The Next Best Book Club discussion

My goal is to read the books I already own. I started on that goal in 2009 and made some headway, but didn't completely finish, and have of course acquired some new books. So here is the new list for 2010.

There are 33 books on the list, which isn't that many, but I know I'll be reading books that aren't on the list as well - but the aim is to get these books done by the end of the year. Since I've got both War and Peace and Anna Karenina listed, that oughtta keep me busy enough! (Although I may cheat a little with Tolstoy - I've owned both of those for over 15 years; I may replace them with newer translations which I hear are good.)


The Book and the Brotherhood (Vintage Classics)
The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness (Paperback)
The Middle East (Paperback)
The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror (Hardcover)
Runaway (Paperback)
Before the Fall-Out: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima (Paperback)
The Satanic Verses (Paperback)
The First Rumpole Omnibus (Rumpole)
His Dark Materials Omnibus (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass)
You Must Remember This (Paperback)
Real Klondike Kate (Paperback)
Lord Jim (Paperback)
Things Fall Apart (Paperback)
The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor (Paperback)
Anna Karenina (Mass Market Paperback)
War and Peace (Paperback)
The Sound of Paper (Hardcover)
The Lie That Tells a Truth: A Guide to Writing Fiction (Paperback)
Letters to a Young Poet (Paperback)
Fabrizio's Return (Paperback)
The Accidental Tourist (Paperback)
The Mayor's Tongue (Hardcover)
Burning Bright (Paperback)
Snow Crash (Paperback)
Sweetness in the Belly
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Berlin Noir
The Secret River
Find Me

I just edited the above list to add some books bought this month...but I think I will then leave it at that, and new books bought will just...get worked into the mix, somehow.

I'm putting Wideacre aside, for now - it's not interesting me, and I have a book club book to get started on, Sweetness in the Belly.

Some of those look pretty meaty. Good luck!

thanks!

Wicked is on my list too! I just finished Mirror Mirror and I'm hoping Wicked is a bit better...

Mirror Mirror was really weird.

Wicked was given to me by a friend - I saw the play last year and absolutely LOVED it - I'm a little hesitant to read the book in case it's not as engaging. So it's not really high on the priority list.

Just beware that the play is drastically different than the book. I read the book first...did not like it towards the end, but I loved the play. The book deals more with the political aspects of Oz and does include some weird scenes that were not shown in the play.

I agree Mirror Mirror was really weird but I found it more enjoyable than Wicked.

I'm trying to see Wicked (it's playing right now right by me in Philadelphia!) and I've been debating about watching it first or reading the book first.

Finished Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb - first book on the list that I've crossed off. Eep.

My library books that I've had on hold for months and month are finally coming due, so I'm going to read a couple of those even though they're not on this list (although they are on my to-read list) - The Hour I First Believed: A Novel and Galore.

And I was just notified that War and Peace is also available for me to pick up. I think I'm going to postpone that one for a while...

I'm not making a lot of headway on this list, but I am reading other books!

I decided to get rid of a few of the books I own, so I amended the list to delete them. They were books given to me by my ex-girlfriend and I needed to do an emotional purge and get rid of stuff that I associated with her. And none of them were really high on my "I MUST read this" list. So, gone, and now the list is shorter.

Currently reading a book not on the list, Galore, and I have War and Peace waiting for me next. At least that one is on the list.

Decided to postpone War and Peace. I can't renew the library copy (which is the better, newer translation than the edition I actually own), so I'll just return it unread, as there's no way I'll finish it in time.

Instead, I turned to my next real-life book club read, which is on my goal list -
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Really enjoyed it.

Not sure what I'll pick up next, but it will be something from this list. Maybe time for The Satanic Verses

Progress is pretty slow on this. Ah well.

I started The Satanic Verses, and am about 3/4 of the way through - it's going slowly, but I am enjoying it. It's completely crazy, though. There's a lot of magic and very little realism. I am feeling that I am missing a lot of references because of my poor knowledge of Islam - I want to do some reading afterwards to educate myself.

Also started The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor for my real life book club. I picked the book, because it's a historical account based in the area of New Brunswick where I grew up. Not the greatest writing, but the story is pulling me in.

I should finish both of these by the weekend. Life is busy these days and I'm not finding/making much time to read, so progress will likely continue to be slow, although I may have some travel in April - time in airplanes is always conducive to reading.

