So the idea is to read 8 books in 8 categories in '08. I think that I'm going to give it a try; I'm on number 2. You're also allowed 8 "overlaps." I figure if things get tight, I always have the summer to plow through stuff...
Here's a rough draft:
1. Music-related nonfiction
(1)Sacks: Musicphilia
(2)Ross: The Rest is Noise
(24)Eidam: The True Life of J.S. Bach
(18)Tad Szulc: Chopin in Paris
(19)Edmund Morris: Beethoven: The Universal Composer
Siepmann: Mozart: His life and music
??
??
2. Fun fiction
(3)Ludlum: The Sigma Protocol
(4)Frazier: 13 Moons
(5)Jinn: A Free Life
(6)Smith: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
(7)Franzen: The Corrections
(8)Breslin: The Good Rat
Lamb: ?
??
3. Books I should/would have read in Middle School
(9)Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
(10)Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
(22)Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
(23)Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
(26)Sachar: Holes
(11)Westerfeld: Uglies
4. Religion:
(12)Krakauer: Under the Banner of Heaven
(13)Keller: The Reason for God
(14)Hitchins: God is Not Great
(15)Dawkins: The God Delusion
??
??
??
??
5. Books that should have read in high school or college (and maybe their helpers too)
(16)Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities
Joyce: Ulysses
Gifford: Ulysses Annotated
Thaler: Nudge
Pynchon: Gravity's Rainbow
Weisenberger: A "Gravity's Rainbow" Companion
Melville: Moby Dick
Zinn: A People's History
6. Historical fiction:
(17)Shaara: Killer Angels
(20)Shaara: Gods and Generals
(21)Shaara: The Last Full Measure
Horwitz: A Voyage Long and Strange
(25)Brooks: March
??
??
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7. Authors that get referenced and other assorted fiction that I don't know and feel like I should:
Henry James: ???
Marcel Proust: ???
Don DeLillo: ???
Jack Kerouac: ???
Toni Morrison: ???
J. Coetzee: Diary of a Bad Year
??
??
8. Recommendations:
sp: 13 Moons**
aj: Under the Banner of Heaven**
ip: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn**
kuyts: A Free Life**
sw: The Reason for God**
jh/kw: Killer Angels**
kw: A People's History of the United States
Vanderbuilt: Traffic
In the last category I'm going to ask family and friends to put a book on the list for me. Hopefully a book that means something to you, not something you think that I'd enjoy, necessarily. Just not something I've already read. In progress...
*Update 1-21-08: Books will bold as I finish them, and I'll keep adding to the list as I settle on what to read. 3 Down!
*Update 6-30-08: only 11? Maybe time to revise down! Still more books than I usually read in a year...
* Update 7-18-08: Uglies was a quick read and good, now I'm mired in Gravity's Rainbow.
*Update 8-6-08: Rainy vacation means lots of reading. Breslin, Rowling, Nabokov, Shaara. Still can't read more than a dozen or so pages of Gravity's Rainbow without having to stop for a rest.
*Update 8-11-08: Total so far is 17 and I'm on track to read a grand total of 28 books at this pace. I should be at 34. I'm going to redo the list format and go to the library today and get a massive pile o' books (the shorter the better).
5 comments:
Oh yeah!! Someone else crazy enough to do this! I'm on book four already. Plus we are rading the golden compass aloud with talya. I'll have to think on my recommendation and get back to you...
Are you going to read all the harry potter's? You MUST!
If I were feeling evil, I might recommend "infinite jest" by david foster wallace. The literary equivalent of what lewis and clark went through on their fun trek through the wilderness. Takes about as long to complete, too. Or perhaps Scott and his bumbling around in the cold...
It's up to you!
It is supposed to be a challenge...
How about "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn for the book you were supposed to read in college. Some pretty amazing stuff. It changed my way of thinking (and my political views as well).
For books you should have read in middle school how about "April Morning" by Howard Fast? A really quick read, but a powerful book.
For historical fiction - "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara is one of the best books I have ever read. It chronicles the battle of Gettysburg from both Union and Confederate perspectives...
(PS - I'm a high school friend of Sarah's, if you don't recognize the name)...
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