One More Month

I intend to dedicate a month again to reading two or three of those big fat, often classical, novels that have been hovering off the edge of my reading lists for year after year. I had hoped, but July is still overloaded with detective novels, interesting entertainments, and unabashed fluff.

I do have one big novel from my Bucket-List: Doctor Zhivago. I was in college when one Saturday they bused a bunch of us down to one of the big Hollywood movie palaces to see David Lean’s interpretation of Doctor Zhivago. I disliked the film, complaining that the music was not integrated with the visual effect. Possibly because of this personal opinion left over from the 1960s, I have avoided reading Pasternak’s novel for over fifty years. I guess this is the month and, surprise, I’m finding it an easy, satisfying read, despite all the patronymics.

After Zhivago, I have a varied selection of fun or otherwise attractive novels to read. This month I’ve tried to avoid repeating authors so as to give me the greatest spread possible. But interestingly, the more I look, the more I find. I see a possible pattern for future reading: one month with hopes of reading two or three classic novels, often from my Bucket-List, followed by a month or two of less challenging but often much more fun reading including weird fiction, detective stories, and maybe even some poetry.

Or should I plan for entire month dedicated to poetry?

Let me think about that, but for now,  this is the July reading pool:

1. Killing the Blues — Michael Brandman
2. The Screaming Mimi — Fredric Brown
3. Last Stop Tokyo — James Buckler
4. The Star of India — Carole Bugge
5. And the Sea Will Tell — Vincent Bugliosi
6. Cathedral — Raymond Chandler
7. Between the World and Me — Ta-Nehisi Coates
8. Eyes — William H. Gass
9. The Corpse Came Calling — Brett Halliday
10. Tinkers — Paul Harding
11. A Japanese Schoolgirl — Yoko Kajihara
12. God In Pink — Hasan Namir
13. Indemnity Only — Sara Paretsky
14. Doctor Zhivago — Boris Pasternak
15. Dutch Uncle — Peter Pavia
16. House of Fallen Trees — Gina Ranali
17. The Man Who Died — Antti Tuomainen
18. Flood — Andrew Vachss
19. New York Dead — Stuart Woods
20. Nemesis — Joe Yogerst.