So in browsing Kat and Paula‘s blogs, I learned about the From the Stacks Reading Challenge, being sponsored by Overdue Books. The idea is, between Nov. 1 and Jan. 30, to read five books that have been languishing in your collection collecting dust.
Readers and knitters alike enjoy adding to their stash, so the hardest part of the challenge is merely winnowing the list down to five. I personally am a huge fan of buying books at library book sales, particularly those that let you fill up a whole bag for $1.
I already convinced Jenn to join, so I guess I’d better get my butt in gear and post my own list:
- King Lear, by William Shakespeare. I know, I know. It’s shameful that an English major managed to receive a B.A. without reading this classic. But I did read A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley’s feminist retelling of the story, so my degree isn’t totally without merit. But this is my greatest English major guilt, so it’s time to assuage it.
- Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe. Nope. Never read this one either. (For the record, while I was assigned Defoe’s Moll Flanders in college, I didn’t finish it. I don’t remember caring for it much, so my guess is that I sold it back to the college bookstore after the semester ended.)
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. I meant to read it this summer but instead found other things more immediately compelling. (It may have something to do with the fact that our copy of the book is in a mostly-complete compendium of Adams’ work, which is tough to carry with me on the Metro.)
- Silas Marner, by George Eliot. I’ve tried to read it before and just haven’t managed to get past a certain point. It’s such a short book that I really don’t think it should be as hard as I’ve made it out to be.
- White Teeth, by Zadie Smith. This is another book that I’ve begun and put down a couple times over the past five years. It’s considered a modern classic, so I think it’s time to finish it off.
This endeavor will be made more challenging by the fact that I’m not doing a whole lot of reading during November or December as NaNoWriMo and holiday knitting are going to take up a lot of my time over the next six weeks.
Good choices! I felt sorta bad putting in the Tamora Pierce book in my list as it’s YA, but it’s pretty thick, nonetheless. And I’ve had it since it came out, poor book.
I never got through Hitchhiker’s myself – I tried like 5x before just admitting it didn’t interest me at all. *sigh*
Yay books!!
(A Thousand Acres is one of my favorite books ever, yet the only Jane Smiley book I don’t own. I’m not sure how that happened!)
Comment by Jenn 11.14.06 @ 6:53 amWith the insanity of NaNoWriMo, I don’t think I will be trying to read any books in November (except for Changeling which I read on the cruise ship to get the Lemony Snicket style out of my head so my story wouldn’t be littered with narrator comments about how miserable things would yet be for my characters).
I’ve done a pretty good job this summer of adding to my book collection and devouring the things I’ve added. Next month, I’ll browse my bookshelves for any books left on their side (meaning I managed to rearrange the shelves to fit them in, but hadn’t gotten around to them yet – since then, new books have remained in the bedroom, only making it to the shelves when I am finished with them).
Comment by Grey Kitten 11.14.06 @ 5:06 pmYou have put your finger on the dilemma in this post — how to read, write, and knit at the same time. Not to mention the laundry, cooking, and other chores…wish I could give up the day job! 🙂 Good luck with your novel and your reading and holiday knitting plans. I’m looking forward to following your progress!
Comment by Debby 11.14.06 @ 5:57 pm