Just like the vast majority of reading addicts out there, my to-read list is completely out of control. I always admire those readers who can sort their lists into specific categories and move through them with methodical determination. Me, I like to treat mine like a sort of shapeless, bottomless sack. Like a book-bag of holding, if you will. Whenever I come across a book that looks interesting (at library book sales, thrift stores, the library, amazon, book blogs, goodreads…), I’ll just chuck it in there.
And then I inevitably forget all about it. Months later, I’ll come across the same book mentioned in a review from someone I trust and go to add it…only to realize that it’s already on my list (and has been for over a year). Or alternately, I’ll attempt for once to use my to-read list for its intended purpose and realize that I don’t remember adding about twenty of the books on there. And that is why I desperately need help.
So, in an effort to get myself on track and follow in the footsteps of The Readventurer’s own Flannery, I will now attempt to organize the 110 Books That I Have Every Intention of Reading Next (Part Deux).
First up: curse-breaking. These are the books that I’ve attempted to read - not once, not twice, but a few times. Each time I think, yes this is it! This is the time that I make it through! And then I don’t. And then they just go back to languishing on my shelf. And it’s not that I don’t enjoy them while I’m reading them. I do! I enjoy them quite a lot! But something always interferes. Something mysterious and out of my hands and not at all to do with my book promiscuity. I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I believe the following books are cursed!
And then I inevitably forget all about it. Months later, I’ll come across the same book mentioned in a review from someone I trust and go to add it…only to realize that it’s already on my list (and has been for over a year). Or alternately, I’ll attempt for once to use my to-read list for its intended purpose and realize that I don’t remember adding about twenty of the books on there. And that is why I desperately need help.
So, in an effort to get myself on track and follow in the footsteps of The Readventurer’s own Flannery, I will now attempt to organize the 110 Books That I Have Every Intention of Reading Next (Part Deux).
First up: curse-breaking. These are the books that I’ve attempted to read - not once, not twice, but a few times. Each time I think, yes this is it! This is the time that I make it through! And then I don’t. And then they just go back to languishing on my shelf. And it’s not that I don’t enjoy them while I’m reading them. I do! I enjoy them quite a lot! But something always interferes. Something mysterious and out of my hands and not at all to do with my book promiscuity. I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I believe the following books are cursed!
1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy 2. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 3. The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster 4. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 5. White Fang by Jack London 6. The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse 7. Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon (it’s not even a full length novel! It’s a novella!! The audiobook is even narrated by Andre Braugher! And yet.) Next, I’d like to finally get to those other books. I’ve read one or two or three books from these authors, but I haven’t read all. These are their other books – the ones I haven’t gotten to yet. I’m really hoping that most of these will end up on my favorites list in the future. |
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8. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood 9. Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood 10. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro 11. Thirsty by M.T. Anderson 12. Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge 13. Dragons of Darkness by Antonia Michaelis 14. Beloved by Toni Morrison (her most famous work and it’s the one that I haven’t read!) 15. American Gods by Neil Gaiman 16. The Death of Sweet Mister by Daniel Woodrell 17. Affinity by Sarah Waters 18. In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente 19. Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay 20. Kraken by China Mieville 21. Embassytown by China Mieville 22. Killbox by Ann Aguirre |
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Since my two daughters have come into my life, I’ve been setting aside children’s, middle-grade, and young adult books for them to read when they’re ready. Here are some that I’d like to get to (possibly in mother-daughter readalongs). And before you ask – no, I seriously haven’t read any of these (seriously)!