Hey Loretta! I've been sorta circling around Satanic Verses for a while; I've heard what you said, that without a good knowledge of Islam a lot of it will go right over my head. I've read a couple books about Islam:

After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam
No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam
When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise And Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty

(I'm linking to them in case you do decide to do more reading about Islam; all of those are quite good in their own way, and I'd be happy to tell you more about 'em.)

But three books is sortof a brief overview when you're talking about one of the great world religions, and I haven't read The Qur'an.

Point is, do you think it's worth reading for you, or are you missing too many references to make it enjoyable?

Hi Alex - thanks for the links - I will have to look at those. If you've read those, you're wayyyyy far ahead of me, and I would think you'd be fine reading Satanic Verses. I'm still getting a lot out of it - there's a story and characters and very rich language to enjoy - I just feel like I'm missing some depth I know is there.

Thanks; that's what I was looking for. Whether it's enjoyable even if you're missing half the references.

Finished The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor. I enjoyed it, for entirely personal reasons - but it's not all that great a book. Worth the read for me.

Will carry on with Satanic Verses tomorrow and hopefully finish it, and then find something short and light and easy.

Stayed up way too late tonight to finish the Satanic Verses. Was worth it. But now, to bed.

Finished Find Me, by Rosie O'Donnell. Liked it more than I thought I would - wrote a little review. Well worth the read. Was a short and easy read, but not exactly light.

A little torn now - I know I am completely booked this weekend so won't get much reading time, but I'm tempted to pick up a somewhat hefty Iris Murdoch book. Maybe I'll alternate between that and the Rilke.

Finished, finally, The Book and the Brotherhood, by Iris Murdoch. Not my favourite Murdoch, but did still feature some of my favourite things about her writing - the rich understanding of human nature, flawed and messy, the attempt to tackle a real philosophy of morality. But the characters almost all got really annoying, so stuck in their inner worlds.

I'll pick up the Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet next. Something short. I have a miserable head cold. I would really like it to go away now.

Finished the Rilke despite the sinus headache. Lovely little read.

Now going to pick up fiction and non fiction: some short stories by Alice Munro Runaway, and another book on writing and creativity (although very different from the Rilke, of course), The Lie That Tells a Truth: A Guide to Writing Fiction

Going to take one of those - haven't decided which yet, although leaning towards Munro - out for a walk in the sun to my favourite coffee shop.

Just finished Runaway. loved, loved, loved it. Excellent.

Off to work now. Will pick up something else fictiony, I think, soon, but the next few days are full of other stuff, not reading.

Just finished Things Fall Apart. Glad I read it, but I didn't love it - was just okay.

I also started The Lie That Tells a Truth: A Guide to Writing Fiction, but I think that will be a book that I just dip into for short periods - there's a lot of exercises and such, and I'd like to actually do those. So I suspect it'll stay on my "currently reading" list for quite a while, which is fine.

Moving on to some more non-fiction, though- picking up The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror. It's not a big book, but I'm hoping I'll learn some things and get a better understanding.

Left behind "The Lie That tells a truth" and "Crisis of Islam" because I had a trip and they were both too heavy for plane/hotel reading.

Instead took The Accidental Tourist with me. It did fit the bill in terms of light, easy reading, but meh. It was just okay - I didn't love it.

Now I've finished it with a week left to the trip and no other books, oops. Bad planning. So picked up The Private Patient and Women, Food, and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything. They were on my to-read list, at least...

Life is busy these days, but I had some long plane trips and got one book finished Burning Bright. It was pretty meh - my least favourite of Tracy Chevalier's books - I really enjoyed her other ones, this one was way below par for.

I'll finish The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terrortomorrow - I had like half a chapter left, but it's just not a book for plane reading. It's good and worthwhile reading, though.

Started The Secret River on the flight today, but was too sleepy so went with tv watching for most of the flight instead. But I got a chapter one and so far the writing is good and I'm interested - always a good sign.

Finished Crisis of Islam. Excellent little book.

So progress check: it's almost the midpoint of the year; and I've read 12 of the 29 books on this list. (I've read several books not on the list, but anyway...I'm not exactly speeding through it). So 17 left, and of those there are some big ones: the two Tolstoys, two "omnibus" editions, and a couple of a fat non-fiction books, which are always slow reads for me.

I'm thinking I'll focus on the fiction for now. My next few months at work are looking to be really busy, so won't make at a lot of headway, but by August it should slow down and I'll have some holidays.

