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I have a little stack, there is a big art history textbook and several books from the Time Life series Mysteries of the Unknown (beautiful books, BTW!)
But the 'biggest' book awaiting me is Godel Escher Bach, which I have not felt brave enough to tackle for at least 10 years
Generation of Vipers, Philip Wylie. Assigned reading in college, 1950's. This 1942 book is described as an "attack...on the American way of living." Browsing through it, before putting on the top of the pile, some of the parts that caught my eye seemed totally accurate descriptions of where we at this point.
The Lonely Crowd, David Riesman. Another 1950's college reading assignment. An analysis of the developments in the American middle class at the midpoint of the last century.
The Killer, Patricia Melo. Read this in Portuguese in 1995. Believe this was her debut novel, and since then she has produced a number of best sellers in Brazil - which have been translated in various other languages. It tell the story of a rather confused young man whose killing of a bully brings him popularity, and how this causes his moral descent into a career of professional murder.
So Lovely a Country Will Never Perish, various - ed. Donald Keene. Diary excerpts of famous Japanese writers of conditions during WW II and in the postwar Japan.
The Old Tea Seller, Baisao by Norman Waddell. Life and Zen poetry of 18th century Buddhist monk who at age 49 left the monastery to become an itinerant tea seller on the streets of Kyoto.
The Death of Faith, Donna Leon. One of her Commissario Brunnetti mysteries. Lambasted by some as "anti-Catholic" when it first came out, in light of the vast pedophile scandel that has swept the Roman church it is really tame stuff now.
Machiavelli in Hell, Sebstian de Grazia. (A book I started and liked, but had to put aside.) A biography of Machiavelli and his ideas, but written at an engaging, intimate level...and certainly shows more than the usual portrait of Machiavelli as an evil creature.
A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine, John K. Nelson. Shinto is at the heart of Japanese culture, despite the strong influence of Chinese culture, Buddhism and the culture of the West. The book observes the annual cycle of life in the Suwa shrine, the largest in Nagasaki.
Ontario: Image, Identity and Power, Peter A. Baskerville. A book in a popular history series of Canada.
Black Pearls: Blues Queens of the 1920s, Daphne Duval Harrison.
Give Me This Mountain, Rev. C.L. Franklin. The father of Aretha Franklin was a very famous preacher, and this is his life story largely told in the words of his sermons. It is easy to see, even from just skimming some of these sermons, where his daughter found her inspiration.
Tobacco Road, Erskine Caldwell. A reread of a famous 1930s novel. The story of a family of sharecroppers debased by poverty to a primitive level of selfishness.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Time for an update...
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson The New Yorker Stories by Ann Beattie The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht Thirteen Reasons by Jay Asher The Journal Keeper by Phyllis Theroux Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam Breaking Night by Liz Murray We The Animals by Justin Torres The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje The Green Mile by Stephen King Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King
Classics that I still plan to try: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins Anna Karenina by that Tolstoy dude
About a month or so ago I went through my bookshelf and wrote a list of books to read. Mind you, these are but a fraction of the books on the bookshelf I haven't read, but I figured if I broke it down into a smaller list it would be easier to tackle (tackle is a good thing, of course!) [I should also use the term "our" bookshelf, because the books are a combination of ones my husband and I combined when we got married and books we've purchased in the years since then.] I've gotten through a few of the books, but here are the ones I haven't crossed off yet:
Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis Crazy '08 by Cait Murphy Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell Lost In Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 1984 by George Orwell Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond Spook by Mary Roach, from the local library
I also tend to get off-track with my lists, so I'm currently reading Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz, which I picked up from the library.
Since I wrote this list, I also got a copy of Watership Down by Richard Adams and soon plan to get a copy of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. Both of these books will be added to the list.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,016,638 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by midge1021
About a month or so ago I went through my bookshelf and wrote a list of books to read. Mind you, these are but a fraction of the books on the bookshelf I haven't read, but I figured if I broke it down into a smaller list it would be easier to tackle (tackle is a good thing, of course!) [I should also use the term "our" bookshelf, because the books are a combination of ones my husband and I combined when we got married and books we've purchased in the years since then.] I've gotten through a few of the books, but here are the ones I haven't crossed off yet:
Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis Crazy '08 by Cait Murphy Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell Lost In Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 1984 by George Orwell Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond Spook by Mary Roach, from the local library
I also tend to get off-track with my lists, so I'm currently reading Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz, which I picked up from the library.
Since I wrote this list, I also got a copy of Watership Down by Richard Adams and soon plan to get a copy of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. Both of these books will be added to the list.
Isn't it interesting how the lists change and/or stay the same, in that there are some books that remain on the list for a very, very, very long time, and there are some we can't wait to pounce on?
Unbroken is an excellent book. Totally not my kind of story but I read it anyway, and enjoyed it.
Am I strange that I don't have a "to read" list? I mean, yeah, there are books that I'd like to read some day -- like sequels of books I've just read, or books that friends have recommended, and it would be nice to re-read Crime and Punishment again to see if it's any better now that I'm not 18 anymore...
But I don't have an actual list of books to read because that would spoil it for me. To me a list is like pressure on me. It's like saying I have to read these books because I have them on a list. I'd rather run across a book one day and say, "Hey, there's a book I'd like to read! I'll buy it." But if I never run across that book in my life, I'm not going to regret never reading it because it's not checked off on my list... Does that makes sense?
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wscottling
Am I strange that I don't have a "to read" list? I mean, yeah, there are books that I'd like to read some day -- like sequels of books I've just read, or books that friends have recommended, and it would be nice to re-read Crime and Punishment again to see if it's any better now that I'm not 18 anymore...
But I don't have an actual list of books to read because that would spoil it for me. To me a list is like pressure on me. It's like saying I have to read these books because I have them on a list. I'd rather run across a book one day and say, "Hey, there's a book I'd like to read! I'll buy it." But if I never run across that book in my life, I'm not going to regret never reading it because it's not checked off on my list... Does that makes sense?
It does make sense ... but ... if I don't have a pile of books waiting for me, I panic. "What will I read when I'm done with the one I'm reading now????"
On the other hand, if I start one of the books in my "to read" pile and don't enjoy it, I don't finish it. So, no, it's not pressure to read it. It's just nice to have something always available to read.
On the other hand, if I start one of the books in my "to read" pile and don't enjoy it, I don't finish it. So, no, it's not pressure to read it. It's just nice to have something always available to read.
Hehehe, as long as there are bookstores, thrift shops, yard sales, (and now) free ebooks online, I will *always* have something available to read...
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,016,638 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wscottling
Hehehe, as long as there are bookstores, thrift shops, yard sales, (and now) free ebooks online, I will *always* have something available to read...
But I'm lazy.
I work from home, so there's not a thought of "eh, I'll pop into a store on the way home."
As for the free e-books, I haven't been able to get into the classics, so those don't appear to be an option for me.
I've run out of books once or twice. You should have seen me scavenging around the house, looking for something -- anything! -- to read. (My husband thinks I'm insane.)
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Time for an update...
