Saturday, October 30, 2010

Reading List for 2011 (Subject to Change)

This year I had one hell of a time trying to keep track of all I've read. It was around this time in 2009 that I decided I was not going to have a reading list for 2010. What a great mistake that was! Whether or not reading lists are a popular form of keeping track, I find it I do much more reading when I have at least a provisional idea of what is ahead of me in the coming year. As a result, I have returned to the Reading List, and here's a provisional list (in no particular order) for 2011.

"Never Let Me Go" -- Ishiguro.
"The Corrections" -- Franzen.
"The Portrait of a Lady" (re-read) -- James.
"Journal of a Novel" (re-read) -- Steinbeck.
"Things are Never So Bad" -- Dubus.
"The Art of the Personal Essay" -- Lopate.
"Eichmann in Jerusalem" -- Arendt.
"Exile's Return" -- Cowley.
"The Plague" -- Camus.
"Classics for Pleasure" -- Dirda.
"The Spooky Art" -- Mailer.
"In Patagonia" -- Chatwin.
"A Tranquil Star" -- Levi.
"I, Claudius" -- Graves.
"The Stories of John Cheever" (re-read) -- Cheever.
"Portrait of Dr. Gachet" -- Saltzman.
"Proust Was a Neuroscientist" -- Lehrer.
"The Piano Tuner" -- Mason.
"Run With the Hunted" -- Buckowski.
"Motherless Brooklyn" -- Lethem.
"The Enchantment of Lili Dahl" -- Husdtvend.
"Consider the Lobster" -- Foster Wallace.

Of course there might be some "spillage" from 2010 into (at least) a few weeks of January 2011. Of these the most obvious would be "The Diaries of Christopher Isherwood" part 2. and "Sunset Park" by Paul Auster. All in all, I am very satisfied with this prospect list. Since I will be spending more and more time in my office at home, I think the number and selection will prove to be both enjoyable and productive.

I know I've said before that my ultimate plan after leaving the classroom was to read all 12 volumes of "The Story of Civilization" by Will and Ariel Durant, but the effort seems quite monumental to begin with. I need a couple of years to adapt to the idea that I am actually having the time to do it now.

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1 Comments:

At 8:37 AM, Blogger Bleet said...

I found Lopate's collection a marvelous handful. Unless you're fastened to reading in order, skip back to the Rodriquez piece, Late Victorians. And of course, E.B. White's Once More to the Lake, an example of near perfect writing. Must applaud too your intended commune with the wonderful Bukowski.

 

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