by Jennie
I’m always wishing I had more time for reading. I try to plan reading time sometimes; if I have a day off I’ll tell myself that I’m going to do nothing but read all day. It doesn’t usually pan out, though – real life has a way of intruding, with its errands, crisises, and the occasional unplanned nap.
I got to thinking about how glorious it would be if I were told by my boss to put all my work on hold; I had to read five books before moving on to any other tasks. What books would I pick? There are dozens and dozens of books I want to read; if I had to pick five, they would probably be:
1) Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
2) A biography of Lord Byron (I find him luridly fascinating)
3) Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
4) As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
5) The Tempest by William Shakespeare
Now, the above list is a) somewhat random (ask me another day and my answer might include five different books) and b) heavy on “important” books – it’s not like I do nothing but read Great Literature. It’s just that those other books – the light mysteries and gossipy memoirs – seem more interchangeable; I don’t think it will matter in the end if I read one over another. Whereas the books on the list above are all books I want to read at some point, along with a few hundred others. (And yes, #2 is a cheating a bit, since I don’t have an actual title in mind. I like my historical biographies to have a nice balance between dirt and substance.)
So. What’s on your list?
Tags: Books, Bronte, Byron, Faulkner, Pasternak, Shakespeare, time to read
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Alena
Welcome, Alena!
Alena, nice to see a new poster – thanks for your kind words. Hope to see more of your posts!
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman
These are just five books that came immediately to mind that I hope to read before I leave this planet. There are many others, but for simplicity’s sake, I went with the first five!
I am the kind of person who can only think of one book at a time.
I just bought The Politician by Andrew Young and will need to read that first.
Kelly Corrigan’s new book which will be out in March titled Lift would probably be on my list since I enjoyed The Middle Place so much.
Snow Day by Billy Coffey which I am not sure has been released yet but has caught my attention.
That’s all I have right now.
I’d like to finish my Thomas Hardy novels. I need to read The Mayor of Casterbridge and Under the Greenwood Tree. My brother liked Anna Karenina and I have that on my “to read” list. I haven’t read the latest book in The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, and I would be a fool to miss it. Also, whatever is next on the imperfectwomen.com Book Nook book discussion list. I am always a few weeks behind our discussion and am determined to keep up next time. I really enjoyed Ivy very much. In fact, I miss reading about Paige and Jo.
I would love to read all the classics again. When I was in High School I babysat for a English teacher and she had all the classics. That was one of the perks of the job to read all those books, she had such a wonderful selection.
I would put some of the authors down but I am afraid my spell check wouldn’t work
I have two books I would like to read someday:
On the Origin of the Species – Charles Darwin.
The Feminine Mystique – Betty Friedan
I just have to scrounge up the brain power I would need to read them.
I’m not sure where else to post this but does anyone remember a long time ago (maybe it was during gdnnop days) when we talked about documentaries? Well, I just now got the Up Series from the library and I would like to see some of the discussion that was made about this show. Can someone give me a link to that topic? Thanks!
Wow, the Origin of the Species sounds interesting, but I admit to being intimidated.
I’m not sure about the documentary discussion; do you mean you want a link to the thread where it was discussed? I think it would’ve had to have been at GDNNOP.
Okay, I found it. Way back in January 2009.
I retired in March 2009………I began again making trips to the library shortly thereafter……..I had not done that for years and years……..now I go every couple of weeks and come home with at least 4 books. I LOVE IT!!!……….I’d sort of forgotten how much fun reading is!! I’ve discovered many terrific authors………Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich, Debbie Macomber, Katherine Valentine, etc, etc.