The great thing about life is that it is always changing. And mine is certainly no exception.
The change in my life right now involves The List. My reading list, that is.
Sometimes it is difficult for me to make a decision. I agonize and think about it too much. Which is why I decided to use someone else's list for my reading challenge.
There are some great things about the list. Most of the books have been fabulous and I have been introduced to some new authors that I love. I have read books that I never would have selected for myself and really enjoyed them. And, as I finished one book, I just had to look to my list to see what was next. No decisions to be made.
But that is going to change a little.
It seems that when I come upon a book that just doesn't make me want to consume it within hours, I get stalled. And easily distracted. Should every book make you want to stop your life to read it? Well, yes ... when you are trying to read one hundred books in one year. I need to be drawn into the story or the characters within the first couple of chapters ... or I seem to dawdle along. And that is part that I need to change.
So, I will be jumping around on the list a little bit and I am going to be replacing some books with substitutions of my choosing. Because there are friends out there who have sent me some great suggestions. You should not be surprised to learn that I have started a new list. Do you have a favourite book? Leave me a comment, or send me an email.
This was a difficult decision to make because I am sure that each book on this list is worth reading. And if I had not forced myself to finish some books, I would have missed out, as in the case of Gilead, or And the Band Played On. But life is about choices and I'm sure that whatever I read, I will learn new things. The point is that I want to read things that open my mind, that interest me and that draw me in.
Having said all the things that I have said ... The Remains of the Day is out. Whew ... I feel better for just having said it. It is easy to read, and somewhat entertaining. However, the characters do not engage me in the way that I like. And the story is slow moving, in a way makes it okay to not read for a couple of days. A couple of days? I should be finishing a book every couple of days. I'm sure I will find out that it is a literary masterpiece and an example of the type of fine writing all inspiring writers should imitate. If it is, then I can read it any time, right?
But, in the meantime, I have replaced it with Marcia Clark's re-telling of the OJ Simpson trial. Cannot wait to tell you about it ....
With blogging every day for the entire month of April, my reading has really suffered. I have just finished my nineteenth book, and will be moving on to number twenty. However, this is not the pace I should be keeping in order to meet my goal. Ugh.
You know, I take things too seriously. I treat this blog like it is my job. Like it is important to anyone other than me. It is not ... as much as I would like it to be, it is still just a hobby. And I put too much effort into it. I read a bunch of stuff on the Internet ... sometimes for enjoyment, sometimes for inspiration, sometimes for research, sometimes for substantiation (...is that a word?). And then, I agonize over wording, flow, interest, should I or shouldn't I include something, too long or too short. I take things too seriously, but it is who I am.
I think my family is beginning to wish my self-imposed challenge would just go away. Or, that it was something they could benefit (directly) from ... like baking one hundred different things in a year would suit them just fine or having a challenge to actually iron the clothes that accumulate each week. But those things would not help me to grow as a person, would they? Plus, who wants to read (or write) about the pants or shirts or little pink dresses I ironed?
But April is just one month and there are many more months before the end of my challenge. Perhaps May can be "Read-as- Much-as-You-Can" month. One thing is for certain ... when summer vacation begins, and I have to entertain three children all day long, I cannot imagine that they will find watching me read to be very fulfilling. Although them playing at the beach while I read might be do-able.
The next book on my list is Backlash (The Undeclared War Against American Women) by Susan Faludi. Which leads me to my next problem. Jonesy picked it up for me at the Library ... which is a very funny story for another day. Backlash is (basically) a textbook. It is more than four hundred fifty pages ... of reporting on "the insidious war against women's rights, probing the dimensions of a cultural phenomenon that has changed shape and resurfaced in Hollywood films and TV, in the fashion and beauty industries, in New Right rhetoric and presidential speeches, and in office harrassment and clinic bombings." (Taken from the book jacket.)
Susan Faludi is an award-winning writer, and Backlash won the 1992 National Book Critics Circle Award for General Non-Fiction. I am sure that it is a very enlightening look at the women's movement. However, at this time of my life, I just cannot read another textbook. It would take me a really long time, and set me behind even further ... this is the lesson I learned from reading And the Band Played On.
But isn't this challenge about learning new things and expanding my knowledge of the world?
Well, in the words of Leslie Gore ... "it's my challenge and I'll do what I want to." You would cry too, if this happened to you ...
I am off to find a substitution ... I'll keep you posted.
You know you're old when ... It's the beginning of many jokes, but this is for real. I had an eyelash in my eye, but I couldn't see it - to remove it - because my glasses were getting in the way. So I had to take them off. Then I just couldn't see. This is how my day started. From there my morning just continued on in the same manner it began.
"Stop goofin' around. We should have been in the car eleven minutes ago."
