Reading List

I'm definitely in a reading phase, I have 4 books going right now and I actually think I'll finish all of them. First, I must explain that I am always reading. It's just not usually what I want to read because so much is required for class. Of the 4 I am working on, only 1 is required. Here is my list for 2009 thus far:

1. Collected Stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - This was a fairly interesting collection of short stories. This was my first exposure to Marquez and I wouldn't be adverse to reading my copy of Love in the Time of Cholera one of these days. One of my favorite genres is the grotesque and the magical realism/carnivale themes reminded me of the grotesque. I think a comparison of the grandmothers in "The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Erindera and Her Heartless Grandmother" and "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'connor would be an interesting paper topic.

2. Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black: And Other Stories by Nadine Gordimer - I really didn't want to like Gordimer and I still can't say I'm a total fan but she grew on me. By far the most interesting story was "Tape Measure" which is told through the perspective of a tape worm. In most cases, I either loved her story or completely hated it. The last three stories that relate to the senses are by far the most thought provoking and have definitely influenced my thought process -- which is something that I can't say many books have done.

3. Selected Poems by Derek Walcott - I'm rather picky when it comes to poetry and Walcott didn't make the grade in my opinion. I kept asking myself, "why did this guy win a Nobel Prize?" I think some of his political poems make a strong point, but overall I found many to be treacly at best.

4. Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness by Kenzaburo Oe - Ok, I'm going to be brutally honest. Don't read this book. It's terrible. The stories are confusing and the main character is highly unlikeable. I thought the title was kind of cool so I expected to like this book... now I can't wait to get rid of it.

5. Haroun & the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie - I just started this and I already like it. Rushdie seems pretty cool and has been known to piss people off, so he's got my attention. Haroun is a book that Rushdie wrote for his son but has an underlying theme that disputes censorship... something Rushdie has battled with for years.

6. Escape from Corporate America by Pamela Skillings - I'm about half-way through and have been inspired by the stories of those who have left C.A. to pursue dream careers. While I'm not sure I'll be escaping C.A. myself, it's nice to know what my options are ;)

7. Devil in the White City by Erik Larson - This is actually a non-fiction book but it reads like fiction. I'm about 60 pages in and it's a bit slow to start. I am sticking with it though as I've heard that the murders are quite graphic so I'm anxious to see it pick up. So far, this book reminds me of the movie Gangs of New York --different subject matter but similiar style.

8. Be Happy Without Being Perfect by Alice Domar, PhD - Good read thus far, see my previous post for more detail.

9. Miscellaneous readings - Anna Letitia Barbauld, Charlotte Smith, William Blake (who deserves a blog post of his very own), Robert Burns, Mary Wollstonecraft, William Wordsworth, Sir Walter Scott, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats.

Holy crap! I've done a lot of reading... I just didn't realize it till now. I will be adding The Picture of Dorian Gray to my list in the next couple of weeks. Josh is going to read along with me as we both have wanted to read it for quite some time and it should make for interesting conversation.