Take a Look, It's in a Book

ot only am I obsessed with shoes, but I’m also obsessed with books (and now it’s occurring to me that I must have an obsessive personality. This could be a problem…). I love literature so much that I’m an English and English Education major, and hope one day to be either a high school English teacher or a librarian. My dream is to have a huge room in my house as a library just for me, filled with floor to ceiling bookshelves, stone fireplaces, and big fluffy couches for curling up with a good book (a dream I got from watching Beauty and the Beast as a little girl).

The past couple of years I’ve started keeping track of the books I’ve read. I’m a nerd and for some reason or another I like being super organized- I have an iPod application that has all of the books I own, their location (Athens, Suwanee, Lexington), my rating, who’s borrowing them, if I’ve read them, etc. I read any book I can get my hands on. In 2008 I read 50, last year I read 75, and my goal for this year is 100. A few years ago for Christmas my Aunt Kelly gave me the book 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, and I’ve made it my goal to read all of them. So far I’ve read 46. If this interests you, you can download the spreadsheet here.

What’s the point of reading so many books? I really have no idea. For some reason I get some sense of accomplishment from it. Maybe it’s because reading anything gives you a chance to escape from reality for awhile, just like watching a movie or tv. The only difference is it lasts longer. I also like the idea that I’m connected to something bigger than myself- a larger world experience. It’s pretty cool to think that when reading the classics I’m experiencing something that people over hundreds of years and all over the world have read as well.

Here’s my list of books for 2010 so far. When I get around to it I’ll probably write a short review for each of them. Maybe.
[Last edited Dec. 1, 2010]

1. Taliesen by Stephen R. Lawhead (One of my best friend's fave books so I had to read it. King Arthur type fantasy.)

2. The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday (Native American Lit)

3. Emma by Jane Austen (How do you have a story about a heroine who's already "perfect"? It's a classic.)

4. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

5. Richard III by William Shakespeare (What a creeper. Love it.)

6. Blue Horses Rush In by Luci Tapahonso (Native American poetry. No me gusta.)

7. The Truth About Stories by Thomas King (Different perspective on Native American culture. Enjoyed it, wrote a few papers on it.)

8. Villette by Charlotte Bronte (A good novel if you like bitchy heroines.)

9. Faces in the Moon by Betty Louise Bell (Native American Lit)

10. A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

11. From Sand Creek by Simon J. Ortiz (Native American poetry about the "Battle" [more like slaying] at Sand Creek. Also Vietnam Veterans if I remember correctly... Pretty intense stuff.)

12. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (One of my favorites of all time!!!)

13. Macbeth by William Shakespeare

14. Shell Shaker by LeAnne Howe

15. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (19th Century British Lit Mystery)

16. Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life: Hip-Hop Pedagogy and the Politics of Identity by Marc Lamont Hill (Hill taught a Hip-Hop Lit class to inner-city Chicago teenagers... Used hip-hop lyrics to teach elements of literature- SUCH A COOL IDEA!!!)

17. Bug: Deaf Identity and Internal Revolution by Christopher Jon Heuer (Deaf culture from a deaf man's perspective- really humorous. Read it even if you don't care about the subject because he's hilarious.)

18. King Lear by William Shakespeare

19. Dear John by Nicholas Sparks (Not a favorite of his...)

20. Dracula by Bram Stoker (I remember liking this more the first time I read it. Maybe Twilight has ruined the classic vampire...)

21. Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton (Cliche pirate adventure novel, but entertaining. Sad it's his last.)

22. Rant by Chuck Palahniuk (Palahniuk is so freaking cool. I don't know how he comes up with these things.)

23. The Rez Sisters by Tomson Highway (Short Native American play.)

24. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

25. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (Classic! A must-read if you haven't.)

26. Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

27. She by H. Rider Haggard

28. Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich (Native American Lit- enjoyed it.)

29. Sam's Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson

30. Othello by William Shakespeare

31. The Winter Tale by William Shakespeare

32. Ledfeather by Stephen Graham Jones (Native American Lit- very different/interesting, going back and forth in time.)

33. School Kids/Street Kids: Identity Developement in Latino Students by Nilda Flores-Gonzales (So freaking boring.)

34. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (2nd time reading it, and even better than the 1st.)

35. Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger (Good guilty mindless read.)

36. The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve (Raises the question- how well do/did you really know someone?)

37. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (LOVED this one! Terrorists take a presidential dinner party hostage, and the terrorists and hostages develop a close bond over time. A book about music, language, culture, and love.)

38. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (An obvious classic. My sister had it off my bookshelf for her English class & I wanted to read it again.)

39. The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks (I thought I had read it before, but turns out I hadn't. Pretty good- needed an easy Jamaica beach read.)

40. The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry (About a family of women living in Salem, Mass. who create lace and "read" their futures in them. A lot of Salem history, which was nice. One of those "things are not what they seem" stories. Thrilling.)

41. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet (Cathedrals, knights, lords, kings, etc. in English in the 12th century. My review here.)

42. Songs on Bronze by Nigel Spivey (A rewriting of the most well-known Greek myths, in chronological order. It was really cool to see how the different characters of Greek mythology are related to one another and their stories... all in one place.)

43. The Fiction Class by Susan Breen (One of those books that makes me think it was written for me. A teacher learns about life, love, and how literature affects our lives as she teaches a group of adults how to write a novel.)

44. The Boys in the Trees by Mary Swan (Loved her writing style. Breezed through it in a day or two. One of those I'll probably have to read again to catch things I missed. She's a genius.)

45. Majestic Descending by Mitchell Graham (Semi-predictable thriller, but I enjoyed it because the main character was from Atlanta and the author included a lot about the city.)

46. And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You by Kathi Kamen Goldmark (About a girl singing in a bar band in her hometown. Cute/humorous narrative voice but the plot's not too interesting.)

47. Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig (Gone With the Wind from Rhett's perspective. Of course not nearly as good as the original, but still interesting.)

48. Carrie by Stephen King (Creepy classic.)

49. The Girl from Charnelle by K.L. Cook (Creepy in another way- as in babysitter having an affair with the kids' dad. Well written but awful premise.)

50. Falling Boy by Alison McGhee(Hated it.)

51. Mergers and Acquisitions by (LOVED it. Behind the scenes look at Wall Street and New Yorkers. Very fun.)

52. Heavenly Days by James Wilcox (It sucked.)

53. What is Mine by Anne Holt (Good missing-children thriller.)

54. The Nanny Diaries by Emma Mclaughlin(Read for the second time cause I missed it. Really good.)

55. For Women Only by Shaunti & Jeff Feldhahn (If you are a woman in a relationship, BUY THIS BOOK. I totally understand why guys act/think the way they do. So valuable.)

56. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Classic, love it.)

57. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (Liked it a lot better this time than the last.)

58. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (She's amazing. Another classic.)

59. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (A heroine who loves books = obviously my fave.)

60. The Hours by Michael Cunningham (SUCH A GOOD BOOK. Read Mrs.Dalloway, then this. One of those "woah" endings.)

61. The History of Pompey the Little by (The adventures of a lap-dog. Adventures is a loose term.)

62. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (The series that True Blood is based on. She's a great writer, I love her sense of humor and style.)

63. My Antonia by Willa Cather (Anything set in the Midwest is boring to me.)

64. The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox (Just like it sounds.)

65. Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko (Eh, I've read better Native American lit.)

66. The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing (Creepy postmodern awesomeness. The fifth child is not normal, just a hint.)

67. The Man of Feeling by Henry Mackenzie (Boring sentimental narrative.)

68. Oroonoko by Aphra Behn (History of a royal slave. Boring.)

69. Fantomina by Eliza Haywood(A woman uses disguises to hook up with a guy multiple times. Scandalous for the 18th century. lol.)

70. A Sicilian Romance by Ann Radcliffe (Adventure romance. Really good.)

71. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbbert (I hated it. She gets so close to God but doesn't ever actually get there, just makes up her own. Sad.)

72. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole(Another adventure romance, but with more supernatural stuff.)

73. Mao II by Dan Delillo (Not a fan of DeLillo, had to read it for class.)

74. Country of Origin by Don Lee (Mystery- a girl goes missing in Japan searching for her birth mother. Interesting racial conflicts.)

75. Where Are You Now by Mary Higgins Clark (My first of her books, and I was unimpressed. Her characters are flat, the writing is juvenile. The plot wasn't even that surprising. Disappointed.)

76. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse Book 2)

77. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris(Sookie Stackhouse Book 3)

78. Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris(Sookie Stackhouse Book 4)

79. For Men Only by Shaunti & Jeff Feldhahn (Like For Women Only. Explains why I'm so crazy. Lol.)

In the process: Captivating, Believing God