One of the problems or, some would say, blessings of working at the library is that I come across so many interesting books; way more than I’d ever have time to read and still be a functioning member of society. In an attempt to keep myself focused, which means not start twelve books simultaneously, I have been compiling a list of books I hope to read in 2010.
I’ve started out the year with Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth: Awakening Your Life’s Purpose” and Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” Along the way I’m sure I’ll add to the list because there has to be room for spontaneity. Sometimes a book just calls out to you and you have to read it, whether it’s on your list or not.
Here’s what I’ve got so far, and I’m open to suggestions.
*Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen (I will never have to tell another person I’ve never read Jane Austen.)
*Snow – Orhan Pamuk
*Tortilla Flat – John Steinbeck
*The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje
*Ordinary Wolves – Seth Kantner
*The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides (His book Middlesex was excellent.)
*Cutting For Stone – Abraham Verghese (People at the library keep recommending this one.)
*The Lacuna – Barbara Kingsolver (I have to read everything she writes.)
*The Autobiography of a Yogi – Paramahansa Yogananda
*The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao – Junot Diaz
*Stitches: A Memoir – David Small (The graphic novel Blankets got me hooked, and I hear this one is great.)
*Too Much Happiness – Alice Munro (The goddess of short stories.)
*Juliet Naked – Nick Hornby (Any book written by the man who wrote High Fidelity deserves to be read.)
*The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion
*A Passage To India – E.M. Forster
*Interpreter of Maladies – Jhumpa Lahiri
*Siddhartha – Hermann Hesse
*Strength in What Remains – Tracy Kidder
Lofty Minded in Alaska 