I don't really have a reading plan. Other than the Reading Challenge books (thank you for the inspiration), I like to follow my whims. I browse through my book shelves and pick a book to re-read sometimes. Currently, I'm reading a lot of Charles Willeford because of your Cockfighter review. PS Penultimate Truth is a remarkable scifi novel. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have
Tristram Shandy might take up more bandwidth than you think, but it is possibly the most delightful novel ever written. I’ve never attacked Moby Dick because it seems too arduous and not enough fun. These days I need fun.
Moby Dick is incredible fun. It's also got short chapters, which for me makes it easier to blitz through. I started Tristam one summer at my in-laws house. I loved what I read, but didn't bring it home with me (I'm am not above petty book thievery), and I've always regretted it.
This is the perfect question for me on the day my own Substack turns two years old! I've just been thinking about that myself. I'm almost done with Aaron Lansky's Outwitting History, his memoir about founding the Yiddish Book Center. It's delightful. And I've got a couple of titles I picked up in their gift shop that I'd like to read, B. J. Bialostotzk's Binele and Sholem Aleichem's Moshkeleh the Thief. I'm hoping to read The Gaucho Martin Fierro and Martin Fierro's Return, by Jose Hernandez, an Argentinian epic poem out in a new translation. I'd like to read the "Rivers of America" volume on the Merrimack, along with Thoreau's Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Hopefully I'll get to another of Andrey Kurkov's Kyiv mysteries. Also the first volume in Malcolm Guite's new verse retelling of the Arthurian tales, Galahad and the Grail. And then who knows? Maybe Patrick Keefe's London Falling, or Isaac Fitzgerald's American Rambler, or Ryan Dennis's Barn Gothic, or....
I make no plans, but my not-as-yet read book purchases include:
- Le Pere Goriot by Balzac
- The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
- Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
- The Odyssey by Homer - previously read prose versions of this, but not a verse translation.
- The Peloponnesian Wars by Thucydides - I've made two serious and sustained attempts to read Thucydides' account, getting as far as halfway, but the lack of geographic reference for all the different states Thucydides mentions make it bewildering. I know where Sparta and Athens were, of course, but not all their colonies, so I finally purchased the Landmark edition because it has annotations explaining such details.
I am currently reading The Master and Margarita as determined by the previous Top 100 List. So far it is heavy and darkly comedic/satirical. Head rolling down the street after being cut off by a tram-car? It is complex and I am having to do a lot of re-reading. I think I am missing a lot of the context of the times as well but it definitely has me hooked with its fever dream-fueled forward pace. Usually my next book will be a antidote to the previous book so (you asked for real and I think I might horrify most of your readers) I might go with the next Jo Nesbo in the series, a calming Francis Duncan mystery, an Iain M. Banks culture novel, or- gasp!- start Rebecca Yarros's Fourth Wing series. At some point I want to start reading Hillary Mantle's trilogy starting with Wolf Hall. Reading isn't always about learning or growing for me. It depends on where I am in that moment of life. Sometimes I just need pure sugary caffeine-fueled fun like Sarah J. Mass to get me through a painful week of mind-numbing reality. Reading is my medicine and I pick the prescription and dose depending on the diagnosis. 😂
Sorry- and if you want to read a science fiction book along the lines of Philip K. Dick, Sirius by Olaf Stapledon is a good one to try. Years after reading that book I still feel uncomfortable and amazed.
On my sci-fi reading list, I have PKD's Ubik next, then Clifford Simak's Special Deliverance. I just finished John Gardner's Nickel Mountain so I think I'll work in Mickelsson's Ghosts from him as well. I'm not given to outlining my reading too specific, so I'll run my finger down my shelf, but I admit that I'm getting close to digging into Joh le Carre's Smiley series.
I’ve got a big TBR list from NetGalley mostly business/econ. Part way through Liaquat Ahamed’s 1873; still working on Jill Lepore’s We The People so I can get to a galley of her new book on AI which looks fantastic; Tyler Goodspeed’s Recession and so much more. On the fiction front, I aim to finish Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell books. For classics, maybe Hobbes’ Leviathan if I’m brave enough but Melville has been calling me too.
I can’t wait to hear what you think about Don Quixote! Which translation will you be reading? It’s my favorite novel (Edith Grossman’s translation is my favorite), despite all of its side stories within the main story.
I’m looking forward to it! I’ve got two translations handy, but I think I’m going to read Grossman’s and compare with the other as necessary (or merely curious).
I don't really have a reading plan. Other than the Reading Challenge books (thank you for the inspiration), I like to follow my whims. I browse through my book shelves and pick a book to re-read sometimes. Currently, I'm reading a lot of Charles Willeford because of your Cockfighter review. PS Penultimate Truth is a remarkable scifi novel. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have
Tristram Shandy might take up more bandwidth than you think, but it is possibly the most delightful novel ever written. I’ve never attacked Moby Dick because it seems too arduous and not enough fun. These days I need fun.