23. Heidi by Johanna Spyri
24. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
25. Stuart Little by E.B. White
26. The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
27. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
28. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
29. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
30. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
31. The Lottie Project by Jacqueline Wilson
32. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
24. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
25. Stuart Little by E.B. White
26. The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
27. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
28. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
29. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
30. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
31. The Lottie Project by Jacqueline Wilson
32. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
As you can probably tell, I love my daughters more than anything on this planet…that being said, here’s a list of books that I’d happily trade one of them in for* It won't exactly be hard for me to remember that I want to read this group. 33. Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta 34. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor 35. The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi 36. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore 37. Broken Harbor by Tana French 38. The Queen’s Thief #5 by Megan Whalen Turner 39. The Queen’s Thief #6 by Megan Whalen Turner (why not? I can dream!) 40. Blackout by Mira Grant 41. Sorrow’s Knot by Erin Bow 42. Chasing Magic by Stacia Kane 43. Night Beach by Kirsty Eagar 44. All the Rage by Courtney Summers *No take backs!! Ha! You thought I was going to say that I was kidding didn’t you?** |
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I love getting recommendations from the Queens of YA Reviews on goodreads (you know who you are). Here are some that I haven’t gotten around to yet:
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45. Crazy by Han Nolan 46. House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer 47. Gone, Gone, Gone by Hannah Moscowitz 48. Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John 49. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami 50. Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden 51. Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick 52.My Beating Teenage Heart by C.K. Kelly Martin 53. A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd 54. Split by Swati Avasthi 55. Sister Mischief by Laura Goode 56. The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey 57. The Winter Prince by Elizabeth Wein | 58. Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link 59. Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick 60. Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock 61. Tales of the Madman Underground 1973 by John Barnes 62. Underdogs by Markus Zusak 63. Pink by Lili Wilkinson 64. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey (I’ve actually had this on my wishlist for over a year, and only noticed it after a mass readalong about a month ago. I fail.) 65. The entire Tomorrow series (except book one) by John Marsden |
Of course, I am actually 30 years old so I do like to read adult literature occasionally. Here are some great recommendations I’ve gotten for adult books (50% of which are from Tatiana…the woman is kind of a genius at recommendations):
66. Killing the Rabbit by Allison Goodman 67. Zoo City by Lauren Beukes 68. Among The Living by Jordan Castillo Price 69. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang 70. Atonement by Ian McEwan 71. Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist 72. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (I hear this has a talking cat!) 73. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys 74. Vineland by Thomas Pynchon 75. Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey I’ve also been making a conscious effort in the past few years to catch up on sci-fi and fantasy and here’s a few that are still on my list: |
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76. The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester 77. The Once and Future King by T.H. White 78. Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womack 79. Gifts by Ursula K. Le Guin 80. The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley 81. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley 82. The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay 83. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle 84. Schismatrix Plus by Bruce Sterling 85. The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov And here are a few that I’d love to read for The Year of the Classics: |
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86. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith 87. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene 88. The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene 89. Middlemarch by George Eliot 90. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell 91. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf 92. The Stranger by Albert Camus | 93. The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton 94. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton 95. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway 96. The Blue Castle by Lucy Maude Montgomery 97. The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham 98. The Professor by Charlotte Bronte 99. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray |
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Two genres that I rarely read anything from are nonfiction and graphic novels, and in the next few year(s) I’d love to try and expand my horizons a little bit. Here are a few that interest me:
100. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson 101. Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes 102. Bugs in the System by May R. Berenbaum 103. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (True crime counts, right?) 104. The Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin (Yes…I’ve never read this. Oh the shame.) 105. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (Does humor count? I’m going with yes.) 106. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman 107. The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Sartrapi 108. V For Vendetta by Alan Moore 109. Blankets by Craig Thompson 110. The Sandman, Vol 1. by Neil Gaiman (This is the third Neil Gaiman on my list, if anyone's been counting.) And there you have it! I'm not usually one for challenges or lists, so this might take some getting used to for me but I am going to make a real effort to keep up with Flannery on this challenge and finish all of these by March, 2015 (I predict that we're both speed reading for the entire month of February, 2015). |
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And now that these have all been taken out and organized...my bottomless sack is looking a bit more shapeless than usual. Bring on the recommendations! What did I miss? Go on and tell me. I'll chuck them in and forget them...until April of 2015 when I inevitably do this all over again.
**And yes, I was actually kidding there.
**And yes, I was actually kidding there.
