read all the books I own

I finished the Work and the Glory series… worth reading once if you’re interested in the history of the restoration of the LDS church, I don’t know if I’ll read it again, though.

I finished the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Realized I had (again) judged a book by it’s cover and art. The art (done by Edmund Dulac) is from the original French edition, and it’s beautiful. The poetry… kinda lame, unless you’re into the whole “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die” philosophy. Which, obviously, I am not. I liked a few, however, and the Fitzgerald translation certainly has a good way of putting things. I have no idea if this is the best English translation… I doubt anyone sees this, but if someone does, do you know if there’s a better one?

Finished the Songs of Innocence, it was pretty good. Not my favorite of William Blake’s work, but I still liked it.

I finished A Year in the World. I loved it, but sometimes Frances Mayes is in her own world… which helps her describe beautiful scenery and delicious food, and I admire her imagination so long as I don’t let it get to me that she’s completely ignoring the fact that sometimes poverty is staring her in the face while she muses on the aesthetic beauty of a ceramic bowl or reduces every religion to paganism. I don’t agree with every religion either, but that doesn’t mean I think everyone is worshiping the god of taking walks.

I also read Lost in Austen. Good fun if you’re waiting in the doctor’s office or something. It’s basically a choose your own adventure, Jane Austen style. It’s got a particular brand of feminism going on, also, which one may or may not care for. But that’s not really a discussion I want to have with myself here on a goal site.

Right now I’m working on another of Frances Mayes’ books, the Emily Dickinson one, and I’ve also started the Native American anthology. Plus, I’m reading a toilet training book. Fun, fun, fun.

Read France, A Love Story. Not a bad collection of stories by women that have been to/lived in France throughout the last (almost an entire) century. Still kind of a cop-out, though, since it’s one of the “easier” books on my list…

I’m also making things a little more difficult by borrowing 3 books from people… and, you guessed it… they’re fiction. At least I know they’ll be worthwhile fiction. =)

1. Russian Fairy Tales (partially completed)
2. Perrault’s Complete Fairy Tales (partially completed, but might give this one away)
3. The Tale of the Shining Princess
4. North American Indian Reader
5. Translations from the Chinese (partially completed)
6. Love Poems (partially completed)
7. Songs of Innocence (partially completed)
8. Selected Poems of e e cummings (partially completed)
9. Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson (partially completed)
10. Poems of John Keats (partially completed)
11. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (partially completed)
12. The Collected Short Stories and Poems of Dorothy Parker (partially completed)
13. Stevens – Poems (partially completed)
14. The Complete Hitchhiker’s Guide (partially completed)
15. The Work and the Glory Series (partially completed)
16. The Complete Shakespeare Anthology (partially completed)
17. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
18. Literary Trips
19. The Pillars of Hercules
20. A Year in the World (partially completed)
21. Notes from a Roman Terrace
22. France, a Love Story
23. Great Artists (partially completed)
24. The Artist’s Way (partially completed)
25. History of Creativity in the Arts, Sciences and Technology (I might not read this, since I’ve read similar books already and this is one of my husband’s old textbooks… although it does sound interesting to me)
26. A History of the Arab Peoples
27. Sources of Chinese Tradition
28. A History of Britain: 3500 B.C. to 1603 A.D. (partially completed)
29. How the Irish Saved Civilization
30. The Russian Revolution
31. Beginnings of American English (partially completed)
32. Anthology of Islamic Literature
33. The Future of Life (almost done!)
34. Social Studies (not really Social Studies; it’s by Fran Lebowitz) (partially completed)
35. Lost in Austen

As you can see from this list, I need to focus. Seriously. And this is after getting rid of a couple piles of books. Still, it comforts me to know that I’ve read more than half my books (even if most of those are fiction…). And I’m not sure if I mentioned this before, but I’m not including reference books of any kind. I don’t think I could take it.

I just got a bunch more books for Christmas. Also… my sisters and I have just started rereading a 7 book long series so that we can discuss it in further detail (yeah, we’re dorks). I’ll consider myself ridiculously lucky if I finish this goal within 5 years.

I’m slowly making my way through the books… my problem is I keep going back and rereading my favorites. Harry Potter series? Guilty! And that’s 7 books right there! I did finally finish Love in the Time of Cholera, though. I think they should have used Persuasion as the book of choice in Serendipity, though, not Love in the Time of Cholera. Those of you who have read both books and seen that movie will know what I’m talking about. But anyway. I didn’t like LITTOC very much. I wanted to, I tried to, I struggled to. Just didn’t happen. Oh well. At least I finished what I started.

I’m gonna make a list of all the books I haven’t read yet and probably put it on “allconsuming” or whatever it’s called.

I just started on my Mary Stuart collection… I’d forgotten how good of a writer she is! That’s probably one of the perks of going through your extensive book collection: you discover and rediscover great books all over again.