My buying spree is coming back to haunt me as I look at the piles of unread and partially finished tomes on my nightstand. My study is overrun with finished reads, stacked double on the shelves with more piled on top and two huge stacks on the floor. If I gave up part of the space for the stationary I never use anymore and the stereo, I would have a shelf and a half more room. But then Lucy Snowe* would have nowhere to hide.
My other option is to actually get rid of some of the books, but I'm not very good at doing that. I hoard books. Not only the ones I have finished, but the ones I have yet to read. My current reading list is huge primarily because I can't decide what to read next.
My current reading list:
The Poetry of Pablo Neruda.
There should never be a deadline to completing a book of poems. Especially when they are written by Pablo Neruda. I have been reading this one slowly over the last several months.
The Men Who Stare at Goats – Jon Ronson.
I'm halfway through Ronson's trip into the bizarre world that is Psych Ops of the United States military.
Kiss Tomorrow Hello: Notes from the Midlife Underground by Twenty-Five Women Over Forty – Edited by Kim Barnes and Claire Davis.
Because it is never too early to start a mid-life crisis.
The Black Book – Orhan Pamuk
I have not started this one yet. The problem with Pamuk is that he demands your full attention as a reader and I'm not ready to give it to this book. If it is anything like my experience with Snow, it will take me about two years to finish.
Home Game: Hockey and Life in Canada – Ken Dryden and Roy MacGregor
Ken Dryden graduated from Cornell University, played for the Montreal Canadiens, earned a law degree and now serves in Parliament. Don't ever tell me hockey players are stupid.
If you want a better understanding of hockey, read his first book The Game.
Zamboni Rodeo: Chasing Hockey Dreams from Austin to Albuquerque – Jason Cohen
Life in the Western minor leagues of hockey.
Love – Angela Carter
I love fairy tales and did my senior writing project on Cinderella. Angela wrote the best modern interpretations of classic fairy tales I have ever read. At some point I will take the mere two hours to complete this novella.
The City of Angels – John Berendt
I have heard such awful things about this book that I am afraid to pick it up. I really should give it back to my father.
My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who's Been Everywhere – Susan Orleans
Susan Orleans has my dream life and job. If I could be anyone, I would be her.
The Wild Party – Joseph Moncure. Drawings by Art Spiegelman
Great poem, fantastic drawings. Another one I am reading slowly.
Someone I Loved (Je l'aimais) – Anna Gavalda
The cute Swedish guy who treated me to dinner in Paris last summer was a big fan of Anna Gavalda and suggested her. Popular in Europe, she has not caught on in the United States yet, although one of her novels in being turned into a film.
This Blinding Absence of Light – Tahar Ben Jelloun
Corruption – Tahar Ben Jelloun
More French writers. Tahar Ben Jelloun is brutal.
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood – Marjane Satrapi
Persepolis: The Story of a Return – Marjane Satrapi
*I was deep into Villette when I found Lucy underneath a car in a mall parking lot in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Well, hell, I knew you were smart, but I didn't realize you had ESP! I was gonna E you to ask about some good hockey books so I could understand the sport better. If you think of any others -- like something along the lines of what Jim Bouton's Ball Four or George Will's Men At Work did for baseball -- I hope you'll pass 'em along.
ReplyDeleteIf you liked The Men Who Stare at Goats, you might enjoy stuff by Ed Regis -- I was reminded somewhat of Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition.
One that you and J both might like -- you for the writing and the glimpse into another milieu, J for the dialogue and setting -- is, like Regis', a few years old, but it's resonated with me: James Blinn's The Aardvark is Ready for War.
An even better example of ordinary enlisted sailor pukes gettin' stuff done would be T.J. McFadden's Landing Party, a book that cries out for a movie if ever one did -- except that since it doesn't make the ossifers look all that steely-eyed and barrel-chested, the Navy'd never cooperate.
This sounds like me. I need at least one more bookcase, but I don't know where I'd put it. I can't seem to bring myself to get rid of books, either.
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