Sunday, April 26, 2009

and maybe some writing too

Inspired, I decided to compile a summer reading list. At this point, it just consists of books I own but haven't read...surprisingly fewer than I thought. In any case, I'm soliciting other recommendations, so feel free to comment. Not sure exactly how many I'll actually be able to read, given the part time job, Capstone Project, three study circles, children's class, and Project Badi that I'll be involved in over the summer, but we shall see. In any case, I'll make a dent. I need to get back to being literary.

In no particular order:

Guns, Germs, and Steel ~ Jared Diamond
Anthills of the Savannah ~ Chinua Achebe
A Home at the End of the World ~ Michael Cunningham
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius ~ Dave Eggers
Waiting ~ Ha Jin
Ishmael ~ Daniel Quinn
Tar Baby ~ Toni Morrison
Rant ~ Chuck Palahniuk
Prelude to Foundation ~ Isaac Asimov
House of Leaves ~ Mark Danielewski
Only Revolutions ~ Mark Danielewski
Multiple Exposures ~ Catherine Caufield

30 comments:

  1. Odd suggestion that is not really to the point of your post - how would you like to read some together? Like a long-distance book club?

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  2. Awesome - since your schedule is more constrained, I'll let you pick the first book and start date.

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  3. I'll totally join this party Alaska style.

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  4. So are you guys actually interested in reading all the books I picked, or should we come up with some collaborative reading list?

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  5. Let's do some sort of collaboration... Maybe start with our preferences from your list and develop a theme from there?

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  6. I'm actually up for reading other suggestions.

    My own reading list involves mostly trashy novels and I feel I need to give regular old fiction and other books a chance again, broaden my horizons!

    I'm willing to throw a suggestion out there if I run across something particularly interesting though.

    (Sorry, I'm sporadic...finals crunch)

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  7. I actually came back to make a suggestion about either of the Danielewski books.

    But, uh, I just noticed they were already on your list.

    I'm a dork.

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  8. haha...okay, so Katie, go ahead and make some suggestions and then we'll tell Keri what to read.

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  9. From your list:
    Guns, Germs and SteelA Heartbreaking Work of Staggering GeniusAdd to your list:
    Superdove: How the Pigeon Took Manhattan and the WorldAtonementAnimal, Vegetable, Miracleand, to toss in some poetry:
    Here,BulletAlso, if you guys aren't on Good Reads, maybe you should join up to keep track. I've been neglectful of it, but I'm going to try to do better!

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  10. wow, that is one poorly edited comment... Um... sorry!

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  11. Don't forget to add your Hypnobirthing book to that list...haha! :-)

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  12. Okay, so, book club selections so far:

    Guns, Germs and Steel
    A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
    House of Leaves
    Only Revolutions
    Superdove: How the Pigeon Took Manhattan and the World
    Atonement
    Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
    Here, Bullet

    Are we cool with these? Maybe allow one pass if a book doesn't grab our interest? (I'm questioning my interest in pigeons, but I'm open to giving it a try.) Any additions?

    And finally, what first?

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  13. Haha...Jenn, the Hypnobirthing book is definitely on my list. Actually I'm almost done with it - pretty quick read.

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  14. I'm fine with one pass, sure. We can add more as we go along... So, I'm cool with starting with Guns/Germs. Any other ideas?

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  15. I'm down with the GGS and whatev.

    I'm on rotation for the next two weeks and then driving to Alaska on the 25th. I have Thursday off so I can probably head over to the bookstore and scrounge something up ;>

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  16. Okay, sounds good. We'll start w/GGS, as it has now been acronymized. So how does this work? Do we give ourselves a time limit?

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  17. It's pretty intense - let's break it into smaller parts and give ourselves a time limit for those.

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  18. Man, I totally racked up at the sales rack at barnes and noble today and got guns, germs and steel -plus- only revolutions (which again, i forgot was on the list) for like 11 bucks. Hard cover.

    Though the Diamond book is a bit dented so that's why i think it was in there, but the Only Revolutions is actually bargain priced.

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  19. Awesome - Shereen, I'm assuming (maybe I shouldn't) that you've already got the book. Diamond - or his editor - conveniently divided it into manageable sections for us. I propose we begin with the Prologue and Section 1 and then go from there.

    A couple of logistical questions - I feel like we're dominating your blog, here Reen. Shall we start a new blog, where all of us can post our thoughts on the books as we progress? Should we do this via email? I don't know if there's a place on goodreads to do so... Email I feel could be a little overwhelming, but I'm certainly willing to try if it works best for you two.

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  20. Starting another blog sounds better than email. Unless there's a 3rd better option. I'm cool with it. I do have a copy of the book, and Prologue/Part One sounds good to me.

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  21. So, two final procedural questions before we get down to business:
    How long for our first section? And what shall we name our new book club blog?

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  22. I'm completely ambivalent about everything. Seriously, boss me around.

    However, I can read this week like crazy in the evenings and hopefully I'll be able to do some reading on the way to Alaska. But speaking of, I'll be driving between the 25th and around June 2nd. So I'll be a little incommunicado in that time.

    Just to help with time things.

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  23. So, after Memorial Day has ended and summer has officially begun, how about a blog name that emphasizes what we all have in common - something like Mississippi Ex-Patriots Book Club.

    I'm done with the prologue and hope to finish chapter 1 tomorrow.

    Just give me the thumbs up or down and I'll get the blog started.

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  24. Oh, hey guys.

    I've read the first bit and part one on the ride up here.

    Just letting you know I'm not all slacking ;>

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  25. Oh yeah, I've read the prologue and almost part one...I've got my dumb final project for graduation that's due Monday, so unless I miraculously get finished with that today, I probably won't read much until Monday evening, so I'm cool to start discussing after that.

    Random blog title possibilities, cause I'm feeling amused:

    Fried Green Tomatillos
    Southern Bamboo Farming
    A Magnolia by Any Other Name
    Barefoot and Literate

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  26. I vote for A Magnolia by Any Other Name or Barefoot and Literate

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  27. I'm personally in love with "barefoot and literate"

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  28. Haha...I wasn't sure if those should be considered serious suggestions or not, but if you guys like it, I'm down.

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