Friday, September 25, 2009

What lies ahead in reading

Since I last posted I haven't finished a book or made any knitting progress to speak of, so I thought I'd share my To Read list with you. I'm keeping track on Good Reads now (rather than my old-timey Word document of the past) so this list is cobbled together from that and my library hold list.

1. Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby. I love him and I'm looking forward to seeing him read next week!

2. Serena by Ron Rash. Recommend by Jennifer Weiner on her blog. I've tried to foist this on my book group, and will probably try again.

3. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. But will it be as good as The Time Traveler's Wife?

4. Chang and Eng by Darin Strauss. A fictionalized account of the famous conjoined twins, who I have always found fascinating.

5. Fat Cat by Robin Brande. A YA novel that got a great review on Reading Rants.

6. The Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders. This is a book of essays, which is an odd thing to appear on my list, but this guy wrote the introduction to something I read (I think one of Nick Hornby's books, maybe The Polysyllabic Spree?) and it was fantastic!

7. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe. I read a number of positive reviews on this book which takes place in Salem, MA and moves between present day and the time of the witch trials. I'm a sucker for anything about the Salem witch trials.

8. Recipe for America: Why Our Food System is Broken and What We Can Do To Fix It by Jill Richardson. The author writes one of my new favorite blogs, La Vida Locavore. Also, I am obsessed with food.

9. The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova. By the writer of the Historian, which I loved.

10. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. I don't know why I still haven't read this.

11. Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian. Forthcoming novel from one of my favorite authors.

12. Hate List by Jennifer Brown. A YA novel in transit to my local library as we speak. Expect a review in the next couple of weeks!

13. The Food of a Younger Land: The WPA's Portrait of Food in Pre-World War II America by Mark Kurlansky. Did you read his book about salt? It was great! (Again, I am obsessed with food.)

14. Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading by Lizzie Skurnick. Need I say more?

15. Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter. I kind of want to be an urban farmer. Or more specifically, I want chickens.

16. Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher. Forthcoming YA novel with a transgendered character. I read a really great review on Reading Rants.

17. The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America's Emerging Battle Over Food Rights by David E. Gumpert. I think I heard about this on La Vida Locavore. I don't know if I'll manage to read the whole book (it's non-fiction, after all) but I'm really interested in the issues.

18. Empire Falls by Richard Russo. I've only read one of his books so far - shame on me!

19. Isn't It Romantic? by Ron Hansen. Kevin is always talking about how great this book is, and it's pretty short so there's no reason not to read it.

20. Overqualified by Joey Comeau. Hilarious sounding book about a guy who starts telling the truth in his cover letters. The author also writes a web comic.

21. The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway. It's an apocalyptic novel, which is all I need to know.

22. The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Well reviewed novel about the relationship between three women of different social classes in 1960's Mississippi.

23. The Song is You by Arthur Phillips. A novel of romance between a musician and a music lover, which kind of doesn't sound like my sort of book, but the reviews sold me on it.

24. That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo. I loved Bridge of Sighs, and when I heard him read from this new book I knew it had to go on my list.

25. True Compass by Edward Kennedy. I have great intentions, but I still haven't read either of Barack Obama's books. Someday I will accept that I don't read non-fiction, but in the meantime I feel that as a Massachusetts resident, this is required reading.

26. Splendor: a Luxe Novel by Anna Godbersen. I love this series!

27. Moloka'i by Alan Brennert. My book group is reading this. Although I'll miss the next meeting, I still want to read it in solidarity. Plus, it looks good.

28. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. The long-awaited sequel to the Hunger Games. I was mysteriously deleted from the hold list, but now I'm back on track. Hopefully all the people ahead of me read really fast.

My list tends to be a little too ambitious, but I'm trying not to add many books that I won't actually read. A few non-fiction books made it on here, and I'll be happy if I read just two or three of them.

There are also some authors who I really want to read more of, though I don't have specific books to add to my list. These include (but are not limited to) Stewart O'Nan, Douglas Coupland, and my new friend, Charles Dickens.

Have you read any of the books on my list? What did you think of them?

2 comments:

Annmarie said...

I have only read 2 books on your list: The English Patient, which I read while we were at Colby, so yeah, why haven't you read it yet?

And, That Old Cape Magic, which I read after we went to the reading and enjoyed. It is a quick read too, you could cross it off much easier than the Ted Kennedy book :)

I just remembered to put Her Fearful Symmetry on hold and luckily I am only #68.

Kevin said...

Chang and Eng retired to North Carolina. At the rare books library at UNC there's a section called the Carolina Collection (I think) with exhibits on certain facets of North Carolina history. You walk in and first there's all this Sir Walter Raleigh stuff; then a small exhibit on an antebellum gold rush in NC. And then...a Siamese twins exhibit. There's other stuff, but all anyone who visits remembers is the Siamese twins.