read all the books I own

I really thoroughly enjoyed reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and I’m so glad I picked it up when I did. I could even see myself rereading this one day.

I’ve begun The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, and I’m entranced.

An update:

1. The Fourth Hand by John Irving
2. Man and His Symbols by Carl G. Jung
3. The Iliad by Homer
4. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
5. Buddha Heart, Buddha Mind: Living the Four Noble Truths by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
6. The Oresteia by Aeschylus
7. When a Gene Makes You Smell Like a Fish… And Other Tales About the Genes in Your Body by Lisa Seachrist Chiu
8. Collected Stories by Gabriel García Márquez
9. Summer by Edith Wharton
10. Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood
11. Underworld by Don Delillo
12. The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
13. Why I am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell
14. The Source by James A. Michener
15. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
16. Inés of My Soul by Isabel Allende
17. Maiden Voyages: Writings of Women Travelers edited by Mary Morris
18. After Many a Summer Dies the Swan by Aldous Huxley
19. Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson
20. Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
21. Saving Fish from Drowing by Amy Tan
22. At Play in the Fields of the Lord by Peter Matthiessen

Given that I’m an out-of-control library visitor and have read other books, 3 out of 22 is not a bad pace. I just have to keep it up.

I picked up my paperback of Stardust by Neil Gaiman, and so far, I really like it. I wanted to read this one because I can turn the book into my library as part of their paperback exchange, but in the end, that might hinder my efforts on this goal, as I’ll have really easy access to a lot of easy reads. Maybe I’ll just keep it on the shelf for a while, after I finish reading it. Maybe.

I’ve just finished reading The Fourth Hand by John Irving, and while I enjoyed it, it’s not my favorite of his books. Maybe in real life, he was too happy to be bothered with writing another book but he felt as if he should be writing a book, and he wrote this one. Then again, maybe his only goal was pure honesty, without hiding the truth in absurdity and bears. For that, this is worth reading.

I haven’t read any John Irving in so many years, and this has been sitting on my shelf so patiently. This will have to share book time with my Harry-Potter-in-Spanish goal, but that’s okay.

I’ve just finished reading Summer by Edith Wharton, published first in 1917, and I found it to be a great read, if not a little depressing.

One down!

It’s a very reasonable challenge, because I have 22 books – I am not counting textbooks, reference books, uber-technical reads, or books in Spanish – and the time scale is what I accomplished during my A to Z Title Challenge.

The thing is, I know me. I get on these kicks and let other things go, but as a challenge, I will have to stay on track here and read the books that are on my shelves. I can get new books and used books and library books and books on swaptree, but I still have to read all of these by my next birthday:

1. The Fourth Hand by John Irving
2. Man and His Symbols by Carl G. Jung
3. The Iliad by Homer
4. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
5. Buddha Heart, Buddha Mind: Living the Four Noble Truths by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
6. The Oresteia by Aeschylus
7. When a Gene Makes You Smell Like a Fish… And Other Tales About the Genes in Your Body by Lisa Seachrist Chiu
8. Collected Stories by Gabriel García Márquez
9. Summer by Edith Wharton
10. Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood
11. Underworld by Don Delillo
12. The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
13. Why I am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell
14. The Source by James A. Michener
15. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
16. Inés of My Soul by Isabel Allende
17. Maiden Voyages: Writings of Women Travelers edited by Mary Morris
18. After Many a Summer Dies the Swan by Aldous Huxley
19. Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson
20. Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
21. Saving Fish from Drowing by Amy Tan
22. At Play in the Fields of the Lord by Peter Matthiessen

It might be a good time to sift through my reasons, briefly, for doing this, lest I lose the motivation later and need a reminder of my intent. For one thing, I will reclaim my identity as a person who will read a book recently purchased, which is a good thing. Tangentially, it can snap me out of the money-spending kick I get when purchasing books – the kick ought to be in picking them up later, reading them, having the stories enrich my life in some way, and in finishing them – which is closely related to the “I’m gonna do this or that” streak in my personality which loves to start things and not see them through. Furthermore, there are some wonderful books there, and I’ll get a lot out of reading most of them.

Whoop!

Thankfully, my collection is not huge right now and I have many reference books which I won’t include. I’m talking about the novels that have been sitting, patiently, waiting for me to come along and scoop them up and read them.