In case you were counting, I missed reflecting on my July reading and setting up a reading list for August. With The Move it just didn’t seem like it mattered much, and since my August reading was so skewed towards fiction, I doubt I would have stuck with a list anyway.
But as of today I’ve been at my new job three weeks, almost all the boxes are unpacked, and I’ve been settling (slowly) into my new routine (if being a newspaper editor even has a routine… so far every day has been totally different from the day before).
I decided to start doing the list a little different. Instead of just putting together a list of books for the month, I decided to divide them out based on priority: have to read, should read, and want to read.
Books I “Have” To Read
I put “have” in quotes because I really don’t have to read anything I don’t want to. These are just books that have a more firm obligation tied to them like choices for a book club, a book tour, or a freelance review.
- Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. by Sam Wasson for a TLC Book Tour.
- Big Girls Don’t Cry by Rebecca Traister for an experimental online book club with a couple friends from Madison.
Books I Should Read
These books are review copies being published this month (or books I missed in the past that I still want to get to), books from the library, or community reads I’d like to participate in.
- Page One: Inside the New York Times and the Future of Journalism, edited by David Folkenflik because I was supposed to read this in August with Kit (Books are my Boyfriends), but then I moved and couldn’t make myself think about reading nonfiction. I will read this book!
- The Grand Pursuit by Sylvia Nasar, a book I got post-BEA as a special request from the publisher. Nasar is the author of A Beautiful Mind, which makes me confident this one will be awesome.
- The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach, another BEA book. Ever since I heard about this one – a coming-of-age sort of novel set against a baseball season – I’ve thought it would make the perfect Labor Day Weekend read. I can’t wait until work is out and I’ve got three days to read!
- The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf, as part of the A Year of Feminist Classics project. I’ve said I was going to join this challenge a few times in the past, but I really hope I mean it this time. I even ILL-d this book from the Morris library to get it!
Books I Want to Read
These are the random books calling my name from my shelves RIGHT NOW.
- What It Is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes is another BEA book, a memoir about Vietnam, that has gotten some rave reviews recently.
- Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Sherry Turkle. Because Boyfriend has been pushing me to read this one since I brought it home.
- Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks, which I just picked up at a Borders closing sale (sadness!). But I love Geraldine Brooks and I love reading about Islamic women, so this should be a win.
R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VI
I’m not normally a challenge person – in the past I’ve found that the minute I make a challenge list I lose all motivation to read the books on it – but decided to sign up for R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VI this year because I already have some haunting nonfiction to read in September and October.
To be safe, I’m signing up for Peril the Second, which is to read two books that are mystery, suspense, thriller, dark fantasy, Gothic, horror, or supernatural. The two at the top of my list are:
- Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting by W. Scott Poole. I picked this one up at BEA because I’ve always loved reading about monsters, and it seems like a perfect RIP book.
- Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death by Deborah Blum. Deb was one of my professors at Madison, and I just love her writing. I wanted to read this book last October but ran out of time, so I saved it for a full year. I will get to it this time.
So… that comes to… 11 books. That’s a lot, but it’s probably doable since the RIP books could wait until October. And I’ll probably stray from the list, depending on my mood, but at least it’s back on the table as a guide.
Any suggestions for which book to start with (after The Art of Fielding, of course)? What books are you looking forward to this fall?
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That’s a lot of reading, but some really fantastic sounding books – good luck!
Yeah, it’s a long list for the month, but I’m optimistic I’ll find lots of time to read.
I always admire it when bloggers post list for the upcoming month because honestly, if I were to do that, it would be a guarantee that I would go completely astray!
Some months that is exactly what happens!
Both of your RIP books sound really good. I hope you do read them so I can hear your thoughts on them. Have a great reading month!
I’m excited about both of them. And thanks!
I love knowing why people are reading books! Sounds like a great month of reading!
I love hearing why people are excited about certain books too — I think it’s more interesting than just a list of books with links.
Ooo, the RIP Vi challenge! I keep meaning to sign up for it. I think I will this year– thanks for reminding me!
Do it!
You are killing me with books that somehow never made it onto my radar but I just HAVE to read. Lately, when I look at my list of books, I have noticed that a majority deal with murder and mayhem (both fiction and nonfiction). Therefore, I feel that Monsters in America is now on the top of my must read list!
I love murder/mayhem nonfiction. True crime is one of my favorite sub-genres, even if it does freak me out sometimes 🙂
Fifth Ave, 5 AM is a lot of fun and a quick read- it was one of my beach books when I was in Vietnam last year.
Awesome news, I’m glad it’s good!
I love your choices for RIP! I’m a huge fan of non-fiction. 🙂 Also, planning out your reads for the month, and then breaking it down further as you have — great idea! I keep waffling between a schedule and no schedule, but making it by month instead might be something that could work.
Anyway, have fun this month! 🙂
I’m way excited for the RIP books. I’ve been waiting on Ghost Hunters since last October!
The schedule works occasionally — sometimes I stick right to it, and other times I reject it entirely. But I like putting it together, so I guess it doesn’t really matter.
I have little stacks that mirror the way you’re arranging your list now. Different kinds of “should” and “have to” reads mostly. If more than one person does it, it’s not weird…
I haven’t gotten to the point where I pull most of the books off the shelf and put them in stacks, but I imagine that is coming. Right now, mental stacks are enough. But yes, not weird at all!
I vote for Ghost Hunters. You have to let me know what you think of it. I haven’t read any paranormal books on my nonfiction site!
I’m way excited about Ghost Hunters — it’s next on my list.