Ready Reader One

The last couple of months I have been trying out various methods of selecting my monthly reading pool with varying success. Along the way I have accumulated a few tempting titles, generally new or recent books, and this month I included several in what might be a fun and enriching group of reading or, perhaps the shiny object titles will leave me disappointed.

What’s a Mars Room? Is a parking lot attendant a hero or an anti-hero? Convenience stores can be quite useful for cigarettes or a half-dozen XLNTs but they can be dangerous too. Is Player One ready? For what?

I’ve been dedicating a lot of time to cleaning up my list of classical movies I want to watch on FilmStruck but this month I have an urge to catch up on those new titles that seem to call out to me so I hope to read a bit more than usual this month. I have to confess, however, that I have been making and revising this reading pool for some time now and the official published list might change when I realize I left off a much sought after title or included another title that no longer held my interest.

Here is the published list but the reading choices listed in my Marvin catalogue for October is slightly different so who knows what the final reading might include.

1. The Virgin of Flames — Chris Albani
2. Taduno’s Song: A Novel — Odafe Atogun
3. Maigret’s Next-To-the-Last Case — Boileau and Narcejac
4. A Good Day For Seppuku — Kate Braverman
5. London Bridge — Louis-Ferdinand Céline
6. Cathedral — Raymond Carver
7. Ready Player One — Ernest Cline
8. The Televangelist — Ibrahim Essa
9. Running From the Devil — Jamie Freveletti
10. The Blonde Cried Murder — Brett Halliday
11. A Japanese Schoolgirl — Yoko Kajihara
12. Belle de Jour — Joseph Kessel
13. The Mars Room — Rachel Kushner
14. Wolf Hall — Hilary Mantel
15. Such Fine Boys — Patrick Modiano
16. Convenience Store Woman — Sayaka Murata
17. The Big Blowdown — George Pelecanos
18. Lake Success — Gary Shteyngart
19. The Parking Lot Attendant — Nafkote Tamirat
20. The Emissary — Yuko Tawanda