Just checked out Olive Kitteredge---looks interesting. Let me know how you end up liking it. I'm having a hard time making time for fiction with all the nf I want to read (and feel I need to study) but know I'm missing out.
EPL is really my bible. I have the audio version on my iPod so when I put it on shuffle I will occasionally get an EPL chapter and I always listen to the whole thing. Still makes me laugh and think. Did you ever watch that speech she gave at the TED conference that I posted here---she's fabu in person too. (We're going to really enjoy each other when we meet.)
Are you going to read Committed? Let me know if you do. Can you believe it---a book on marriage? Cleaving is about marriage, too. Figures. Two books on marriage by hot authors. (I started mine first...I kid...or at least have made peace---they seem different enough.) That's part of why I put reading Cleaving before Julie and Julia (which I haven't read) but part of me doesn't want to read it for the same reason---dangerous to read about what I'm writing about. Still, I know I won't be able to hold out.
Gonna have to move A,V,G up on the list---if you're calling it a "huge favorite." Plus, it's my top subject right now. The Art of Simple Food, huh? Will look into it.
I love talking books, too. Please shoot me suggestions any time. My friends and I keep trying to get a book club off the ground but as they are about as good at me at making plans, it never comes together. One friend wants to start with RUN-D.M.C.'s Reverend Run--cracks me up.
Thanks for the book chat!
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