A while ago (over two years ago actually), I posted this list of books that were on my post-semester reading list. It's been a few semesters since I posted that list, so let's see how I did.
1. The Heartsong of Charging Elk by James Welch
2. Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel by Jonathan Safran Foer
3. Fools Crow by James Welch
4. In the Woods by Tana French
5. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger *(loved it)
6. Shadow of the Wind: A Novel by Carlos Ruiz Zafon *(loved it)
7. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
8. So Brave, Young and Handsome by Leif Enger
9. People of the Book: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks *(really liked it)
10. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel by David Wroblewski *(it was okay)
11. The Likeness: A Novel by Tana French (book #2 in a series - follows "In The Woods")
12. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin *(didn't finish it - I liked the story, I didn't like the writing, and I got distracted by other books)
Yikes, 4.5 books out of twelve - that's just a smidge over 33%. And, I had already read one of the books when I made the list, so, really, I did terrible! What happens is that my list of books to be read next is constantly changing because I am easily distracted, and I will often read a book that isn't on my list. I've been avoiding bookstores for the past few months because I am trying not to buy any more books until all of the unread books I own have been read - a serious challenge for someone who's been known to suggest bookstore browsing as a date night activity. So far, I've been pretty good about sticking to my no new books rule - I even survived a trip to the amazing Powell's Books in Portland, OR (I LOVE THAT PLACE), where I bought only one book, "Shakespeare: The World as Stage" by Bill Bryson (which I allowed myself to buy because I am taking a Shakespeare class this semester, and I thought the Bryson book would make good supplemental reading).
I did get a decent amount of reading done this summer (and, of course, I have read many other books in the two-and-a-half years since the above-mentioned list), including:
1. Little Bee: A Novel by Chris Cleave *(After all of the hype, I was let down by this story)
2. Bossypants by Tina Fey *(I literally LOL'd - she is a funny lady, and a good writer)
Yikes, 4.5 books out of twelve - that's just a smidge over 33%. And, I had already read one of the books when I made the list, so, really, I did terrible! What happens is that my list of books to be read next is constantly changing because I am easily distracted, and I will often read a book that isn't on my list. I've been avoiding bookstores for the past few months because I am trying not to buy any more books until all of the unread books I own have been read - a serious challenge for someone who's been known to suggest bookstore browsing as a date night activity. So far, I've been pretty good about sticking to my no new books rule - I even survived a trip to the amazing Powell's Books in Portland, OR (I LOVE THAT PLACE), where I bought only one book, "Shakespeare: The World as Stage" by Bill Bryson (which I allowed myself to buy because I am taking a Shakespeare class this semester, and I thought the Bryson book would make good supplemental reading).
I did get a decent amount of reading done this summer (and, of course, I have read many other books in the two-and-a-half years since the above-mentioned list), including:
1. Little Bee: A Novel by Chris Cleave *(After all of the hype, I was let down by this story)
2. Bossypants by Tina Fey *(I literally LOL'd - she is a funny lady, and a good writer)
3. The Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin *(Chick-lit - I've enjoyed Giffin's other books much more than this one)
4. Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife by Peggy Vincent *(I love reading books about natural birth - very readable and at times very moving, though, of course, very one-sided when it comes to a view of birth and birth options)
5. The Early Birds by Jenny Minton *(An interesting read about one woman's IVF journey - honest, if a bit self-indulgent at times, brought up a lot of questions about infertility and infertility treatment)
6. Call Me Irresistible by Susan Elizabeth Phillips *(Chick-lit to the extreme, but, let's face it, super readable)
7. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway *(I LOVED this! Paris, in the '20's, in the rain...)
8. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen *(Incredible, compelling, a bit depressing, and a somewhat exhausting read)
9. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien *(A great book about the Vietnam War - "lyrical" is the word I might choose)
10. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver *(I am a little over halfway through this book - it's a great thought-provoking memoir about a family's quest to eat only what they grow/raise for an entire year. I really enjoy Kinsolver's writing)
11. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese *(One of the best stories I have read in years - a wonderful, sad, and beautifully written book)
And there you have it.
