November 10, 2006
Winter Book Challenge
Forgot to mention that I am going to join the "From the Stacks" challenge I've seen about the blog-world. Sounds fun - and I've actually already begun.
Here's what it is:
If you are anything like me your stack of purchased to-be-read books is teetering over. So for this challenge we would be reading 5 books that we have already purchased, have been meaning to get to, have been sitting on the nightstand and haven't read before. No going out and buying new books. No getting sidetracked by the lure of the holiday bookstore displays.
So. To read 5 books I already own between Nov. 1 and Jan. 30. Fun!!
Here is what I will read (and also write about):
1. The Master and Margarita - by Mikhail Bulgakov (I have already begun that one)
2. The Secret Life of Bees - by Sue Monk Kidd
3. Young Patriots: The Remarkable Story of Two Men. Their Impossible Plan and The Revolution That Created The Constitution - by Charles A. Cerami
4. Isaac Newton - by James Gleick
5. The Making of The Misfits - by James Goode
This will be good for me. Tackle that "to read" pile a mile high.
Posted by sheilaI had a challenge like this going with a friend a few years ago. We promised each other we would not buy any new books until we'd finished the "best intentions" stack of books we already own. Neither of us lasted over a week.
Posted by: Emily at November 10, 2006 4:40 PMHa!!! I already know I probably could not do that. I ... I just don't think I can.
Posted by: red at November 10, 2006 4:45 PMhow long IS your 'been meaning to read that' list, sheila?
Posted by: amelie / rae at November 10, 2006 4:45 PMwould it reach to the moon, piled end on end?
Posted by: amelie / rae at November 10, 2006 4:46 PMThis list doesn't even scratch the surface.
Especially not when I look at Thomas Jefferson's list of what every educated person should have read. Sheesh!!! I need to get cracking.
The good thing, though, amelie - is that starting in around 1999 - I went back and read every classic I had been forced to read in high school. It was a GREAT exercise for me and I really re-claimed a lot of books that I thought I despised. Moby Dick, for example.
And then there were books where I thought; "I hated it when I was 15, and I hate it now!"
But still - I had to go back and find out!!
It's impossible, Sheila. I can't resist a bookstore whenever I'm near one and will always find something - a classic that I've been meaning to read for years on sale or a book that I just read great things about, either from a critic or a blogger. Forget it. I'm never making a "pledge" like that again.
Posted by: Emily at November 10, 2006 4:52 PMthat's a great idea, sheila! but let me get a few more years between me and high school first [i've got... 2.]
Posted by: amelie / rae at November 10, 2006 4:56 PMamelie - HA! Yes - definitely wait! I had to let a good 15 years go by before I went back. After high school and college, I was so SICK of reading what some teacher told me to read - I had a blast just reading what I wanted to read!
Posted by: red at November 10, 2006 4:58 PMEmily -
I am so the same way.
I have this thing, too, where ... I browse in bookstores (which can be very dangerous - it's like going grocery shopping when you are RAVENOUS. Not a good idea) ... and if something strikes my fancy in the moment ... I MUST buy it. Right then. I can't wait. Because I might forget and the moment will pass!!
I've found some of my most favorite books that way - totally on impulse.
But ... I really have to be careful with this whole browsing thing - I can only do it once every couple of months. Otherwise, I would be broke.
Posted by: red at November 10, 2006 5:00 PMThis sounds like my now-defunct New Year's Resolution to read all of my unread books.
Maybe I should have just shot for 5.
I think I will take this challenge!
Loved "secret life of bees". Read it in an afternoon down at the lake in virginia. Good book.
Posted by: just1beth at November 10, 2006 5:56 PMBeth -
OH, I'm psyched to hear that. Yeah, my sister loved it too - she gave it to me for my birthday last year.
Posted by: red at November 10, 2006 6:00 PMI'm in! Here are my five:
1) A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking
2) The Once and Future King, by T.H. White
3) The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
4) The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri
5) La Belle France, by Alistair Horne
Thanks for the inspiration!
I love that others are joining in ... we can spur each other on.
Posted by: red at November 11, 2006 7:46 AMi actually thought i was alone in this. can you believe that? i am also joining.
Posted by: beth at November 11, 2006 10:33 AMI am entirely unable to stop purchasing books. My 'to read' pile is somewhere north of 200 titles, yet this Saturday I bought three more.
I think I need a support group for this affliction.
Posted by: Dan at November 13, 2006 2:00 PMBibliophiles Anonymous: A Treatment Program for Information Junkies.
Posted by: Dan at November 13, 2006 2:11 PMMy #1 priority is the first volume of the Patrick O'Brian series. Everyone I know who has read it loved it. I know I will, too. Why haven't I read it yet? sheer contraryness.
I not only have books I've purchased in piles, I've got library books all over the place. Also books I promised to review.
Posted by: Miriam at November 25, 2006 12:30 PM