I find I don't read or write much during the week. At least not anything interesting. So I have no pertinent readerly/writerly reports. But I did finish that story last week. I'm still waiting for Sam to read it and tell me if it works. I managed to include a weird scene that happened in the church restroom last Sunday, so that's exciting.
Anyway, I was thinking yesterday about how when people ask me what I read or what I like to read or what my favorite books are, I freeze. I don't like that question. But I was thinking I should just tell them which books are on my bedside table, spilling off onto the floor. That oughtta work. And then I thought I should post that list here:
The Modern Jewish Girl's Guide to Guilt. Editor, Ruth Andrew Ellenson.
Our Time. Collection of short stories by Hemingway.
Making Shapely Fiction. by Jerome Stern.
Quad of Scriptures. (I'm starting at the beginning of the Bible. It says, of Noah's dove, she "found no rest for the sole of her foot." I'm in love with that phrase.)
This Time. New and selected poems by Gerald Stern.
The Best Day, the Worst Day. Donald Hall. (If you want to read a very sad, beautiful, articulate account of someone's wife dying, I recommend the first chapter here.)
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Short stories by Raymond Carver.
The Know-it-All. by A. J. Jacobs, who also wrote The Year of Living Biblically, which I loved.
Anton Chekov's Short Stories.
Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith.
The Best American Essays 2008. (Loved this one--beautiful essay on necklaces, on a man dying of aids, a gay woman planning her wedding, etc.)
33X3 Short Fiction by 33 Writers.
Lolita. Nabokov. (Am I not supposed to love this book? I've just started it, and the writing is superb. Don't read if you're easily disturbed.)
The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat. by neuroscientist, Oliver Sacks. (Tells stories of very strange brain disorders--fascinating stuff.)
Best American Science Writing 2007.
Does that seem like enough? Now if I could just find time to read them all. I've read snatches of all of these. But I want hours and hours with books and spoons full of peanut butter (my favorite book-reading treat.). Maybe after I read all these student papers, which aren't nearly as interesting as any of these.
4 comments:
spoonfuls of peanut butter.... mmmmmm. I may try some of the non-disturbing books.
Christopher read both those AJ Jacobs books and loved them. I'm in the middle of essays for 2008; have you read the best american short stories for this year? I'm in love with the story Balto.
I had so many lists of books to read that I finally consolidated everything on goodreads.com. I recommend it. Or perhaps you're already on there and we're just not friends yet. We should be friends.
I want to read the one by Oliver Sacks. I remember learning about his experiments with Cycads maybe healing Alzheimers when I was doing my internship at Quail Gardens. Is it good?
I just got the AJ Jacob's book from my sister. I also have a large number of books next to my bed though, so who knows when I'll get to it.
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