Summer Readin', Have Me a Blast

A few years ago, I pompously made a list of all the many books I intended to read for 2022. I didn't achieve that, nor I suspect come anywhere close, though I have read several (not all) of the books on that list subsequently. I'd like to revisit that list sometime soon. (And I suggested at the time that I might report back on it "in another five years," and my how time does fly.)

But for right now, I'd simply like to repeat the same mistake. In a nod towards "learning/growth," I'll narrow the scope of my ambitions temporarily and come up with a list of the books I'd like to read this summer.

"Summer" here means the three calendar months of June, July and August. Since this catches me in the middle of (yet again) trying to read 52 books for the year, I'm going to give myself the target of 10 books for the list (with audiobooks and other odds and ends along the way to keep pace). I may have to amend as I move forward based on logistical/practical issues, such as library availability (I've neither the bookshelf space nor the bank account to purchase as much as I'd like to read. And I do like having the physical book in my hands as much as possible, so I favor that over electronic copies... though I use those, at times, as well.)

1. A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik.

I don't know anything about this book -- and that's exactly the way I like it. As much as possible, I like going into art (literature, film, etc.) knowing as little as I can. I've chosen it because my wife will be reading it at the same time for a women's only book club. I can't participate in their discussion, but I can share in the experience in my own way.

2. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

This was on my 2022 reading list, ha ha! I have my copy from the library currently, so all systems are go. (No idea how or why this recommendation first came to me, but that's all right. I keep a list of things to read "someday," and once something gets stuck there, it tends to remain.)

3. Gwendy's Magic Feather by Richard Chizmar

The middle book in a three-book series that I'd started as part of my lifelong quest to read Stephen King's oeuvre. This one is not technically on that list, but it bridges two books that are.

4. Middlemarch by George Eliot

Recently selected by The Guardian as the greatest novel ever published in English. All such lists are silly, of course, and I think there are some good questions as to their methodology in creating this particular iteration... but none of that really matters. It's as good a reason as any to take a look at something many people have enjoyed, consider great, and that I've never yet read.

5. The Prophet by Khalil Gibran

I've recently read (and loved) The Alchemist, and I'm currently reading a collection of poetry by Rumi, and somehow -- doubtless due to my ignorance -- it seems something of a piece. I don't know except that I've long been aware of this title, have never read it, and again, I don't need all that much of an excuse.

6. Babel by R.F. Kuang

I don't know. I've seen it mentioned here and there, namedropped by some people I generally trust (fellow writers), and it turns out I'm rather easy.

7. Love and Video Games by Zachary Sergi

Taking this on the recommendation of my teenage daughter.

8. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut

I've long wanted to read more (i.e. another) Vonnegut following Slaughterhouse-Five in high school, and well, it's taken me quite a while to get there. The specific title chosen mostly at random (it's what came up first as "available" on the library site when I searched for Vonnegut).

9. Beloved by Toni Morrison

It's time.

10. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

And this is how I self-sabotage. I think some of the above will already likely put me to the test, but anchoring with this mammoth... ah well, it's sat on my shelf for years, my wife has already read it (and means to re-read it someday), and who would I be if I didn't overburden myself with massive Russian novels from time to time?

***

So that's the game plan. Maybe not in that order, depending on logistics -- and maybe I won't have this complete in three months -- but I have hopes that I'll be able to put a good bite on it, at least. I'm coming in with a lot of momentum.

Or maybe I'll report back in another five years, and recommit myself to reading more Tolstoy, someday.