There are stacks of books at my bedside, hundreds on my to-read list. Books invade the living room and every empty surface in this house. And yet somehow last year I read less books in total than any year in my adult life. So I sat down last week and wrote a list of books I’d like to fall into in the next few months to make sure that I consume an adequate amount of literary prose this year. Some are on my shelves, and have been gathering dust for years, others I’ll take out of the library, some will be downloaded onto the phone to take with me on the go. I have a few on the list that I’ll be listening to as audiobooks – perfect for my thirty minute walk commutes.
Certainly the genres aren’t covered here, but I tried to go as broadly as I could stand. A few I’ve read chapters of here and there, others I’ve skimmed, but most are new to me – now excuse me, I must go off and read.
Classic: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Philosophy: Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
Current Fiction: The Circle by Dave Eggers, The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
Food Memoir: Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin, Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of my Appetites by Kate Christensen
Crime: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Children’s Fiction: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynn Jones
Humor: Bossypants by Tina Fey
History: Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Audiobook: Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Of course I don’t count cookbooks – they get read from cover to cover, but get their own category. Currently I’m deep in Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison, and Modernist Cuisine at Home.
Addendum, other book lists of note: for the past several years I’ve been ticking my way through the BBC Big Read List – I reckon it’ll take me the next five years or so to get through. I’m also enthused about the No Obligation Reading List over at the Knicknackery – if you are looking for some heavy hitting fiction that will keep you through the winter, and a few great non-fiction options, that’s the place to look.