I am now in week three of my last semester as an undergraduate student (I'm on the eleven-year B.A. plan), so my list of non-school books to read next will have to wait until December. In the meantime, I am going to be reading some great books this semester, including: nine of Shakespeare's plays (of which I have previously read only three); Homer's The Odyssey; Virgil's The Aeneid; The Seven Voyages of Sinbad in The Arabian Nights; Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe; Utopia by Sir Thomas Moore; Feminism is For Everybody by bell hooks, and other feminist literature. It's going to be a challenging, but very interesting, semester's worth of reading.
In case you're interested, here is what is currently on my post-graduation (!) reading list, aside from finishing Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and reading the Bill Bryson book about Shakespeare:
1. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
2. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
3. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
4. Middlemarch by George Eliot
5. Women, Food, and God by Geneen Roth
6. The Collected Stories of Grace Paley
7. John Adams by David McCullough
8. The History of Love: A Novel by Nicole Krauss
9. Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball
10. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
11. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
12. The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee
13. A novel in Spanish - it's been a while since I've read a book in Spanish, and I really need to do it because it is so useful in keeping me fluent in my native tongue. Any recommendations? Please don't say Gabriel Garcia Marquez - I just can't get through his books (in English or in Spanish)!
So many books to read in one lifetime!
4. Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife by Peggy Vincent *(I love reading books about natural birth - very readable and at times very moving, though, of course, very one-sided when it comes to a view of birth and birth options)
5. The Early Birds by Jenny Minton *(An interesting read about one woman's IVF journey - honest, if a bit self-indulgent at times, brought up a lot of questions about infertility and infertility treatment)
6. Call Me Irresistible by Susan Elizabeth Phillips *(Chick-lit to the extreme, but, let's face it, super readable)
7. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway *(I LOVED this! Paris, in the '20's, in the rain...)
8. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen *(Incredible, compelling, a bit depressing, and a somewhat exhausting read)
9. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien *(A great book about the Vietnam War - "lyrical" is the word I might choose)
10. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver *(I am a little over halfway through this book - it's a great thought-provoking memoir about a family's quest to eat only what they grow/raise for an entire year. I really enjoy Kinsolver's writing)
11. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese *(One of the best stories I have read in years - a wonderful, sad, and beautifully written book)
And there you have it.
I am now in week three of my last semester as an undergraduate student (I'm on the eleven-year B.A. plan), so my list of non-school books to read next will have to wait until December. In the meantime, I am going to be reading some great books this semester, including: nine of Shakespeare's plays (of which I have previously read only three); Homer's The Odyssey; Virgil's The Aeneid; The Seven Voyages of Sinbad in The Arabian Nights; Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe; Utopia by Sir Thomas Moore; Feminism is For Everybody by bell hooks, and other feminist literature. It's going to be a challenging, but very interesting, semester's worth of reading.
In case you're interested, here is what is currently on my post-graduation (!) reading list, aside from finishing Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and reading the Bill Bryson book about Shakespeare:
1. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
2. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
3. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
4. Middlemarch by George Eliot
5. Women, Food, and God by Geneen Roth
6. The Collected Stories of Grace Paley
7. John Adams by David McCullough
8. The History of Love: A Novel by Nicole Krauss
9. Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball
10. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
11. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
12. The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee
13. A novel in Spanish - it's been a while since I've read a book in Spanish, and I really need to do it because it is so useful in keeping me fluent in my native tongue. Any recommendations? Please don't say Gabriel Garcia Marquez - I just can't get through his books (in English or in Spanish)!
So many books to read in one lifetime!
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| Hamming it up with the Compact Edition of the OED at Powell's Books in Portland, OR this past summer. |
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| All this reading for school means it's time for a new pair of glasses. I'm excited for my cute new pair to arrive. |
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| My basket of post-semester reading material, waiting for me to graduate so that I can dig in. Note that I keep a dictionary in the basket, so that I can get better about looking up words I don't know (otherwise I jot them down on Post-it notes, and I never get around to actually looking up the words). |
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