Moby Dick is incredible fun. It's also got short chapters, which for me makes it easier to blitz through. I started Tristam one summer at my in-laws house. I loved what I read, but didn't bring it home with me (I'm am not above petty book thievery), and I've always regretted it.
This is the perfect question for me on the day my own Substack turns two years old! I've just been thinking about that myself. I'm almost done with Aaron Lansky's Outwitting History, his memoir about founding the Yiddish Book Center. It's delightful. And I've got a couple of titles I picked up in their gift shop that I'd like to read, B. J. Bialostotzk's Binele and Sholem Aleichem's Moshkeleh the Thief. I'm hoping to read The Gaucho Martin Fierro and Martin Fierro's Return, by Jose Hernandez, an Argentinian epic poem out in a new translation. I'd like to read the "Rivers of America" volume on the Merrimack, along with Thoreau's Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Hopefully I'll get to another of Andrey Kurkov's Kyiv mysteries. Also the first volume in Malcolm Guite's new verse retelling of the Arthurian tales, Galahad and the Grail. And then who knows? Maybe Patrick Keefe's London Falling, or Isaac Fitzgerald's American Rambler, or Ryan Dennis's Barn Gothic, or....
I make no plans, but my not-as-yet read book purchases include:
- Le Pere Goriot by Balzac
- The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
- Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
- The Odyssey by Homer - previously read prose versions of this, but not a verse translation.
- The Peloponnesian Wars by Thucydides - I've made two serious and sustained attempts to read Thucydides' account, getting as far as halfway, but the lack of geographic reference for all the different states Thucydides mentions make it bewildering. I know where Sparta and Athens were, of course, but not all their colonies, so I finally purchased the Landmark edition because it has annotations explaining such details.
I’ve been working through Frederick Buechner’s writings. This summer I’ll hopefully complete Brendan, Godric, and Telling the Truth.
I finally got around to reading Project Hail Mary. I’ve got 60 pgs left. I liked The Martian more, but it’s still an entertaining read.
I’m reading East of Eden and The Odyssey (Fagles) currently for book club.
Other books on deck include Lindbergh’s Gift from the Sea and That Hideous Strength. For another classic, I may hit The Woman in White.
I am currently reading The Master and Margarita as determined by the previous Top 100 List. So far it is heavy and darkly comedic/satirical. Head rolling down the street after being cut off by a tram-car? It is complex and I am having to do a lot of re-reading. I think I am missing a lot of the context of the times as well but it definitely has me hooked with its fever dream-fueled forward pace. Usually my next book will be a antidote to the previous book so (you asked for real and I think I might horrify most of your readers) I might go with the next Jo Nesbo in the series, a calming Francis Duncan mystery, an Iain M. Banks culture novel, or- gasp!- start Rebecca Yarros's Fourth Wing series. At some point I want to start reading Hillary Mantle's trilogy starting with Wolf Hall. Reading isn't always about learning or growing for me. It depends on where I am in that moment of life. Sometimes I just need pure sugary caffeine-fueled fun like Sarah J. Mass to get me through a painful week of mind-numbing reality. Reading is my medicine and I pick the prescription and dose depending on the diagnosis. 😂
Sorry- and if you want to read a science fiction book along the lines of Philip K. Dick, Sirius by Olaf Stapledon is a good one to try. Years after reading that book I still feel uncomfortable and amazed.
On my sci-fi reading list, I have PKD's Ubik next, then Clifford Simak's Special Deliverance. I just finished John Gardner's Nickel Mountain so I think I'll work in Mickelsson's Ghosts from him as well. I'm not given to outlining my reading too specific, so I'll run my finger down my shelf, but I admit that I'm getting close to digging into Joh le Carre's Smiley series.
Here's my summer reading list, a rather eclectic mix:
* Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini
* The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
* His Father's Son by Tim Brady
* Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
* The Perfectionists by Simon Winchester
I’ve got a big TBR list from NetGalley mostly business/econ. Part way through Liaquat Ahamed’s 1873; still working on Jill Lepore’s We The People so I can get to a galley of her new book on AI which looks fantastic; Tyler Goodspeed’s Recession and so much more. On the fiction front, I aim to finish Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell books. For classics, maybe Hobbes’ Leviathan if I’m brave enough but Melville has been calling me too.
Wow, that's an impressive list! Mine looks like this:
- Little Dorrit by Dickens
- The Melancholy of Resistance by László Krasznahorkai (in the original Hungarian)
- An Experiment in Criticism by C.S. Lewis
- The Hobbit by Tolkien (reread)
- The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien (reread)
- and anything else I might feel like.
I have several on my shelves I haven't looked at yet, so I guess this would be the time.
I can’t wait to hear what you think about Don Quixote! Which translation will you be reading? It’s my favorite novel (Edith Grossman’s translation is my favorite), despite all of its side stories within the main story.
I’m looking forward to it! I’ve got two translations handy, but I think I’m going to read Grossman’s and compare with the other as necessary (or merely curious).