June Reading Goals

The fact that June will be another month of rampant travel prompts me to set out some reading goals (for packing as much as reading) for the next months. I will arrange it by challenge/reading group:

  • Once Upon a Time Challenge (which is almost over! Alas, this means it is almost "midsummer.")
    • "The Golden Ass" by Apuleius - I started this last night; it is very modern and lively in Robert Graves's translation.
    • "Metamorphoses" by Ovid
    • "Morphology of the Folktale" by Propp - I only have about 40 pages left in the dryest of my Once Upon a Time choices, but I had to leave it in Connecticut when I came west for the month, so alas I may not finish it until the very last moments of the challenge.
    • And, if I can get to one of my "extra credit" reads for the challenge, John Gardner's "Grendel"
  • New York Times Notable Book Challenge (I have fallen rather behind in this challenge, so now I need to step up the pace and read more than my anticipated one per month)
    • "The Inheritance of Loss" by Kiran Desai - one of the many books which I have started for the challenge, but not (as of yet) made much headway in.
    • Elias Khoury's "Gate of the Sun" - I just ordered this online, and am all a-quiver with anticipation.
  • Non-fiction Five Challenge (I haven't yet begun this challenge, although it has been running for about a month. Luckily it has rather a long time scheme.)
    • "1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare" by Shapiro - given to me by my grandfather last summer.
    • Capote's "In Cold Blood"
  • Year of Down Under
    • "Alice Springs" by Nikki Gemmell, recommended in Nancy Pearl's "Book Lust"
    • "The Cardboard Crown" by Martin Boyd, also a Nancy Pearl rec.
  • 52 plays 2007 Challenge
    • I am dreadfully behind in this one, but haven't packed any plays to read in CA. So I will try to read 6 this month (as a catching up effort - the normal pace would be 4 a month), but can't anticipate what they will be.
  • Chunkster Challenge (also in its final phases, and I have two yet to go)
    • "David Copperfield"
    • "Cloudsplitter" by Russell Banks
  • Reading Groups (all on Yahoo!)
    • Inimitable Boz - "David Copperfield" (see above)
    • Book Awards - "The Stone Diaries" by Carol Shields
    • 20th Century World Lit - "Cloudsplitter" (see above)
  • Non-Challenge, non-reading group books:
    • "Housekeeping," Marilynne Robinson's first novel
    • Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" (I know, I know - I am filled with shame about not having read this earlier. The same is true of "Housekeeping.")
    • "Booked to Die," the first book in John Dunning's series about a homicide detective who becomes a professional rare book trader/amateur sleuth.
    • "The Farthest Shore," the third in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series.
Now that I look at my goals set out in such an orderly fashion, I realize how ambitious they are. Not including the as-of-yet-undecided-on plays and the one optional book, there are 15 books set out here. I will let you know how much of this list I have covered by the end of the month.

One Response so far.

  1. kookie says:

    You have your work cut out for you, fortunately you have some great books to get through. "David Copperfield" is probably my favorite Dickens after "A Christmas Carol", and "In Cold Blood" went by very quickly for me because it was so interesting. I'm sure you'll have no problem meeting your goal.

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