A new year is fast approaching, and it’s a good time for me to take a good, hard look at my leisure reading and resolve to do better. Or at least to be a little more ambitious in my reading choices (even if it’s only to finally tackle that daunting pile of books accumulating on my nightstand that I really, truly do intend to get to someday). It’s rather embarrassing for a guy who regularly reviews books to admit to some of the glaring gaps in his reading, I admit, but I’m hoping that a public confession will spur me to action. So I hereby resolve that in 2010 I will read:
1. More poetry. I love poetry and find that I don’t make nearly enough time for it. First up: Amy Gerstler’s Dearest Creatures, which sounds brilliant in this review in the New York Times Book Review.
2. The zombie-free oeuvre of Jane Austen. (Yes, I was an English major in college. No, I never did read an Austen novel.)
3. Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. I’ve never been a comic-book guy, and I think that that aspect of this Pulitzer-winning novel always put me off. But I loved Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which boasts a comics-fixated hero, so I’m willing to take a chance.
There are other items on my to-read list (I want to chase down the acclaimed locked-room mysteries of John Dixon Carr, for instance, and go back to Lee Child’s early Jack Reacher thrillers), but that should be enough to get me started. The biggest challenge — for me, anyway — will be carving out time for already-published books when I’m so busy reviewing new titles. But what about you, Shelf Lifers? What books do you resolve to read in the new year?
Less vampires and more British and Russian classics. (I’ll see your “never read Austen” and raise you a “never read Tolstory”). The nook I was supposed to get for Christmas is finally en route to my house today, and I intend to take advantage of the free classics you can download on it. (Also, I can count on one hand how many comic books I’ve read in my life and I still loved Kavalier and Clay, so rest easy on that one!)
I also got a Nook and have been enjoying Pride and Prejudice for the first time. Yay free books!
Tolstory = Tolstoy. Oops!
to attempt to read some dickens!! especially a tale of two cities, also to read some shakespeare too.
Allie- A Tale of Two Cities is one of my favorite books ever!! I read it back in high school & loved it!! I try to read it once a year. My fave Shakespeare is Hamlet!!
I read Tale over the course of one night because I wanted to quote it in a presentation. I was afraid to quote out of context. For Dickens, it really does go well enough to read in one marathon exhilirating session. Grab some coffee and a box of tissue and read on!
Thom,
“Kavalier & Clay” is a great hole to fill. At the risk of being lynched by my gender, I wouldn’t worry too much about the Austen oeuvre–I find her rather dull.
And yes to early Jack Reacher novels. Also early Cormac McCarthy if you haven’t already been there.
I want to read more really well-written non-fiction this year. Suggestions?
The Devil in the White City by Larson, In the Heart of the Sea by Philbrick and Manhunt by Swanson are three books that will NEVER get old as my non-fiction suggestions.
Devil in rhe White City and Heart of the Sea are two of my top five as well. Thanks for reminding me of them..I might just reread them!
I’ll second The Devil in the White City. Also, The Lost City of Z by David Grann and Columbine by Dave Cullen. All excellent
I love Austen but I didn’t enjoy Kavalier & Clay; I read it because of its good reviews but it just didn’t capture my interest.
Edgy Mama- It’s not new this year, but Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking is a beautifully written piece of non-fiction.
I am actually reading Austen’s Pride and Prejudice right now so I can read the zombie one later.
Read more books from Asian-American authors.
I hate poetry, I wonder if that makes me a bad reader? I just think that poetry is too full of whine.
monique i’m not really a fan of poetry and it doesn’t make you a bad reader. people just have different tastes.
I\’m so glad I found my sloutoin online.
Catch-22 and Great Expectations have been haunting me for YEARS! Here’s to 2010!
I’m actually not a big fan of Great Expectations. I think it drags on for a bit too long, which makes sense since many of Dickens’ novels were serialized in newspapers and such. But I do love David Copperfield! Try that if you never get to Great Expectations.
i didn’t really like great expectations either. i read it in high school and thought it was kind of boring. loved animal farm and macbeth and the odyssey though! and other books we read too as well in high school. maybe now if i read great expectations again i’ll like it better. maybe i’ll check out david copperfield.
Thom,when you get to ‘Kavalier and Clay’ I think you will like it.I’m a casual comic fan and it is so much more than comic story.I read according to themes and the year I read it I was reading magic themed books.I am now reading mostly historical thrillers and fiction.I have been trying to get to reading Charles Dickens and have gotten through 3 of his books.
After you’ve read Pride and Prejudice, try Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South (it has nothing to do with the American Civil war). Gaskell’s novel is P&P with a social conscious. Follow it up with the amazing BBC adaptation of the novel starring Daniela Denby-Ashe and Richard Armitage.
For a recently published (the last few years, that is) book, I would recommend The House at Riverton by Kate Morton.
Thanks for the tip. Have only seen the miniseries Cranford and loved it.
mjryan, north and south the movie was great!! love richard armitage! i’ve been meaning to read the book since i saw the movie. maybe that will be my new year’s resolution too, to read “north and south”.
I resolve to read less romance/ paranormal romance fluff and more substance. I’ve had The Pillars of the Earth for about 2 weeks just waiting on me to crack it open.
Sense and Sensibility is a must…as is Persuasion…Pride and Prejudice is my least favorite
Wow! I have never come across a person who prefers S&S over P&P. Marianne Dashwood drives me crazy! My kids just gave me the Pride & Prejudice graphic novel for Christmas.
Read the entire Canterberry tales from start to finish; haven’t read a few sections since high school. Finish reading Victoria & Albert, and The Hemmings of Monticello. bought both books last fall & still haven’t finished them
Are you referring to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales?
I’m going to try to read JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit & LOTR trilogy… I’ve had them all for years but never read them, so now’s as good a time as any!!