Just finished The Secret River. Really excellent book, if harrowing and disturbing at times.

Got some quality plane time coming up - going to VEGAS for the weekend - so that should knock off a couple of the shorter books, at least. Progress!

Ended up picking up an omnibus edition rather than one of the shorter books on the list - Berlin Noir: March Violets; The Pale Criminal; A German Requiem, a mystery series which begins in pre-war Nazi Germany. Really excellent, dark, compelling reading. I've finished the first two books, but have to put that aside now for a non-list book club read, The Winter Vault. Have a quiet night of reading ahead of me...doesn't seem to happen too often.

Finished the Berlin Noir omnibus - really excellent. Will definitely seek out the other books in that series.

I have some non-goal books to read - a library book I had on hold became available, so that's next; but I also picked up Anna Karenina, which is on the list, so will be starting that soon.

15 books left on the list. Soldiering on...

so three weeks later, and I'm FINALLY really getting into Anna Karenina. Things have been busy at work and I just couldn't read more than a couple of pages at a time. But now I have a long weekend and some time, so I'm finally digging in and quite liking it. Hopefully will make a big dent on the weekend, maybe even get it finished.

And Anna Karenina is done. That took a long time, but was well worth it. I want to write a review, but later when I'm at home. Just needed to mark the moment.

Not sure what I'm going to pick up next - possibly light fiction; definitely something shorter. The library however has a non-list book for me that I just may have to get to first - Her Fearful Symmetry. Got some holidays next week, and for a few days of that I'll be on my own on the lake, so should get lots of reading done...just got to figure out what to bring with me.

Ended up reading Snow Crashduring my little holiday at the lake - I really enjoyed it (both the holiday and the book). My first Stephenson, and I will seek out more of his.

Will have to leave this list aside for a couple of weeks - got some library books to get to next, and some other reading I want to give some priority to. But I'll be back to carry on...

Finished The Center Cannot Hold this week. Really good book - offers real insight into the mind and world of a person living with this illness, which was valuable to me.

12 books left on the list. I'm going to go with the shorter fiction ones for the next little while, I think, just to knock more off in numbers before the end of the year. There are four reasonably-sized novels I could finish in the next couple of months; then the rest are either omnibus editions, War and Peace, or longish and heavy non-fiction. We'll see.

Finished You Must Remember This, the first Joyce Carol Oates I've read. Did not love it.

Have moved on to a book which is strictly personal for me: Real Klondike Kate. Kate Ryan, who the book is about, was my great great aunt. The premise of the book is that Kate Ryan was the "original" Klondike Kate - she travelled to the Yukon and became the first female member of the Northwest Mounted Police, precursors of the RCMP - but then the name "Klondike Kate" was appropriated by some dance hall girl who took on Kate's adventures as her own, and got more famous.

I've just started, but I've already been jolted by seeing "my" name in the introduction - I was named after my grandmother; and she is thanked for having provided stories to the author. Weird.

Finished Klondike Kate. Now there are only 9 books left! That would be attainable if 3 were not monster books and one wasn't a really dense non-fiction. But I'll work on getting the other five done as fast as I can, and then see where I get with the big ones.

Finished The Mayor's Tongue. Kind of meh - started out promising, but kind of fizzled. I'd read other books by Nathaniel Rich, because there was a lot of potential there.

got a couple of library books to get to next. 8 books left on this list. Not sure which I'll pick up next, might have to see where my hand goes when I'm in front of the book case.

The final push for 2010 is on. I ended up reading books not on this list the last little while, for book club and such. But I've finished Lord Jim- which, once I figured out what was going on, I really enjoyed; and am over halfway through the Rumpole omnibus, which I'm liking quite a lot. I've got Before the Fall Out lined up next, and should finish that before the end of the year - so I"ll only have 6 books unread (from this list...). Not too bad.

Finished The First Rumpole Omnibus, and quite enjoyed it.

Now about halfway through Before the Fall-Out: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima, and I am finding it absolutely riveting, which I did not expect. I'll finish it before New Year's. And then decide on next year's goals, if any.

And I finished Before the Fall-Out yesterday. Really good book.

And putting an end to this thread, with 6 books unfinished from this list. Not too bad. I did of course acquire a few more books over the course of the year, so I once again have a shelf "books I already own to read" that has 30 or so books, but I think I'll just work my way through those, along with my book club reads and library books and other things that draw my interest along the way. Still pondering whether to make an actual "goal" for the year.