I know I have obsessed about this on here before, but I am still working on my list of books read since I came to Taiwan. I wrote everyone I can remember (from posts on here) into a book ,but I am still missing three novels I read near the end of 2008. Well, if I don’t remember what they are (someday when I’m old and gray I will wake up in a cold sweat screaming the name of a novel is my guess), at least I know my total. I like to break it down into 24 month periods since I never really kept track year by year, but from November 2006 to December 2008 I read 49 novels. I guess when you look at it, two books a month isn’t that impressive, but some months I read more and some I was learning to teach and didn’t get around to much. I actually think the number is a little low for my tastes, but I can work on that.
This year, as of today (December 14th) I have read 44 novels since January of 2009. I’m low… and I know where I went wrong. I got a PSP and was obsessed with playing it before bed for a month or two. Also I read two of the worst books I have read in a long time and since I never like to give up on a book, I worked through them, but at a very slow pace which took almost 2 months for two books. Now I’m cramming. I don’t want to cheat and go with small books, but I do think Gabriel Garcia Marquez novellas are acceptable since they are usually about 150 pages and they are so chocked full of quality writing and amazing stories that you can’t blame me for reading them.
So, book #44 was Slaughterhouse Five (I would like to read parts 1-4 but I can’t seem to find them) and now I am looking at the bookshelves to see what I should read next. I am avoiding anything too large as I would like to clear my shelves to make room for some new ones I am getting this month from some online auctions in Taiwan where most English novels are less than a dollar each. I would love to read more Vonnegut, as I find him very easy and entertaining to read, but I never read the same author back to back. I like to change things up and read different styles and authors instead of obsessively plowing through one author’s entire collection.
So, I now have seventeen days to read four novels… I hope. I will be okay with three, but I want four. Hell, I would be over the moon if I could break fifty novels before 2001, but I don’t think I can cram them in without losing a little of the enjoyment of reading. Plus I have three classes to prepare for their end of semester exams which takes some of my time, and I need to look at both the Lonely Planet books for The Philippines (for Chinese New Year) and Singapore (four day weekend in April) and figure out some travel plans. If the Lonely Planet books counted in my list, I would be over 50 easily as I have read and studied the books on Cambodia, Vietnam, Borneo, India, Thailand, Bangkok and the Philippines before each trip, but I just can’t bring myself to counting them.
Now, I did just think of something. I did read two books of Chinese Poetry. One has no English name to it and has about 200 ancient Chinese poems in it that I read through to look for good ones for my tattoo. I also read another with has 300 poems in it as well from the Tang Dynasty. I did read most if not all of the poems looking for the right poem for my tattoo, so technically they could go on the list for this past 24 month period as well. This is what I will do, if I can hit my 48 book goal, I will add those books of poetry in and make it an even 50. If don’t make it, they don’t count.
Okay, off to my bookshelves to look for the next novel to read. I have no clue what it is going to be, but it better live up to the hype and build up I’ve just created in my mind. This is the final stretch… now, where’s my Cookie Monster bookmark?
Books read in the last two months (or so)…
Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut
The Naked Sun – Issac Asimov
Of Love and Other Demons – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Sh*t my Dad Says – Justin Halpern
The Talking Horse, the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea – Mark Haddon
The Crying of Lot 49 – Thomas Pynchon
Living Between F*cks – Cry Bloxsome
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies – Jane Austin/Seth Grahame-Smith
Comments (2)
Did you count the Fletch novels read near end of 2008?
Yup… I have re-read all my entries on here to see what I may have missed, but no luck. 3 missing titles. I had them listed on Facebook, but when they redesigned the site, they just dropped a lot of info and my booklist was one of them. I always think I have thought of one, but then I have already listed it.