Friday, February 10, 2012

2012 Book Picks

My reading philosophy for 2012? Too many books, not enough time. I made a list in December, but it was WAY over 30, so I "delisted" about 20 books, putting them on my someday-in-the-future reading list. For the most part, they consisted of classics (The Golden Notebook, The Bell Jar) and books I'd like to read again (Diary of Anne Frank, House of the Spirits), though there were a couple of recent books published in the last couple of years that just didn't capture my attention enough (Unbroken, 1Q84, Cutting for Stone, Nothing Daunted) for the ultimate 2012 list but that I still hope I'll get to.

So I had my list down to 30, but already in the first 41 days of the year, I've added more and my 2012 list has burgeoned to 58. Seriously, 58? Who am I kidding? But I'll do what I can. I'm currently reading The Night Circus, as my e-book request was suddenly fulfilled at my library back home, but as soon as that's done, I plan to dive into the Game of Throne series. This year, I'm also hoping to finish the Phillip Pullman Golden Compass series (I still have to read The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass); be impressed by the travels of a number of ladies, including Julia Child, Vita Sackville-West and Freya Stark; tackle a couple of classics including Things Fall Apart, One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Iliad and The Aeneid (though let's be honest, the last two could potentially take six months combined); read some recent/current favorites such as Bossypants, The Submission, A Discovery of Witches, and No One is Here Except All of Us; and finally, finally get to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

My job is keeping me pretty busy so unless something changes (please God, send me change in the form of a new job), my guess at the moment is that I'll probably read about 24 books this year. It's not great - certainly not the 30 books I aim for - but I suppose it could be worse.

What's on your reading list for this year?

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