Saturday, November 04, 2006

A challenge!

Here's a challenge I think I can do. It's from Overdue Books, and here's what it is:

"If you are anything like me your stack of purchased to-be-read books is teetering over. So for this challenge we would be reading 5 books that we have already purchased, have been meaning to get to, have been sitting on the nightstand and haven't read before. No going out and buying new books. No getting sidetracked by the lure of the holiday bookstore displays."

Now, what to pick? Following Kate's example, I'm going to try to pick books, at least some books, that have been sitting around for a while, not ones I've recently acquired. I'll try to pick at least one difficult book -- something that feels like a challenge and that I've been avoiding reading because I feel intimidated by it.

Okay, here's a try. I reserve the right to make some changes as I go along, but if I do make changes, I'll substitute something I've had around for a roughly equivalent period of time.

  • The Lover, Marguerite Duras. I've had this forever. And when I'm finished reading it, I can take another look at Litlove's post on it from a while back.
  • Molloy, Samuel Beckett. I've also had this one around forever. This is my "challenge" challenge read -- something I've been avoiding because it looks scary. Perhaps I'll be surprised.
  • Snow, Orhan Pamuk. I haven't had this one quite as long, but it's been staring at me from my TBR shelves for a while now.
  • Buddenbrooks, Thomas Mann. I'll have more time on my hands than usual in December, so I think I can commit to a longer novel, and I've had this one for a number of years.
  • Runaway, Alice Munro. I've never read her, and I simply must.
One of these books overlaps with my Thirteen Classics in 2007 challenge: Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks. Now it's virtually certain that I'll make it through that book :)