Sunday, July 12, 2009

The Reading List Index!

The Reading List consists of 63 books and book series from a variety of genres, and was compiled for me by this blog's readership in the late summer of 2007. Until I finish these books, barring any premature and unfortunate demise on my part, I will be doggedly reading my way through them and posting my findings.

Books Completed (as of February 2014)
In Progress
  • Ishiguro, The Unconsoled.
Books Remaining
  • None!
Removed from List
  • Rossi, What Every American Should Know About the Rest of the World.  Skimmed November, 2010.
  • Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing ConsentSkimmed February, 2010.
  • Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death
  • Rivoli, The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy
  • Rowling, Harry Potter books 5-7
  • Schlosser, Fast Food Nation
  • Singer and Mason, The Way We Eat and Why Our Food Choices Matter
  • McCall, Makes Me Want To Holler
  • Updike, Rabbit is Rich
  • Updike, the final Rabbit book
  • Davis, One River

8 comments:

d said...

i love that judy blume is on the list.

Elaine said...

Good luck with Updike's Rabbit books. Hate is too mild a word....

IF ONLY I had been a blog follower when you made the list, I would have campaigned for: Adams, R. Watership Down; O'Connor, E. The Edge of Sadness; Stegner, W., Angle of Repose and also Crossing to Safety; Proulx, A. The Shipping News. And all of the Patrick O'Brien Aubrey/Maturin books.

Michael5000 said...

@d: I bet it goes faster than "Ulysses," anyway.

@Elaine: I regard the first Rabbit book as one of the truly great American novels, so I doubt I will share your pain with the subsequent three. Plus, Mrs.5000 likes 'em, which is a good sign.

If only you had been a blogfollower at the time, your campaigns for "Crossing to Safety" and "Shipping News" wouldn't have gone far; I've read them both (and loved them both, incidentally) so they were ineligible. "Angle of Repose" made the list without you. I don't remember if "Watership Down" was nominated or not. "The Edge of Sadness" doesn't ring a bell. Patrick O'Brien probably would have been a dark horse, but if you'd put together the votes, I'd be reading them now.

Elaine said...

I did not spot Stegner on your list... tsk.

O'Connor wrote mostly in the 40's-50's--The Last Hurrah might ring a bell. Edge of Sadness is a fascinating character study--multi-layered--written with killing wit. I reread it from time to time...as I do with most books I truly love. I read about equal amts nonfiction/fiction... Do you have a nonfiction list, too?

Samantha Ivy said...

No John Irving or Tom Wolfe? I love those guys, The World According to Garp is an instant classic.

Michael5000 said...

@Sam Ivy: Welcome to the show. I believe both "Garp" and a Tom Wolfe book were nominated, but failed to gather enough votes.

Rebel said...

I'm gonna wait for this to go to DVD. ;)

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/film_adaptation_of_the_brothers?utm_source=a-section

Gilion at Rose City Reader said...

That's a pretty good list. I don't think I could turn my TBR selection over to a committee -- I have book control issues. :)

I've read 27 of the books on your list and there are 6 more on my TBR shelf. Of the ones I've read, The Big Sleep, the Rabbit books, and Pnin were my favorites.

Next up for me is Beowulf. I read it in college a couple of times (despite Woody Allen's admonition to "never take a class where they make you read Beowulf"), but I want to read the Seamus Heaney verse translation because it won the 1999 Costa Book Award and that is one of the lists I am working on.

Happy reading!