As a parent, can't you hear yourself saying the same thing over and over again? Don't answer that, it was rhetorical. But, it wasn't me who said these words, it was my (almost) eight-year-old son. This is the same little boy, who last year at this time, would have been having a full-out panic attack because he had to spend the next six hours with "that woman." Now this little boy is anxious to get there and impatient with his mother's goofiness. Warms my heart, and I know he was actually enjoying my early morning singing and dancing because he spit the words out with the faintest little smirk across his lips.
On a completely different note, I found the best picture to illustrate what I was writing about the other day. I wrote about the power of the media to decide. To decide what they investigate, what to make interesting, what details to reveal. (Click on the image to see it in its entirety)
I don't think I need to say any more. I hope it makes you think and question everything you see, understanding their power.
On a much lighter note my morning did improve because after I dropped my kiddies off at school, I made my way over to Chapters. I picked up a couple of things from my list. I am a girl who needs immediate gratification. Get your mind out of the gutter ... I mean, I cannot wait for books to arrive in the mailbox. I have done it, and it is a great day when you pop over to pick up the bills mail, and they are there waiting. Instantly turns the day around for me. But I enjoy looking around and touching the books and being drawn in by the marketing. For instance, I picked up the cutest little notepads made by a company called, ecojot. I just love the designs and would like to have one of everything!! They are a company based out of Scarborough ... gotta love supporting a Canadian-based eco-friendly company! I love little notepads and journals and agendas ... oh my!!
I bought And the Band Played On (#86 on The List) today ... it is ... intimidating is the only word I can come up. It is 605 pages long, it has an index at the back and a dermatis personae (whatever that is) at the beginning. I saw the movie a few years ago, so I am familiar with the story. And the one other little problem is that it is printed in very small type ... which brings me back to my problem of being old ... or feeling old. You know you are old when ... you keep talking about all the things that are deteriorating on your body. Promise - no more on that subject!
Meanwhile, still working on The DaVinci Code ... so love this book. Trying not to get caught up in the details. Discussion coming soon....
I love lists. A lot. And, I make them all the time. It is part of me - the list-making, that is. In fact, I have even made a list of the lists I need to make. I always have a list - a grocery list, a to-do list, a laundry list, a cleaning list. Recently I had a Christmas baking list and a very specific Christmas to-do list. My list is always organized and/or categorized, and if I do not have one, I feel a little lost and scattered. And one of the best things about a list is crossing stuff off.
Either you are reading this, saying to yourself, "Of course you have a list. Who doesn't?"; or, you are staring in disbelief, trying to comprehend what you have just read. Wondering if you want to get involved with a woman who becomes unhinged without a list to hold herself together.
In any case, I'm sure that you can understand my excitement in trying to come up with a reading list. I took to the Internet in search for a list of books to read. I love researching almost as much as I enjoy lists, so the thought of researching for a list was almost more than I could handle.
I looked at lots of different lists - top 100 books of the last decade, best 100 novels of all time, an all-time list by Time, and there was even a list of the 1001 books you should read before you die. But, after much self-imposed deliberation, I chose Entertainment Weekly's New Classics. It is described as the 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008 and I chose it because it is current. There is fiction and non-fiction, and some are written about present day, some take place in the past and some are a collection of short stories. The books may not be the most literary acclaimed, but they seemed interesting and a couple had already caught my eye.
I have posted the list in the side bar and encourage you to look through it. I bet there are some titles you have already read, or some you have considered reading but never did, for whatever reason. I can hardly wait for Joyce Carol Oates, Black Water; but I have to get to number fourteen on the list. I have picked up The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls several times and put it back for several different reasons; but this time, I get to pick it up and take it home.
There are a couple of selections that cause me to take pause. For instance, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials is a series of three books and it is literature. It is not a light, easy read. I bought His Dark Materials about a year ago because I read some wonderful things about it. When I started to read it, it quickly became apparent that it was something I would have to put some effort into and I only read the first chapter. Not because I did not like it, but because three small children got in my way and I ended up reading some "Her Parenting Materials" instead. Anyhow, although the three books are a series, they only count for one heavy, involved read on my list. I may have to skip this and replace it with a selection of my own. I will wait and make that decision when I get to number forty on the list. There are a couple of other selections that I feel the same way about and I'll make that decision when I get to them.
I am going to begin at the bottom of the list, with Jon Stewart's America (the Book), which I am dying to read. I love Jon Stewart and think it will be a great way to start the challenge. But, will Cormac McCarthy's The Road be a great way to end? Guess we'll have to wait and see.
I am excited to get started but in the meantime, I need to make a shopping list. Look out Chapters-Indigo ... here I come. If you are there, I'll be the one looking over her list with the three children - one complaining about having to come shopping, one excited just to be shopping and one running around pulling books off the shelves, not listening to her mother. Am I crazy to do this? Yep, but that is what makes it fun for me. Why don't you join me? And, if you don't like my list, pick your own.
