Some Catching Up To Do

I had this grand plan where I would read all of the hardbound books on my shelves before I packed up to move to Florida. There were a few clunkers but for the most part I still wanted to read each book, even if it came from a library sale or the local book exchange. Although I had to donate most of my pocket books and Signet Classics (not to mention a very impressive collection of Penguin editions of the classics), I could still read the larger print and greater white-space found in most hardbound editions. I made an impressive stack on the corner of my desk and dove into the first two or three books with a great deal of intensity.

Then I had to prepare my little house to go on the market. Then I got sick.

Sadly, this meant that I made little headway into the stack of hardbound books and you will notice that most of them reappear on this new monthly version of my reading pool. There are several new titles too, so it might be an interesting month of reading.

Here’s the list.

1. A Simple Story — S. Y. Agnon *
2. Slouching Towards Bethlehem — Joan Didion
3. The Big Money — John Dos Passos
4. The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana — Umberto Eco
5. Dreaming In Cuban — Cristina Garcia
6. She Drove Without Stopping — Jaimy Gordon
7. The Hungry Tide — Amitav Gosh
8. The Bear Went Over the Mountain: A Novel — William Kotzwinkle
9. Author! Author! — David Lodge
10. Memories of My Melancholy Whores — Gabriel García Marquez
11. Ring Roads — Patrick Modiano *
12. King, Queen, Knave: A Novel — Vladimir Nabokov
13. Towns Without Rivers — Michael Parker
14. The Antiquarian — Gustavo Faverón Patria *
15. The Thanatos Syndrome — Walker Percy
16. The Waters of Kronos — Conrad Richter *
17. The Counterlife — Philip Roth
18. Memoirs of an Invisible Man — H. F. Saint *
19. Wind, Sand and Stars — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry *
20. Clouds of Witness — Dorothy L. Sayers *
21. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning — Alan Sillitoe *
22. Maigret’s Little Joke— Georges Simenon *
23. Momento Mori — Muriel Spark
24. A Memoir of Misfortune — Su Xiaokang
25. La Curée — Émile Zola *

***  [In progress from previous month]

• Don’t Call It Night — Amos Oz
• Uncentering the Earth — William T. Vollmann
• Infinite Jest — David Foster Wallace *