Taking Stock: 2009 Reading List

I've been putting off taking stock of my bookcases ever since I moved back to Seattle a few years ago, but I decided this year's resolution for New Years would be literary. No more pledges to get off my ass and get back in shape, or to be more sociable on the weekends. Instead I opted for something that I might actually have the self-control to carry through. So my resolution falls in two parts:

Part One:

I am not allowed to purchase any new books until I cut down on the number of unread ones currently on my shelves. Specifically, for every two books I check off on my enormous "to read" list, I am allowed to purchase 1 new book. To get myself started, I pulled TWENTY books off the shelves. When I read 10 of them, I get a bonus book. When I finish the stack I'll reward myself with something nice! When I knock off 2, I will add the book I purchase as well as 1 more unread volume from my shelves to the list. It's humorous to find the reciepts inside of some of these volumes and realize they were purchased as far back as 2000 or 2001 without having been read yet...I'm so bad!

List of 20:

Veronika Decides to Die, Paulo Coelho finished, March

The Egtyptologist, by Arthur Phillips **currently reading

Glory, by Vladimir Nabokov

The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, Jose Saramago

The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, Jose Saramago

The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri

Old School, Tobias Wolff

Numbers in the Dark, Italo Calvino

The Time Traveller's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger

Housekeping vs The Dirt, Nick Hornby

The Polysyllabic Spree, Nick Hornby

Words Without Borders, Compilation

Absurdistan, Gary Shteyngart (might have to reread The Russian Debutante's Handbook first)

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers

The Buddha Tree, Fumio Niwa

Embers, Sandor Marai

The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy

Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen

The Secret of Lost Things, Sheridan Hay

The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco

Part Two:

I was planning to run this blog as a place to dump my thoughts and observations on gaming now that I am no longer in school and don't have semi-scholarly papers to write. However, I've got something in the works with a friend, Mary, and it will be much better than anything I would have managed by myself. Working together with other people on a blog not only provides for multiple persepctives, but better updating and more types of content...so it's a big win! I hope we get started on it soon but we're both pretty blocked on a name.

Unbelievable, Unforgivable, and Utterly Enraged

This is going to be short and very not sweet: what sort of preface writer spoils the twist in a novel without warning? Seriously.

I was planning on reading The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien to kick off my new years resolution to clean off my bookshelves of unread volumes, and I was a few pages into the introduction when I was caught completely off guard by a 6th Sense/Usual Suspects level spoiler. Unforgivable! The novel is now completely ruined for me before I even began reading it!

The preface of a book is intended to enhance the book - provide a little background, a little context, perhaps lace in a few teasers. But spoilers?

Back it goes on the shelf. Hopefully I can manage to forget the spoiler's contents, and will be able to enjoy this book at a later date.

Break Time is Over!

It's been a while since I have bothered to write anything, but seeing as I know no one is reading it doesn't bother me. I've got the time these days though - taking a break from playing World of Warcraft always frees up a shocking amount of time.

As with every new year, I find myself piling up stacks of long unread books by my bed (it's a bit shameful to open a book and find the purchase slip dating back 5 years 30 or 40 pages in...) hoping that I'll manage to get through a few before the vigor of the new year fades. I've got a couple Jose Saramago on top, as well as some Umberto Eco, and The Egyptologist - a book I've been trying to read for over a year with little luck.

I've also been binging myself on new music - mostly Guster and Ben Harper. Nothing like a good winter storm to inspire me to branch out a bit. I think I could sit for days staring out the window watching the rain and listening to Damien Rice.

Here's to another year of getting by - onward, onward...